Email to students 9 November 2022

Dear students,

I am writing to confirm that one of the national trade unions (the University and College Union, known as UCU) has announced industrial action over issues of pensions, pay and working conditions.

Confirmation of strike days

This industrial action will take place in universities across the UK, including York, in the form of three days of strike action on Thursday 24 November, Friday 25 November and Wednesday 30 November.

In addition the UCU has announced what is called ‘action short of a strike’ (ASOS), which will run continuously from Wednesday 23 November until no later than 20 April 2023.

Action short of a strike is where staff may limit some of their activities, for example, working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled as a result of strike, and not undertaking other voluntary activities.

Minimising the disruption

We respect the rights of colleagues to take industrial action, but we are also fully committed to minimising disruption to your studies.

Our priority is to make sure we have the right measures and procedures in place to mitigate any impact and support you.

We have created a Frequently Asked Questions page for you, which covers lots of information and guidance, and we are working very closely with Schools and Departments to put in place additional activities and contingency plans. For example, this may include rearranging or making alternative teaching and learning available.

What you need to do

Staff are not required to tell us in advance if they plan to take part in industrial action, so you should assume your teaching and learning activities will go ahead as normal.

We don’t know how many staff will be taking part, or to what extent, and patterns of participation can vary significantly both across and within departments. So it is very important that you engage with your scheduled teaching, labs, assessments and other learning activities, unless you have been told otherwise by your department. This applies whether you are here with us in York or enrolled on one of our online programmes.

All other University resources and support will remain open and available as normal. This includes student support and wellbeing services, our online resources, and our on-campus catering outlets, shops, the Library and the Sports Village for students here in York.

I am very sorry that industrial action has been called. This is part of an ongoing national dispute, and you can read more about it on our Frequently Asked Questions. However, despite the challenges industrial action presents to our community, York has always observed a culture of respect. The decision to take part in industrial action is not taken lightly, and there will be different views across the University, so I ask that we all continue to respect each others’ views, opinions and actions.

Best wishes,

Charlie

Charlie Jeffery
Vice-Chancellor