Campaigns

UCU is rising - our dispute about pay, pensions and working conditions - Marking and assessment boycott starts 20 April 2023

UCU's higher education committee (HEC) has voted to begin a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) from Thursday 20 April 2023. This means that from Thursday 20 April we are asking all UCU members in universities which are part of the UCU Rising disputes to cease undertaking all summative marking and associated assessment activities/duties. The boycott also covers assessment-related work such as exam invigilation and the processing of marks. 

UCU members in higher education have worked throughout the pandemic and generated record income for the sector only to be rewarded with attacks on their pay, working conditions, and pensions.

The truth is that we are not all in this together. While our members have seen their pay cut by 25% since 2009, university vice-chancellors and senior management have been collecting six-figure salaries.

We continue to update our website with information about the strike. You may find the following pages helpful:

• Marking and assessment boycott information (from 20 April 2023)
• Information for students about the industrial action, why we're taking it, how it might affect you, and how you can take part
• Information for Associate Lecturers 
• A pickets, rallies and events page with dates and more about how to get involved
• Information about applying or donating to the Hardship Fund and an application form
• Guidance on Action short of a strike (ASOS)
• Templates you can use for emails to students, and out-of-office messages
• Frequently asked questions
• Our leaflets page with the leaflets we hand out each strike day - the national UCU resources are on the UCU website.

For more information about the UCU Rising Campaign, please visit the UCU website.

Workers everywhere are rising up and saying enough is enough. The strike started on Thursday 24th, Friday 25th and Wednesday 30th November 2022 and continued on the following dates:

• Week 1 - Wednesday 1 February 2023
• Week 2 - Thursday 9 and Friday 10 February
• Week 3 - Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 February
• STOP PRESS - STRIKE PAUSED: see news item
• No action week commencing Monday 6 March
• STOP PRESS - Extra strike day announced, Wednesday 15 March - see news item
• Week 6 - Wednesday 15, Thursday 16 and Friday 17 March
• Week 7 - Monday 20, Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March
• Our branch added 4 weekend strike dates, 11th and 12th February and 18th and 19th March (if you would normally work at the weekend). See the news item for more detail about this.

UCU Press release about the strike dates, 8 November 2022

UCU Press release about the ballot result, October 2022.

Information on the previous industrial action campaign

Between the 21st and 27th March 2022 UCU members took strike action, including the weekend of the 26th and 27th for those whose working pattern includes the weekend.  Before that there were 12 days of industrial action in Feburary and March 2022 for both disputes. 

For further information please see:

• USS and the Four Fights disputes strike details on the UCU main website
• What Action Short of Strike (ASOS) is
• See the UCU website for national UCU resources (images and PDFs of flyers and posters) for both disputes 
• Find out how to donate or apply to the branch hardship fund
• Read our strike leaflets and newsletters from throughout this dispute.