UCU general guidance
UCU FAQs on action short of a strike (ASOS)
Strike action and ASOS at Durham
Durham UCU have notified the employer of industrial action consisting of
- discontinuous strike action on the following dates: 28, 29, 30 April 2025 and 1, 2 May 2025
- continuous action short of strike (ASOS) commencing 28 April 2025, including: not working more than the nominal hours specified in employment contracts; not undertaking voluntary duties; not providing cover for absent colleagues; not providing cover for non-replaced staff; boycotting University-related activities relating to the Research Excellence Framework
- continuous action short of strike(ASOS) comprising of of a marking and assessment boycott commencing 12 May 2025
We are asking the employer to rule out compulsory redundancies now.
Local FAQs
You can access some support from UCU nationally. UCU publishes details about how to claim. The branch also passed a motion on 30 April 2025 about further branch-level strike pay for the strikes in the week commencing 28 April 2025. Historically, we have always had more money available to support striking colleagues than has actually been applied for, and our finances are in good shape. In the past, some colleagues have expressed feeling uncomfortable requesting such assistance (particularly those on higher grades), but the money is there for a reason, and asking for some of that money puts much less of a burden on the branch than crossing the picket line will.
If your contract is with Durham University then you can still take industrial action.
The degree to which a day of strike has a visible impact in the University’s functioning varies with the different roles people have, for some the effects would take longer to show, or may not show much at all, while for others it is quite immediate. Regardless of the immediate impact your action may have, it is still worth going on strike. A large number of members out on strike shows the employer the strength of our branch, and supports those taking action that has more visible immediate effects.
Colleagues who applied for voluntary severance and have had their applications approved have started to receive their offers. These colleagues have a deadline of 9 May to decide on whether to take the offers, but these choices are not voluntary if the threat of compulsory redundancies is not removed. Many colleagues love and need their job and applied only out of fear they will be made redundant with little or no pay. Furthermore, the trade unions were served with a section 188 notice of potential redundancies in January, and the employer has set savings targets to be met by August 2025, if we wait until Michaelmas it will be too late. While there’s almost no teaching in the Easter term, it’s when exams happen so those with duties related to marking and assessment can still have a big impact. It’s worth remembering the last two local deals that gave the branch some gains were obtained by threatening to do a MAB in 2022 and carrying out a MAB in 2023. Our union also has a large number of professional services colleagues with varied roles so the potential impact of action cannot be just measured by teaching considerations.
This would have only minimal impact: Faculty boards would be convened to cover any dept board that was unable to meet/wasn’t quorate, in line with the exceptional regulations that the PVC Education rammed through Senate. Also quorum for boards of examiners is very low. The best way to impact exam boards is by ensuring they don’t have sufficient marks to work with in the first place – the exceptional regulations have little effect in such an instance.
We’ll be running a teach-out on precisely this topic on Friday 2 May from 11.00 to 12.00 in the student union (room A05) and we’ll be circulating some advice on this via email too. The short answer for now is that our ASOS approach protects you in only working your contracted hours, and it is up to your line manager to decide how those contracted hours get used – ask early and often what your line manager wants to prioritise, and be clear that non-prioritised tasks won’t get done until and unless you finish your prioritised tasks.
Depending on the role, this may indeed be the case, at least in theory. We say “in theory” because any PS colleague engaging in ASOS will be protected by that fact, as discussed in the answer to Q7. Any PS colleague wanting that protection who isn’t in UCU can gain it by joining our trade union whenever they please, with immediate access to a caseworker should that become necessary (and with full legal protection starting six months after joining).
It’s important to note that our PS members are very supportive of industrial action over this issue in general, and a MAB in particular, as shown by our recent survey.
Yes, it can. The new regulations essentially codify the approach taken during the last MAB (which incidentally makes it clear we were being misled when we were told that approach was already something the university was empowered to do). In particular, the shocking approach of repeatedly reconvening boards until they gave the “right” decisions – and then going to other boards to change those decisions if the original board refused – is now permitted by regulation. This however does nothing to change the fact that the university cannot simply make up marks. What made the last MAB so successful (until it was cancelled by national, which cannot happen this time round) wasn’t the stymieing of exam boards themselves, it was the fact those boards had so few marks to work with. The university wants you to think they have proofed the exam process against a MAB, but this is not in fact the case.
We would hope not. Every member of the union is legally entitled to engage in IA without retribution, and we have caseworkers and a national legal team available should any colleague find this guaranteed right is not being upheld. That said, we recognise that this is a valid concern for members. This is why wide-scale participation in IA is so important. It makes it much harder for management to even think about causing issues for individual participants.
By talking to them, regularly and openly. This can be done on the picket line, and in conversations with students when we return to work. We’re also using our various social media platforms (Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram) to provide information for students, with an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session (which worked very well during the MAB) currently being organised as well.
No, if your employer is not Durham University you cannot take industrial action on this dispute.