Students may be prevented from graduating on time this year as lecturers are predicted to boycott marking exam scripts due to a lack of response from University Management over the strikes earlier this year and last term.
York lecturers are expected to take part if the boycott, arranged by the University and College Union, takes place. They went on strike last term and at the start of this term over disputes about pay to staff.
As part of the protest, staff could refuse to mark essays, portfolios, dissertations or exam scripts for all undergraduates and postgraduates at British universities.
David Duncan, University Secretary and Registrar, commented; “At this stage, we have not received confirmation from the campus trade unions that this latest phase of industrial action will definitely go ahead. However, we know that the last strike day was supported by about 3% of staff. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the interests of students.
We will also continue to urge both sides to return to the negotiating table and try to reach agreement at national level. In the meantime, we have unilaterally raised the wages of the lowest paid and backdated the increases to August 2013.”
YUSU Academic Officer, Dan whitmore told York Vision: “I do not support the strike, every worker has the right to strike when conditions are poor, it’s not the University they are harming this time, it’s the students.”
“If they want to affect the University, they can stop writing research papers. The students haven’t done anything wrong, it is the University at fault here. In a way, the lecturers are passing the buck”
Josiah Mortimer, Press and Publicity for the UOY Greens also commented: “while the marking boycott will be disruptive, it’s no way near as disruptive as years of real-terms pay cuts for thousands of staff in York and across the country.”
“This is part of a campaign for fairness, and one that students should get behind.”
The lectures have a fair reason to protest, the issue is that they’re going about it the wrong way. The point of a strike is to annoy consumers who will then stop using the product (i.e. if supermarket a goes on strike then you shop at supermarket b). Despite the fact we are increasingly being told to consider ourselves as consumers we have no power to take our consumption elsewhere. At its heart this campaign is right they just haven’t thought it through properly – do a sit-in in the vice-chancellors office or something that might actually make the administration get up and do something about providing fair pay to lecturers.