Today, the UCU announced that they have “now withdrawn its marking and assessment boycott”.
This boycott has been ongoing since the 20th of April 2023. The Union announced on X (formally known as Twitter) that 60% of members voting indicated they were in favour of suspending the boycott.
The Higher Education Committee (HEC) called the vote.
On their website, UCU says an end to the marking boycott will “allow it to escalate the dispute by taking further action this year and into 2024”, thus still leaving a lot of uncertainty as to exactly if and when students will receive marks for their boycott-affected assessments.
UCU posted this on X, formally known as Twitter, this afternoon.
5 days of strike action have been called later this month. More strike action will take place from Monday the 25th to Friday the 29th of September.
UCU confirms that “staff are continuing other forms of industrial action, including work to rule, not undertaking any voluntary activities, and not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action”
The General Secretary of UCU Jo Grady said, “We are left with no option… it is shameful that vice-chancellors still refuse to settle the dispute”.
“If they do not, campuses will be marred by picket lines during fresher’s week, and we will launch a new strike ballot allowing us to take action well into 2024.”
The long-running disputes continue to centre on low pay, pensions and working conditions.