Last night, Union Council met to debate whether Imperial College Union should continue to support strike action being undertaken by the University and College Union (UCU). The UCU is a trade union representing academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff. You can read the Council paper here. By now you will have heard that the UCU have announced 18 days of strike action to take place throughout February and March, in addition to their strike action in November 2022 and January 2023. They have also announced their intention to hold a marking and assessment boycott from April 2023.
This industrial action is related to the College’s 2022 local pay award, as well as a nationwide dispute regarding the USS pension scheme. More information on this can be found in the College’s guidance for students.
The Council paper in question included two resolves:
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Union Resolves 1: To continue/withdraw support for UCU’s strike action.
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Union Resolves 2: To continue not supporting/begin supporting UCU’s marking and assessment boycott, should this take place from April.
On Union Resolves 1, 84.8% of Council members voted in favour of continuing to support UCU’s strike action. 12.1% voted to withdraw support, and 3.0% abstained.
On Union Resolves 2, 60.6% of Council members voted in favour of beginning support for the marking and assessment boycott, 18.2% voted to continue not supporting the boycott, with 21.2% abstaining. This therefore marks a change in the ICU position on the marking and assessment boycott and we will now begin supporting the UCU on this and lobbying the College accordingly.
We are continuing to work closely with the College to identify and mitigate the effects of industrial action on students where possible, and we are also liaising with UCU to determine how we can best support them during this dispute.
If you have any questions, you can get in touch with us via email. If you have been personally affected by industrial action, you can also get in touch with our Advice Service by emailing advice@imperial.ac.uk.
Hayley, Jason, Nathalie, Dylan, and Niamh
Your Officer Trustees