UCU announces marking and assessment boycott will begin this month

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced that the marking and assessment boycott will commence on April 20th.

On their Twitter account the UCU announced: “Our union has today served notice on employers for a marking and assessment boycott to begin later this month in the pension and pay conditions disputes.”

They added that they were asking “all members to cease summative marking and associated assessment activities” including “assessment-related work such as exam invigilation.”

This announcement follows the UCU renewing its mandate for industrial action after an overwhelming number of its members voted yes for strike action in recent ballots.

The boycott will continue until one of three things occurs: the disputes are settled; the UCU calls off the boycott; or the industrial action ballot mandate comes to an end.

Such mandates usually end six months after the industrial action ballot closes, meaning that the boycott has the potential to last until September.

The marking boycott includes training sessions for all UCU members, which will look at the boycott itself; what members need to do; the potential challenges; and the importance of everyone being involved.

In a recent email to its students in response to the boycott, The University of Bristol stated: “We know this announcement comes at a really important time in the academic calendar and will be unsettling news, particularly on top of the industrial action that has already taken place.

“We want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to plan ahead and make sure we have appropriate mitigations in place to address the impact of this further action on your assessments.

“These disputes are national issues – not ones that Bristol can solve on its own – and we continue to work collectively with other Universities and the unions to reach a resolution.”

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