The marking boycott: Students should vote yes at tomorrow’s SGM

The truth behind the marking boycott (and the facts to prove it) – Elizabeth Marron, tells us why you should vote yes at tomorrow’s meeting


 Tomorrow is a vital day for final year undergraduates across King’s – it’s the SGM vote. 

The motion will be put forward advising that KCLSU should support the marking boycott, due to take place on 28th April for an unknown length of time.

And if the Boycott goes ahead, students will not receive their degree classifications on time, or feedback from any submitted work. Even revision sessions prior to exams will not be attended by participating lecturers.

Sally Hunt, UCU General Secretary, has released the following statement in support of tomorrow’s motion:

“The marking boycott is a last resort in a pay dispute which has been running since the start of the academic year. UCU members at King’s College London have already been on strike six times in an effort to get the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) to enter into serious pay negotiations.

“We understand students’ frustration at both the industrial action and the employers’ refusal to negotiate seriously with the unions. All KCL students who wish to see a speedy resolution to the row should lobby vice-chancellor Rick Trainor and ask him to add pressure on UCEA to sit down with the unions and resolve the dispute.”

If the SGM votes against tomorrow’s motion, then they are endorsing management’s continued provocation of UCU and their unwillingness to negotiate with students, staff or unions, which makes the boycott inevitable.

KCLSU is continuing to act in its students’ best interests through supporting the marking boycott.

But no! The Thatcherites chime. We will not give in to unions! We will not let them ‘hold our country to ransom’ (how I hate that redundant cliché!)! We will oppose the marking boycott, because their demands are unreasonable! They are earning insane amounts of money! £50,000!

So why should you vote yes?

This boycott is extreme – but is very much avoidable. As a final-year student considering studying abroad next year, I completely understand the panic of not receiving degree classifications on time – it will have a detrimental effect on the aspirations of thousands of students.

But this measure can be avoided if King’s students vote YES at tomorrow’s SGM. By winning this fight for lecturers, we can graduate on time and leave the University a little bit fairer than it was when we started.

Before we get carried away, let’s take a look at the facts- the real facts, not obscured by political ideology, but highlighted by common sense, pragmatism and empathy.

Obviously.

The facts

University management are earning, on average, £235,000, and have seen their pay rise by 8% (a great use of the £9000 tuition fees).

Lecturers do not earn £50,000, as my contemporary Ryan Austin has suggested his recent article in The Tab. He misleadingly used Times Higher Education figures for ‘academic staff’, ranging from Professors to Research Assistants (figures absolutely irrelevant to his article, which was supposed to be about the Lecturers’ boycott- it should be a bare minimum that statistics cited are based on the correct jobs!). These ‘academic staff’ members were also surveyed in 2010, prior to austerity measures, and just a year after Unions claim that pay had started to fall.

In reality, academics earn around £33,000 pa, according to a Deloitte survey, which published a report visibly showing that in 2012, UK lecturers had the lowest salaries when compared to the USA (who earn 34% more), Canada (who earn 45% more) and Australia (who earn 16% more). Britain is only beaten in underpaying its lecturers by New Zealand.

By comparison, a Graduate going into their first post at a major retail chain can expect to start out on a £30,000 salary and double it in 5 years, based on performance.

Lecturers have little job security, and are forced to bring in money for the University through their research, or face dismissal. One study, by the University of Melbourne in 2013, shows that UK academics are expected to produce the most research (only second to the USA) to maximize University money, which is then not poured back into research (the UK is 24th out of 50 for spending on research resources, while the USA is 5th).

All of this combined has a disproportionate effect on minority groups, who cannot afford to fund a career in academia. It affects lecturers who deserve the financial stability to start families, pay mortgages and support children.

King’s College PR issued a statement stating that:

“We are not aware that a marking boycott has been formally put to staff by the Trade Unions. We would hope to avoid this but, if this does become a reality, we will do everything possible to ensure that any impact on students is minimised. Ensuring that students’ assessments are marked in a fair and timely way is always the most important priority for the College.”

Supporting the Marking Boycott is not only a pragmatic move to ensure timely graduation, it is a responsibility and a debt that students owe to their teachers.

I would encourage all students to make a difference by supporting the Marking Boycott at the Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus, Tuesday 25th March, 6.30pm.