Industrial action

The University and College Union (UCU) has declared a continuous period of action short of strike, to commence from Thursday 9 November 2023. The local dispute is regarding issues around job security, organisation, workloads and casualisation.

 Locally, negotiations are ongoing in the interests of an outcome that ends the dispute. This current period of detailed discussions is a positive sign and we are committed to negotiations to reach common ground on job security, organisation, workloads and casualisation.  


What industrial action is currently planned?

In the current period of action, UCU members will be taking continuous action short of a strike, consisting of; working to contract; by not undertaking any voluntary activities and not covering  for  absent  colleagues.


What will this mean for students?

The impact of industrial action can vary and is likely to be different in Divisions of the University; not all staff are UCU members and not all members take part in action. However, it is possible that some lectures may be impacted should there be staff absences and our priority will be doing all we can to mitigate the impact on students.

 

We will be communicating with students regularly throughout, including setting out our principles in how we respond to industrial action.


What are we doing about it at Kent?

Negotiations continue to take place locally; the issues being discussed are important and by working together we have made progress in a number of areas already.

 

This includes strengthening the work we have done to reduce the use of casual contracts at Kent, a 10% increase in the annual stipend for PHD scholarships, and a continuing commitment to uphold the principles of the redundancy avoiding agreement.

 

Find out more on pay, pensions and working conditions.

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