Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB)

Following the results of the national UCU consultation on the USS pensions proposal the proposed national Marking & Assessment Boycott (MAB) which was due to start on April 20th has been called OFF and Imperial UCU will NOT be commencing a MAB this week. Indeed, all forms of industrial action related to the USS pensions dispute are now on hold.

Note that, (a) the USS pensions dispute is still on, and the the union still has a mandate to take industrial action should discussions go awry, and, (b) many other institutions will still be commencing a MAB this week on the 4 Fights dispute (which Imperial aren’t part of).

Conditional on achieving a mandate on the local pay ballot we may commence a local MAB as part of the local pay dispute. Without going into further detail here the earliest this could possibly begin if it goes ahead is 4th May – of course we will communicate with members in good time about this. If you haven’t already done so please complete our survey to help us organise should we take this action.

More guidance on how to conduct a MAB will become available, but start with this guide from the UCU for a good overview of how it would work.

Update on the 2023-24 pay negotiations

Thank you to everyone who provided commentary on the College’s pay offer. The Joint Trade Unions pay negotiation team used members’ feedback to assist in assembling a detailed response which we sent to management yesterday. This should appear on the College pay award webpage within the next few days. Our next pay negotiation meeting is this Friday.

A summary of the pay negotations is available on our site.

All members’ meeting on Monday 24th April 1 – 2pm

We ask that all UCU members make the time to attend this meeting on Zoom next Monday. Later this week we will receive the results of our local ballot on the pay dispute; the precise content and focus of the meeting is conditional on the outcome so we’ll send a full agenda and Zoom link late on Friday. Either way however, the current pay negotiations will be the headline item. Please reply to this email or contact your local union rep if you have any items to include.

Items for the next College Health & Safety Committee meeting

The College main health & safety committee meets three times a year, and has representatives from all three trade unions attend. We are invited to submit agenda items in advance – we need to submit items from UCU in the next couple of weeks so we are asking members to respond with any possible items for consideration. Either reply to this message or contact your local union rep.