FAQs on ASOS

While a strike is a concerted stoppage of all work, ‘action short of a strike’ (ASOS) is normally action which affects only certain aspects of your work. Under the Trade Union Act 2016 the union must (in England, Wales, and Scotland) indicate in advance and ballot members on the types of ASOS we are likely to call upon members to take. In Northern Ireland the union can ballot for action without specifying the types of ASOS.

UCU members were balloted on the following forms of ASOS:

· working to contract

· not covering for absent colleagues

· not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action

· not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action

· not undertaking any voluntary activities.

Members should be clear that, if they are taking part in any of the ASOS described above, on days that are not strike days they should continue with their other normal duties.

Decisions over when different forms of ASOS are called are made through the democratic mechanisms of the union.

Working to contract means abiding strictly by the terms that your contract of employment (or other formal documents relating to your employment) specifies as your hours of work; breaks; workload; or other matters.

Most higher education contracts specify a nominal working week of 35-38 hours. In the case of many academic staff there is a further contractual stipulation that staff may be expected work beyond those hours as reasonably necessary to fulfil their duties.

As part of this action we want to expose just how much of our own well-being and free time is regularly sacrificed just to keep the system that exploits us afloat, by simply asking all UCU members to work to contract. University senior management needs to be forced to confront the unsustainable and dangerous amounts of work created for us, by making our overwork their problem. See also our detailed FAQs on working to contract.

This means that unless your job is wholly or predominantly about covering for other staff, you should refuse to provide cover. An example of this might be where a colleague is unwell and you are asked to take on their teaching or other work.

Members refusing to add further to the resources that were already available prior to action ASOS commencing will be covered by this ASOS, so once the ASOS begins members should refrain from uploading teaching materials for teaching sessions that will be cancelled due to strike action. Members should not upload new material for use in relation to a specific lecture, tutorial etc. which is cancelled due to strike action, and which the individual member would normally upload for use by students on that day if it were not for the fact the member was on strike.

Please note that whilst sometimes UCU does ask members to remove materials that have already been uploaded and which relate to cancelled teaching sessions, on this occasion UCU is not asking members to do this. Members who have already uploaded materials related to cancelled teaching sessions should leave those materials on the VLE. However, if you know that a class will be cancelled and have not yet uploaded the materials, you should not upload them.

By ‘lectures or classes’ we mean any activity between any UCU member and a student or group of students which involves any instruction, tuition, communicating or sharing of knowledge or guidance.

This includes teaching which would have taken place on one of UCU’s strike days and covers instructional activities undertaken by UCU members who are academic-related professional services staff, as well as academic staff. You should, if asked, refuse to reschedule such sessions, stating that you are supporting UCU’s action short of a strike. If you are under pressure from your employer or management to reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action, please contact Dundee UCU: ducu@dundee.ac.uk or UCU’s Scotland office: scotland@ucu.org.uk

Once the action has started you should not teach rescheduled classes whoever has rescheduled them.

Not undertaking any voluntary activity means that where you have a choice as to whether you undertake some work, you should not do it. Contracts differ but, for example, weekend working is voluntary for some staff. In some departments, certain roles are also voluntary.

If you are in any doubt about what you are required to do under your contract, check your contractual documents which may include your offer letter, statement of main terms and conditions, and any staff handbook and talk to your UCU representative. See also the detailed FAQs: What is and is not ‘voluntary’?

It is often the case that management will send out emails/letters demanding that you declare in advance whether you will be taking industrial action, including the various forms of ASOS currently being called. This is intended to minimise the effect of the action and can have the effect of misleading and intimidating members.

You are under no obligation to inform your employer/manager in advance as to whether you will be taking part in strike action or action short of a strike. UCU will have provided your employer with all the information about the action required by law.

If you are asked about whether you are participating in ASOS you should respond only in terms of what action you have taken/are currently taking, but not answer about future intentions regarding ASOS. This will mean that university senior management will need to keep checking for confirmation as to whether you have participated in ASOS and what forms of ASOS you have participated in and when.

If you are asked directly whether you participated in ASOS in the past, or are participating in it now (whatever the timeframe, be it last week, yesterday, or today) you should respond truthfully, but you should not declare your intentions regarding future action.

UCU produced a separate FAQ/guidance for academic-related professional services (ARPS) staff on action short of a strike.

No, taking action short of a strike means refusing to undertake the duties/activities specified, it does not mean that you can refuse a reasonable request from your employer to undertake something, unless it is covered explicitly by ASOS.

How reasonable any request is will depend on the terms of your contract and custom and practice. If in doubt, or if your actions are challenged by someone senior to you, you should temporarily suspend your action and contact your branch who will seek further advice.

Yes, your employer is entitled to make deductions from your pay if you participate in industrial action, including most forms of ASOS.

If the ASOS called consists solely of ‘working to contract’, then an employer cannot impose pay deductions when you are fulfilling your contract; where the union calls ASOS that goes beyond ‘working to contract’ and involves refusal to undertake particular contractual duties, such action involves members breaching their contracts of employment.

While an employer cannot lawfully dismiss an employee for participating in ASOS where that action and the consequent breach of contract is covered by a legal industrial action ballot, an employer can refuse to accept ‘partial performance’ of the contract, and to deduct pay in response to that breach of contract.

Deductions can be up to 100% of pay while you are participating in ASOS (with any work done being deemed to be undertaken on a voluntary basis), although to impose such deductions would be highly punitive and the union would consult members over escalating industrial action in response.

UCU has produced guidance for branches in response to threats of ASOS deductions (100% deduction or partial deduction). Please contact scotland@ucu.org.uk for more information.