Over 100,000 thousands students may be affected by a marking boycott on 6th
November as academics rebel over proposed pension changes.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will stop any
planned exams and stop students receiving coursework, formal marks or feedback.
The UCU says the action is necessary after the plans
proposed from employers are: “full of holes and the information they are
apparently relying on to back them up keeps being exposed as misleading.”
The UCU held a ballot in which 87% of the people that voted
were in favour action short of walkouts, such as the boycott. Although over
three quarters of the voters were in favour of complete strike action.
The turnout for the vote was 45%.
Talks between the Union and University UK, the employers who
are proposing the pension scheme change, are due to be held the day after the
Boycott starts on the 7th November.
In response to the industrial action, Universities UK
released a statement on their website saying that: “We are disappointed that
the UCU has decided to pursue a damaging course of industrial action aimed
directly at disrupting students' education.
“Taking industrial action will not make the
substantial scheme deficit and the risks to the future viability of the scheme
go away.”
