Casualisation of teaching staff in UK universities is endemic. Universities increasingly rely on zero-hour contracts of their teaching staff, leading to precarious, insecure, and unstable working environment for instructors and learning environment for students. At Richmond, often up to 60% of all teaching staff are adjunct faculty on zero-hour contracts. The UCU has called for an end of the use of zero-hour contracts and the improvements to adjunct faculty’s working conditions.
Join us in learning about casualisation in the HE sector, and ways it is being challenged.
Schedule
March 15: Anti-Casualisation Brown Bag Social, 12-1:30pm
Grab your lunch and come imagine the end of zero-hour contracts. All are welcome. Longley Room, Richmond Campus (map) and online (Click here to join the meeting)
March 16: Battling Casualisation in Higher Education Online Panel, 12-1:30pm
Speakers: Dr. Mariya Ivancheva (University of Strathclyde); Kyran Joughin (University of the Arts London); Sam Morecroft (University of Sheffield) Register at: richmonducubranch@richmond.ac.uk Panel Link: Click here to join the meeting
We will also have a Casualisation in HE Information Table on the Richmond campus during these days. Come visit us, and help adjunct faculty get an equal slice of the cake ... featuring real cake!
If you would like to get involved or have any questions, please let us know.
What is Casualisation and Why are We Fighting it at Richmond?
Forms of casualised or precarious employment include: fixed-term contracts, hourly or ‘zero-hours’ contracts. A ‘zero-hours’ contract means that the employer is not obliged to offer any hours of work.
Zero-hours contracts are widespread in the catering and hospitality sector, among agency staff and in higher education. In the UK, 46% of universities and 60% of colleges use zero hours contracts to deliver teaching.[1]
Adjunct faculty feature significantly among your teachers and our colleagues. In 2019 over 60% of Richmond’s Adjunct teaching faculty were on zero-hours contracts. Some Adjunct faculty have been on these contracts for over 25 years.
Employers say zero-hours contracts give employees flexibility – in reality, academics do not feel they can turn down work because they will not be asked to teach again. These precarious contracts cause high levels of stress and make it impossible to make personal plans, apply for loans and develop professionally.
Casualised contracts are also linked to inequality: women and minority groups are more likely to be on fixed or hourly contracts.[2]
Universities also use these contracts because Adjunct faculty are cheaper to employ: Adjunct faculty receive an estimated 60% of the pay of non-Adjunct colleagues.
Because of their insecure contracts, Richmond’s Adjunct faculty bore the brunt of the University’s extensive teaching cuts during the pandemic, leading to widespread unemployment, stress and considerable personal hardship.
Many Richmond Adjunct faculty on zero-hours were given no work for over a year – some still have had no work. Some of our colleagues have had to sell their homes, struggled to pay for food for their families and pay rent – and basic living costs are rising.
This is why we have joined together to demand secure employment. We are negotiating with the University for job security for all teaching staff; we want:
- zero-hours contracts to be withdrawn for Adjunct employees of two+ years standing and replaced with fractional or full-time contracts for those who want them;
- the University to review the pay of Adjunct Associate and Assistant Professors and Instructors to ensure equity.
Casualisation is a problem that affects everyone in Higher Education, which is why it is a key pillar in University College Union’s national Four Fights campaign [3]. Many of our colleagues having been striking to end casualisation.
Universities across the UK have committed to phasing out zero-hours contracts and moving casualised faculty onto secure permanent contracts. We want Richmond to do the same.
[1] Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) 2018/2019
[2] Precarious work in Higher Education: Facts and Figures, UCU Oct. 21
[3]https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/11818/Four-fights-dispute-FAQs