In previous branch guidance – see https://bristolucu.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/do-not-complete-the-industrial-action-staff-notification-online-form/ – members were asked to:
- not fill in the Industrial Action Staff Notification Form on SharePoint.
- respond to direct questions addressed specifically to you by your line manager about not undertaking specific, individual marking or assessment tasks which have been allocated to you, that being only answerable after (not before) marking is due to be released.
- reply that the question is only answerable after the scheduled release of marking, if asked before said scheduled release.
Branch officers would like to update said guidance, so as to clarify that members should not fill in the SharePoint Industrial Action Staff Notification Form both before and after the scheduled release of marking, and to make sure that members keep to their duty to report truthfully that they have taken strike action or action short of strike, if asked by a line manager.
- Members should respond truthfully if asked whether they are currently participating in action short of a strike including a Marking and Assessment Boycott by a line manager, although they can only respond truthfully after the date on which their marking, for example, is due for release. See the suggested email response ‘I cannot answer this question until after the date of release’ in our original guidance [link]. Members do not need to report in advance of any marking or assessment they intend to boycott.
- Members do not need to fill in the online SharePoint form ‘Industrial Action Staff Notification Form’, asking them to record both the start and end of their MAB participation (unless going on leave and not eligible to take action. Members going on maternity or annual leave, for example, should indicate that they are no longer MAB-ing).
- Instead, members should record their MAB activity, what they did not mark during the boycott, to report back (to a direct query) at the conclusion of the MAB (in arrears as with ‘normal’ strike action), so as to show that the work not undertaking was in pursuit of lawful industrial action.
In short, members should not use the SharePoint form.
Members are advised to keep a record of their MAB activity, what they did not mark during the boycott, for their own records.
bristolucu 