Newcastle University and five other universities have threatened to deduct 100% of staff pay indefinitely for taking action short of a strike (ASOS), according to the UCU
The UCU defines ASOS as “working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action and not undertaking any voluntary activities”.
Staff taking ASOS are still continuing to work and not going on strike. However, these threats from universities have only led to the possibility of more strike action.
UCU secretary Jo Grady has weighed in on this on the UCU site: “In action short of a strike, many staff will work strictly to their contract. The fact that some university bosses consider this worthy of a deduction in pay demonstrates the extent to which the sector has become addicted to staff working themselves into the ground and beyond what they are contractually required to do”.
On 8 February, Newcastle University UCU is on ASOS and STRIKE (@NewcastleUniUCU) tweeted about this:
The UCU strikes at Newcastle University will continue this week from 28 February to 2 March.
