Jon,
Thanks for this- I think it is really important and useful to raise this.
At Liverpool we are getting docked 28%- and it bears no relation to the amount
of time we would put in marking exams - which is mostly done evenings/ weekends
etc - as there is no other way of turning around the amount of scripts
otherwise.
It is clear the docking is being used as an intimidatory measure - and I was
wondering about its legality.
Is the AUT nationally able (or willing) to make a legal challenge to this - or
as it is been done locally - does that mean it can only be challenged in each
local situation...
best wishes and solidarity to all those in this situation- but particularly
those at Northumbria,
Dave
Quoting Jon Cloke <[log in to unmask]>:
> For those of you taking the ASOS, please have a look at the e-mail I just
> sent round on our AUT branch mailing list. It may well be something you
> should bring up at your own universities:
>
> This is from an article in this saturday's Guardian (20/5/06) about the
> legality of docking pay:
>
> "So is your boss able to dock your pay? Probably not, says Meriel Schindler,
> head of employment at law firm Withers. "Britain has pretty strong laws
> about docking pay going back to the lkate 19th centrury," she says.
>
> Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 states that "an employer shall
> not make a deduction from wages of a worker employed by him unless the
> deduction is required or authorised by virtue of a statutory provision or
> the worker has previously signified in writing his agreement or consetn to
> the making of the deduction."
>
> That means that University employers, for example, would need to have
> included in every lecturer's employment contract the right to reduce his or
> her salary by a specified amount in the event that the lecturer refused to
> set or mark exams."
>
> In the light of this advice I would like to ask the AUT executive for this
> branch some questions:
>
> 1) Has the branch taken legal advice over staff contracts to determine
> whether or not any attempt to deduct pay at Newcastle would be a breach of
> the ERA 1996?
>
> 2) If there are no clauses that would allow employers to dock staff pay, has
> the branch advised the University authorities that any attempt to authorise
> such deductions at the forthcoming Senate meeting would be breaking the law
> and would result in immediate legal action being taken by the AUT?
>
> 3) Does the AUT have in place a strategy to undertake this kind of legal
> action as a union, which I would expect as a bare minimum from the branch
> executive, rather than leaving it to individual lecturers?
>
> Dr Jon Cloke,
> Lecturer,
> School of Geography, Politics and Sociology,
> University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
> Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU
> Tel: 0191 222 8939
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
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