Nice email Patrick!
I am sorry to inform you that you took time to actually respond to
(something like) a bot.
It recently transpired that Michael Keith's answer to Mariya is just a *
canned *response with which he replies to repeated complaints about the job
terms of COMPAS. This I take to be nothing but a PR effort to present
COMPAS in a good light ("we care about public opinion and tend to be
responsive") which however, rings hollow when you get the same canned
response every time you want to raise an issue with their employment
practices. It also speaks tonnes about how much they actually care about
their workers or struggle to solve the problem of casualisation, as they
claim.
Let's not waste our time replying to automatic canned messages but instead
concentrate our efforts in liaising with trade unions, campaigners, etc
like you suggested.


On 17 November 2014 11:07, Patrick Bresnihan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Michael Keith,
>
> Your response to the stream of angry replies on this mailing list a few
> days ago was all too familiar and rings increasingly hollow. You cannot say
> "casualization is a serious problem" and that you are "working extremely
> hard to ensure continuity of employment" when you have succeeded in
> advancing the cause of casualization through such job advertisements. The
> reason there has been such outrage (not only on this mailing list but
> across social media where your job ad and Mariya's response have been
> circulating widely) is because COMPAS are advancing a new precedent not
> just in terms of conditions and pay but in terms of your language ('casual
> researcher') which serves to normalize such positions rather than
> challenging them.
>
> At the same time, it is clear that this is not just a problem with COMPAS.
> The responses from people (and no doubt there are many more that were not
> shared publicly due to fear) have been overwhelming in terms of describing
> both their frustration and feelings of anxiety, depression and worry about
> their futures due to the growing tendency towards casualization. The issue
> is about the structure of the university system which is orientated around
> competition for funding and 'human resources', which creates a race to
> bottom - cutting costs and undermining the conditions necessary for
> meaningful study, research and teaching. Those who lose out the most are,
> of course, those who are most vulnerable and desperate - the growing
> numbers of unemployed and under-employed researchers who are grateful for
> any kind of work that comes their way - in this way we are supposed to feel
> 'lucky' to find such work. I have no doubt that COMPAS have already
> received many applications for the positions advertised, even from people
> who understand how unfair it is.
>
> "Endeavouring to be supportive of your workers" is not going to get us
> anywhere in terms of changing the situation we find ourselves in. As the
> response (from thousands across social media) to the initial email from
> Mariya shows, there is a growing number of angry and resentful early and
> mid-career academics. As the people most affected by the way the university
> system is currently being financed and organized, we need to speak out
> against these kinds of job offers but also think and do more about
> organizing ourselves in our departments, universities and across countries
> (because this kind of mobility is part of our realities now) so that we can
> actually start challenging these dynamics in more concrete and meaningful
> ways.
>
> Yours, Patrick Bresnihan
>
> P.s. perhaps it would be a good idea for people who are involved in
> groups/campaigns/sympathetic unions to share more about what they are doing
> already?
>
>
>
>
>
> On 14 November 2014 10:06, Gil Middleton <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Mariya,
> > Many thanks for initiating this very important discussion. Your email was
> > passed on to me to reply to as Director of COMPAS. Casualization of
> labour
> > is a serious problem, particularly in academia which is one of the most
> > highly casualized industries in the UK. Indeed a lot of COMPAS staff,
> > including many above post-doctoral level, are on time limited contracts
> and
> > we work extremely hard to ensure continuity of employment, whether in
> this
> > or other institutions.
> > There are some situations when it is hard to avoid short term contracts.
> > For example, projects where it is unlikely that one person would have the
> > range of language skills that are required for interviewing. Research
> > projects that acknowledge the multiple diversities of contemporary
> Britain
> > can support and be supported by researchers whose qualifications are not
> > postdoctoral but who make a valuable contribution to research that is
> > acknowledged in the production of results. We endeavour to be as
> supportive
> > as possible to all our staff, no matter how long their contract, in order
> > to ensure best practice within a highly constrained environment. In all
> of
> > these circumstances we recognise how important it is to consider
> researcher
> > roles and power relations within our research practices.
> > Once again, thank you for comments.
> > With best wishes
> > Michael Keith
> >
> >
> > *************************************************************
> > *           Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
> > *  http://www.anthropologymatters.com            *
> > * A postgraduate project comprising online journal,    *
> > * online discussions, teaching and research resources  *
> > * and international contacts directory.               *
> > * To join this list or to look at the archived previous       *
> > * messages visit:                                             *
> > * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML   *
> > * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all    *
> > * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to:   *
> > *        [log in to unmask]                  *
> > *                                                             *
> > *       Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new        *
> > *       CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com        *
> > *    an international directory of anthropology researchers
> > *
> > * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and            *
> > * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page.
> *
> > *
> > ***************************************************************
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Irish Research Council Post-doctoral Fellow
> Maynooth University
> (+353) 851288836
>
> *************************************************************
> *           Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
> *  http://www.anthropologymatters.com            *
> * A postgraduate project comprising online journal,    *
> * online discussions, teaching and research resources  *
> * and international contacts directory.               *
> * To join this list or to look at the archived previous       *
> * messages visit:                                             *
> * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML   *
> * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all    *
> * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to:   *
> *        [log in to unmask]                  *
> *                                                             *
> *       Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new        *
> *       CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com        *
> *    an international directory of anthropology researchers
> *
> * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and            *
> * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page.                                  *
> *
> ***************************************************************
>

*************************************************************
*           Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
*  http://www.anthropologymatters.com            *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal,    *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources  *
* and international contacts directory.               *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous       *
* messages visit:                                             *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML   *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all    *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to:   *
*        [log in to unmask]                  *
*                                                             *
*       Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new        *
*       CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com        *
*    an international directory of anthropology researchers
*
* To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and            *
* go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page.                                  *
*
***************************************************************