Thank you Prof Picard, as someone trapped in this grim underclass, I
appreciate your call. May I also draw attention to the issue of
short-term research contracts, which offer a couple of months of
part-time payment, inevitably interspersed with long periods of
unemployment.
Thank you
J. Sadie Clifford
On 9/22/16, Robert Picard <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> This is not to shame any particular university and department, by MECCSA’s
> listserv now regularly announces hourly paid lecturers and zero hour posts,
> practices that should be resisted by all scholars.
>
> Hourly paid and zero-hour contracts offer precarious and exploitative
> employment that is damaging to both lecturers and the university. Such
> contracts reduce the academic profession to wage labour and do not recognize
> the value of the years of knowledge and skills development.
>
> Those hold such positions have no job security and limited opportunities for
> advancement. In trying to achieve liveable wages,many of our colleagues are
> often so busy teaching multiples courses or courses at multiple institutions
> that they are unable to make scholarly contributions and enhance
> opportunities for regular employment.
> Their positions also keep them from participating in academic governance and
> departmental strategy and tend to create lower engagement and commitment to
> programmes and students.
>
> While such contracts may sometimes seem a reasonable way to fill unexpected
> openings, meet demands for course without instructors, and reduce expenses,
> their habitual use now means that only about one-third of UK faculty are on
> regular employment.
>
> Faculty should be resisting these practices whenever they arise in their
> departments.
>
> Prof. Robert G. Picard, FRSA
>
>
> University lecturers on the breadline: is the UK following in America’s
> footsteps?
> https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/17/university-lecturers-uk-us-casual-posts-food-stamps
>
> Stamp out casual contracts. https://www.ucu.org.uk/stampout
>
>
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MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education.
This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation.
MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html).
Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list.
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