Would you snitch on uni staff to get back those extra teaching hours?

There’s no denying that the lecturer strikes have been pretty disruptive to students’ education recently, however, most have been in support of their lecturers’ fight for better pay and working conditions.

With days of strikes through February (and more potentially planned for March depending on the outcome of current negotiations), some universities are resorting to sly tactics to find out exactly who from their staff is going on strike and therefore not providing students with the education they paid for.

Already named and shamed as the “worst University employer in the UK” by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU), it seems Queen Mary University London is living up to this reputation with its latest action against staff.

Why are staff striking?

Staff have been on strike off and on for the last year to spark negotiations with universities around improved pay, better working conditions and better pensions. Strikes have taken place across almost every university in the UK, with around 70,000 university staff striking.

You can find out more about the reasons behind the strikes, plus the plans on dates for March’s strikes in our article.

What’s happened?

University staff will already miss out on pay for the days they have been on strike, as is normal for this kind of action, however, the university is also threatening to deduct 100% of their pay from November to January for any missed teaching time that hasn’t been rescheduled.

How do they plan to find out which university teaching staff have failed to reschedule their classes? By getting students to snitch on them, of course. 

The university has sent out forms for students to fill out on missed classes that are yet to be rescheduled. This has obviously horrified both teaching staff and pupils alike and once again placed students in the middle of a fight which has nothing to do with them.

One staff member at the Queens told The Guardian that a pupil had come to them upset as they had filled in a form about missed classes without realising the repercussions for their teacher.

Another professor at the university took to Twitter with her letter of resignation to the university, citing that “the last straw was the cruel, craven call by management for students to snitch on us.”

The worst thing is that the worry for university staff has been heightened as they now not only risk a few days’ wages but potentially months of unpaid salary if reported by a student for not reorganising teaching time. 

There is hope, though, for both staff and students as negotiations seem to be making headway. Talks around zero-hour contracts, pay and pensions have seen “significant progress” which could mean no more strikes if talks continue to stay positive.

How would you feel about snitching on your lecturers to ensure you were getting in those contact hours? Join the conversation on our Instagram and follow us to keep up to date on the latest student news.