4月末、UoMから次のようなメールが送られてきました。
Dear FBMH students,
You are probably aware that the University and College Union (UCU) have now announced their Action Short of a Strike (ASOS) will include a marking and assessment boycott (MAB), which began on 20 April 2023.
To understand what this means, UCU defines a marking and assessment boycott as stopping
“all marking and assessment processes that contribute to summative assessment decisions for students/learners, whether final (such as graduation/completion) or interim (such as progression decisions).”
While we expect that the majority of staff will continue to work as usual, we also acknowledge that some will be exercising their legal right to take industrial action. We anticipate that most of our students will experience little, if any, disruption, and our focus is on minimising the disruption to your studies where it does occur.
As a result of the UCU announcement you may be unsure of what this means for you, or be concerned about how it may affect your progression or graduation. We want to assure you that we fully understand these concerns and are actively working to minimise the disruption you may experience. We are prioritising activities to support final year students and to ensure students can progress to their next year of study as expected. We are also working closely with the professional bodies to ensure that your degrees retain full accreditation.
Please continue to engage fully with your studies and all assessment opportunities, including returning and submitting all coursework, practical work and preparation for exams unless you hear otherwise from your Programme team. Information and support for students preparing for exams and assessments is available online. There is no need to submit a request for consideration of mitigation circumstances specifically in relation to strike action. We have mitigation plans in place to ensure your assessments will be marked.
Our priority is to ensure you are treated fairly, that you are not disadvantaged and that we retain the academic integrity of our programmes and awards. Programmes will provide examination boards with information of any disruption and this will be taken into account when reviewing marks.
If your programme is impacted by the action, we will be in contact to keep you informed as soon as possible, as the marking and assessment boycott develops.
Best wishes,
幸い私が受けているコースの教員はストライキに参加せずきちんと採点をしてくれましたが、日本の大学院ではありえないこの事態、どうやら英国では常習化しているようです。
大学職員の給与、労働条件、年金削減に対するストだったようですが、Semester 1とSemester 2の間だったので、Examやassignmentの評価が宙ぶらりんになってしまった学生がいたようです。
どうやら、COVID-19パンデミック以降労働争議が増え続けており、インフレにも関わらず賃金が上がらず、生活が苦しいことが原因のようです。大学職員以外に看護師、救急隊員、鉄道、郵便などいわゆるエッセンシャルワーカーの人々も含まれます。
興味深いのは国民の約60%が労働者のストを支持している点で、労使関係について日本とはだいぶ姿勢が違うように思います。
労働者の権利は守られなければなりませんが、ストにより不利益を受ける人々がいるのは間違いないので、どこで矛を収めるか妥結点を考えていて欲しいものです。
それから、大学のexamやassignmentの評価はスト中もきちんと行うなど、権利を主張するだけでなく自分の果たすべき義務は全うして欲しいものです。
今回はパンデミックが引き金となりましたが、経済状況が悪くなり社会に余裕がなくなると人々の心がすさみ、世の中が嫌な雰囲気に包まれます。
これから私たちが世の中を再生していかなければならないわけですが、労働者たちがストを起こさないで済むような良き世にしたいものです。
オトナガクモンのすすめ 