The University and College Union held a national Anti-Casualisation Day of Action last week as part of a campaign to ‘Stamp Out Casual Contracts’.
Critics of ‘zero-hour contracts’ – termed ‘variable hour contracts’ by the University of Oxford – argue that such agreements threaten employment rights and job security for academic and support staff. UCU claims that the use of zero-hour contracts in the education sector, particularly with regard to post-16 tuition, has increased tenfold since 2004. According to a report by the union, 112 further education colleges employed almost a third of workers on these contracts, with one Welsh university’s English undergraduate programme taught entirely by temporary staff.
A statement from the University of Oxford said, “Variable hours contracts are full University contracts of employment that may be of permanent or fixed duration. They are used when it is not possible to predict the number of hours of work available.
“Many of those with variable hours contracts also have permanent contracts. Variable-hours contracts are effectively ‘hourly-paid’ but crucially they are employment contracts not worker contracts, and so bring employment protections and benefits.”
The spokesperson added that, “Oxford regulations limit casual letters of engagement to 12 weeks’ duration, as part of a policy to provide employees with regular employment contracts, providing benefits such as sick leave and appropriately graded pay.
“The University uses these contracts because the degree of flexibility they provide is important in enabling us to do our work.”
However, Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU, criticised this justification, commenting, “Employers often hide behind the defence of flexibility in justifying the use of casual contracts, but that flexibility is very much a one-way street. It might be good for employers but it leaves employees unable to make financial plans on a year-to-year, or even month-to-month and week-to-week basis.
“The UK’s excellent academic reputation has, unfortunately, been built upon the disgraceful exploitation of thousands of temporary staff, with universities and colleges using the fierce competition for permanent jobs to create a no-rights culture for teachers and researchers.”
Hunt also expressed concern that the casualisation of academic work impacted negatively on students, who suffer due to lack of continuity and reduced access to staff employed on minimal hours.
Second year English student, Charlie Jarvis, said, “Fortunately students at Oxford benefit from a culture of long-term academic posts, which tend to promote consistency within teaching.
“However, it is important that University staff, academic and otherwise, are assured of the solidarity of the student body when it comes to protecting employment rights – not just at Oxford but throughout the UK.”
