Union protest over temporary contracts

The University and College Union is holding a day of action in protest at the prevalence of temporary academic contracts.

Before the day of action on 5 November, the UCU encouraged university staff to highlight the issue by writing to their MPs about the problems that temporary employment contracts create, such as job insecurity and lack of employee rights. The union also organised events at universities across the countries, including meetings, stalls and drop-in sessions.

More than half of the universities in UK employ teaching staff on zero-hours contracts, under which the employee agrees to be available for work on an “on-call” basis, the UCU said in a statement.