The Socialist 17 July 2013

All strike together!

'We've had enough' - All strike together!

Urgent - trade unions must build a political voice for the working class

Fire cuts, pay cuts, pension cuts, job cuts

MPs' pay to rise to £74,000...

Another drugs company scam

G4S tagging scandal: another failure of privatisation

Them & Us

USA: Zimmerman, Trayvon and racism

'Black July' - Sri Lanka 1983 and the beginning of civil war

End violence against women!

The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Lecturers in Wales expose working conditions

Victory for teachers at UEL

Equinox workers strike again

Fight Royal Mail privatisation!

Workplace news in brief

Greens rejected in Brighton

Bedroom tax non-payment soars in Scotland: Stop evictions

Councils: Don't do the Con-Dems' dirty work!

'Sick Of Your Boss?' week of action reports

Durham Miners' Gala shows mood for new party

Campaigning against anti-LGBT bullying in schools

Lincolnshire - save our libraries

Building the Socialist Party

Who are the real criminals?

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/774/17117

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 17 July 2013 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | PDF | ebook

Victory for teachers at UEL

The state has been withdrawing funds from higher education for over three decades. The cuts began in the 1980s with the new era of marketisation.

One of the consequences of this has been a change in the structure of academic employment with increased casualisation of teaching.

Universities have discovered that PhD students are cheap, highly motivated and disposable labour. But they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

But PhD students at the University of East London (UEL) have fought off attempts to make them teach on low wages or even for free.

This particularly affected international students who receive a bursary to cover only the cost of their fees.

They are tied into a contractual agreement with the university in which they undertake this exploitative labour.

But a joint campaign was launched which won a major victory. Now all schools will be encouraged to employ postgraduate students.

They must contract postgraduates as hourly paid lecturers, paying them for marking and preparation. Schools will also have to advertise such vacancies to their postgraduate students and postgraduates will undergo teacher training. Students on scholarships/studentships who are asked to teach will be paid.

But it's important that postgraduates who teach do not become complacent. It wasn't until 2000 that postgraduates employed by British universities became eligible for full membership of the University and College Union (UCU). So the fight for decent pay and working conditions must go on.

In this issue

Socialist Party news and analysis

'We've had enough' - All strike together!