Case study: Trickle down economics

We asked striking staff members to tell us about their personal experiences of how the themes of the strike have affected them. Below, we hear from someone who teaches on a temporary part-time basis, which is especially common for people in the first few years after their PhD. Temporary and part-time lecturers often would like to move in to full-time permanent academic employment, but such jobs are extremely hard to come by due to the increase in casualisation in the UK higher education sector. Insecurity and lack of prospects force many bright, able people out of academia.

Part-time lecturers often have to take whatever work they are offered

The following experience left me angry and depressed, as it shows how part-time and temporary staff can be very badly treated by universities.

A two year position became available at another London college (not UCL). The position was to provide cover for a full time member of staff who had won research funding.

I was contacted by the head of the department about this position, and after discussing what was involved I asked about how much I would be paid. The answer was that I would be paid individually for each module taught, with the total pay for one year being about £9000. So over the two years, I would earn £18000. What I did not know during this conversation was that the college had been given around £100000 by the research funding body to cover the two years teaching. In other words, they intended to pay me just a fraction (less than 1/5) of the money that they had been given for the replacement teaching.

This reveals an attitude that can only be described as scandalous and contemptible. Part-time temporary staff, such as myself, work in situations of insecurity and financial uncertainty. The department in question wanted to take advantage of this, keeping most of the research money for itself, knowing that part-time lecturers often have to take whatever work they are offered. They showed no interest in supporting my academic career. Incidents like this do not happen in a vacuum. (I did not take up the position, and in the end the college was pressured by the funding body to change its offer.)