Sheffield UCU anti-casualisation win for GTAs

Sheffield UCU (SUCU) has negotiated a new contract for PGRs who teach at the University of Sheffield. This new contract represents a significant improvement for Graduate Teaching Assistants and Associates (GTAs) in terms of job security, work allocation and reward.

Most significantly, the agreement comes close to meeting the principles that are detailed for GTAs within UCU's PGRs as Staff Campaign in full. These form the basis of the relevant demands for GTAs within UCU's national four fights claim. 

Summary of agreement: 

• GTAs will no longer be employed on zero-hours contracts but will instead be engaged on year-long, fixed-term, and hourly-paid contracts that guarantee at least 20 hours of work. 
• Continuity of service will now be provided where GTAs work consecutive contracts, such that they can access employment rights which are linked to periods of continuous employment. 
• Reforms of departmental planning and workload allocation processes will ensure that GTAs are no longer left in the dark about work for the coming academic year. 
• GTAs will now be paid for all required duties including teaching, preparation, meeting attendance, marking and assessment, student support (including emails), and training and development.
• GTAs can access up to 8 paid hours per year for induction, training, and an annual development review. 
• GTAs can access incremental pay rises each year, in addition to all other applicable aspects of the staff reward and recognition scheme.
• New and distinct job descriptions will ensure that GTAs are no longer forced to take on additional responsibilities without being commensurately paid at spine point 30. 
• An implementation review in 2025, which will allow the branch to ensure that the agreement is upheld 

The agreement was won through significant work put into claim-development, campaigning, and negotiation by the Sheffield UCU Anticas Network, in addition to the involvement of UCU members from across the university at many career stages. This included organising around a bargaining survey and postcard campaign, and wide-range consultation with members.

Our extensive Anti-Casualisation Claim was submitted in May 2023, following concessions that were won by the branch in the 2022 marking and assessment boycott. This agreement signals the closing of the first section of that claim.

In the next academic year, we will be taking forward later sections of the claim regarding the University of Sheffield's use of fixed-term contracts and the development of a pathway towards using permanent contracts by default. 

If you'd like to hear more about SUCU's Anti-Cas work, please get in touch with ucu@sheffield.ac.uk.