ALT 12 March 2025: Voluntary Severance Scheme opened for targeted areas, including: School of Mathematical Sciences (SMS), School of Physical and Chemical Sciences (SPCS), Institute of Dentistry (IoD), Institute of Health Science Education (IHSE), William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI), School of Geography, School of History, School of the Arts. All Professional Service Colleagues are invited to a Voluntary Severance Scheme. It stays open for a month, until 8 April.

ALT ASOS deductions at employment tribunal The East London Employment Tribunal will be hearing two claims against deductions made at QMUL during the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) that was part of Action Short of a Strike (ASOS) in 2023.

ALT timeline The justice system imposes short turnovers on workers, else claims are dismissed. All the while, managers stretch out punishment, and the courts delay and remain obscure until the last minute. summer 2024: action short of strike; claimants withdraw a few hours of work July-November 2023: QMUL stretches deductions for five months January 2024: Claimants submit application within three months of the 'incident' Summer 2024: courts remain vague whether a scheduled hearing is preliminary or substantive, public or private September 2024: hearing in employment tribunal future? full hearing?

ALT Legal arguments: Trade Union Duty: the deductions amounted to a failure to give trade union officials paid time off for carrying out trade union duties Black Listing: making ASOS deductions involved the compilation of a ‘blacklist’. QMUL went further than necessary in gathering info, including apparently selecting some boycotters over others in an arbitrary & discriminatory manner. Continuous & Cumulative Harm: QMUL chose to inflict deductions over 5 months with each cut exacerbating the previous one and constituting the whole ‘incident of harm’ from which the three month time limit runs. Human Rights? Will the tribunals, post the Mercer case, take into account the rights-violating absence of a remedy for detriment during industrial action?

ALT Continued work We will not allow employers to use the language of inclusivity to mask the everyday violence of disproportionate pay deductions and other attacks on workers. Organisation: We continue to organise and change the legal landscape for labour, including by going to tribunals and courts. Our efforts and those of supporters are key in holding employers’ economic and emotional violence to account. Communication: Everyone can play their role by spreading the word and doing what you can to support case work and campaigning in your union. politics: We hope the Labour Government addresses the gap in legal protection for workers when they reform the Tories’ anti-strike legislation.