Staff at a London university say they fear being tipped into poverty after their employer withheld 100 per cent of their pay for periods they were working.
SOAS University of London is accused of making drastic deductions from the payslips of staff this week for taking part in a marking and assessment boycott coordinated by the University and College Union (UCU), even though they were continuing with the rest of their jobs.
While marking is only a fraction of the workload for most academic staff, payslips shared by SOAS staff showed dramatic deductions simply listed as “strike”.
International relations lecturer Dr Ben Whitham shared a payslip showing a £1,535.66 deduction, writing: “Reader, we did not take a single day’s strike action in April.
“We boycotted marking as ASOS (action short of strike). I did all work except some moderation near the end of the month.”
