News

Lecturers on precarious contracts work in ‘easy-fire’ culture

More than one in four of the teaching workforce in further education is employed on “insecure or precarious contracts”, according to the University and College Union (UCU).

The most common form of these contracts is an “hourly paid teaching contract” – whereby lecturers are paid an hourly rate for teaching duties. Almost 70 per cent of those insecurely employed are these contracts.

A report published on Friday (June 9) warns of an emerging “shadow further education sector” whereby colleges are using wholly owned subsidiary companies to hire teachers on inferior terms and conditions.

The UCU says these companies employ staff on “casualised worker contracts” which deny them the same rights as permanent staff. These rights include protection from unfair dismissal, the right to redundancy pay and maternity leave, and being part of the pension scheme.

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