Resources for PGR members
Why join UCU as a PGR?
By joining the UCU, you can collectively organise with other postgraduates and staff to improve pay, guarantee consistent working conditions, and end the widespread use of casualised work in higher education. You will also be able to access casework and representation from the union in cases of disputes with the university.
Workers in higher education are currently facing unprecedented precarity and budget squeezes. The UCU, as the largest trade union for workers in higher education, is the main way we can organise to guarantee our rights and fair pay. This includes postgraduates researchers and graduate teaching assistants who do some of the most important work for the university, but are also extremely casualised workers.
Postgraduates are entitled to join the UCU at ucu.org.uk/join, as a
● Student member if you are a postgraduate researcher
or as a
● Full member if you have a teaching contract with the university.
In recent years UCU, locally and nationally, has achieved many improvements for postgraduates. The local branch renegotiated the graduate teaching contract under which postgraduates are employed. This allowed graduate teaching assistants to be recognised as employees and access the same occupational sick pay, maternity leave, and incremental pay increases that other lecturers are entitled to. Nationally, UCU campaigned in 2022 to raise the UKRI minimum stipend by 10% on top of the already announced increase, easing the financial burden of inflation and rising bills.
There is still lots of work to be done. Our current focus is to guarantee consistent and clear working and pay conditions for postgraduates across every school at the university. We are in the process of mapping the varying conditions across different schools. This is a lot of work and requires students from as many schools as possible. The national UCU also has a long-standing campaign to have postgraduate researchers recognised as staff, allowing us to receive the same benefits and remuneration for our work that contracted researchers receive.
If you want to help work for better conditions for postgraduates, both here in St Andrews and nationally, join UCU today at ucu.org.uk/join.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I join the union if I do not have a contract with the university?
Yes. Any student at a university is welcome to join as a student member. If you are not contracted to the university, you will not be able to vote in industrial ballots or receive representation from the union. However, you can attend meetings and join us in organising efforts.
2. What should I do if I want to get involved in postgraduate union organising?
We have regular meetings to update on progress and plan for the future; they are advertised in different schools and welcome to all. If you want to discuss how you might be able to help, you can contact the postgraduate representative on the local UCU branch, Marta Duran Arranz, at mda21@, or ordinary member Harry MullineauxSanders, at hm255@.
3. Where is information about PGR organising shared?
The local branch of the UCU has a Slack channel. This is where we do most of our organising, schedule meetings, and share information. You can join this channel if you are a member of the union. After joining, you will receive a welcome email from the local branch, inviting you to join the slack channel. We keep shared resources on the local branch’s Google Drive, to which you can request access as a member of the union. If you’ve joined and have yet to receive a welcome email or have any problems accessing Slack or the Google Drive, contact mda21@.
4. Do I count my stipend when entering my income while joining the union?
No. All that matters for union membership is taxable income. Stipends are non-taxable and so do not count. You should only enter income you receive from work contracted with the university (tutoring, marking etc.). You will most likely be in the lowest income bracket (F6<£5000).