Deadly issue of workloads


Hundreds of staff at Cardiff University have signed an open letter drafted by the UCU lecturers’ union demanding action over workloads following the suicide of business tutor Malcolm Anderson. 


An inquest into his death heard he had been “silently struggling” with his workload. UCU says Anderson’s is the second work-related suicide in four years and that high work pressure is impacting on colleagues’ mental and physical health. It says there has been a failure of leaders and governors to address the “long-standing and systemic problem of excessive workload”.


The union’s letter to Colin Riordan, the university’s vice-chancellor, members of the executive board and Cardiff University’s council calls for “robust and meaningful action” rather than “an ineffectual and facile tackling of the symptoms of overwork, such as a review of provision for mental health and counselling services, more “PHEW” events, emails encouraging staff to take annual leave, or vague commitments to “well-being’”. 


The UCU recently launched a national workloads campaign, It’s Your Time, Let’s Get It Back, in response to members’ growing concerns about excessive demands at work in both higher and further education.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfE7rzIeXl0lJxZ0wynqzvpuW5FrzQZTdKEGwrnZE4-i_sCHQ/viewform

https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/9458/Its-your-time-UCU-workload-campaign-overview/pdf/ucu_its_your_time_campaign-overview.pdf