The University of Essex has rescinded its threat to withhold an entire day¡¯s pay for anyone taking part in a two-hour strike, though many more are set to adopt a harder line on deductions.

Essex was one of several higher education institutions to inform its staff that any University and College Union member taking part in a two-hour stoppage over this year¡¯s 1 per cent pay offer on 23 January ¨C the first of three planned walk-outs ¨C would lose a full day¡¯s pay.

That follows advice from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which said institutions are entitled to withhold a full day¡¯s pay because any walk-out would constitute ¡°partial performance¡± for the day ¨C a legal view disputed by UCU.

About 25 higher education institutions are threatening to withhold a full day¡¯s pay for tomorrow morning¡¯s walkout, Times Higher Education understands.

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However, in a letter to staff, Essex vice-chancellor Anthony Forster said he had changed his mind over the deductions after learning that the UCU intended to hold further day-long strikes if a whole day¡¯s pay was withheld ¨C a move that, he believed, would cause further, unnecessary, disruption to students.

¡°I have had to reflect on whether we would be fulfilling our commitment to putting students at the heart of our thinking by deducting a whole day¡¯s pay,¡± Professor Forster said.

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¡°My colleagues on [the university steering group] and I have concluded that we would not,¡± he added.

In his email, Professor Forster said he recognised that staff did not want to cause disruptions to students, and that their commitment to the union had created ¡°a set of agonising decisions¡± for staff.

¡°I know how long and hard colleagues will have thought about taking industrial action,¡± he said.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt welcomed Essex¡¯s change of strategy and urged other institutions to follow suit, saying they should ¡°spend more time trying to resolve the dispute and less trying to play macho games¡±.

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¡°It is good that the vice-chancellor at Essex has recognised that punitive pay docking not only makes staff even angrier, but it also increases disruption for students,¡± Ms Hunt said.

¡°The baffling behaviour of some vice-chancellors to threaten to lock staff out and therefore increase disruption has more in common with 1930s Chicago than modern industrial relations,¡± she added.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com