Terms of no endearment

Ursula Riniker (THES, September 13) seems to imagine that poor employment terms in United Kingdom universities are confined to foreign language assistants. In fact, they apply to the growing numbers of non-Higher Education Funding Council for England staff, hourly-paid tutors and underpaid graduate students.

They too are often employed for many years on consecutive yearly fixed-term contracts; they may also be paid a minimal hourly rate which ignores extensive lecture preparation and the marking of assignments and exams.

Some of them are expected to contribute fully to research but are denied study leave. For the hourly-paid, the usual disadvantageous contractual conditions apply (lack of sick pay, maternity leave etc). Even full-time staff conditions can leave something to be desired. Concerning the so-called "pay structure", the criteria for all types of promotion and for confirmation of post are inadequately defined, and gross anomalies exist everywhere.

CLARE GALLAWAY University of Manchester