I was offered a sessional lecturing gig at a university a few weeks ago. It’s a role where I provide emergency cover for departments in need, go in, boss the course, get the students engaged, and then leave. I was offered approx £4k for the 22 hours of teaching plus prep and assessment (thank you union for doing that negotiating for me!).
Then the kicker: the uni pulled the contract the morning I was due to start. I was too expensive and the request had come from the wrong department. So I suggested that the appropriate department submit a request, and they replied that they’d get me a professional expert position instead for this term (no union negotiating for me there). It came with a slight pay cut.
I made them sweat.
Realistically, I know I need the work, and was going to agree, but I kept pushing back with queries and requests. Final request was that travel be covered as an expense, a request I made on the Thursday before I was due to start on the Monday.
They agreed, and now they’re paying me more than they would have done before, plus I get to travel first class to teach for them every week! So my thanks go out to that university HR higher up who rejected the original staffing request.