Boris says "Dock boycotting lecturers' wages"

Boris Johnson has entered the row about the AUT/NATFHE assessment/marking boycott with a call for lecturers taking part in the boycott to have their wages docked for the work they are not doing. In a letter to the head of Universities UK he says:

For thousands of students across the country, the degree they hope to receive is a crucial self-defining moment.

Their degrees, and their grades, will be vital to their job prospects for years to come.

It is therefore unthinkable and outrageous that these exams should not be marked.
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I hope very much that you will urge all your members of Universities UK to consider docking the pay of academics who refuse to mark exams.
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[The shadow education secretary said withdrawing their labour might be their right.]

But if they persist in causing such uncertainty and distress among students, then it must surely be the right of universities to refuse to pay them.

With heavy levels of opposition to the boycott and its impact getting even worse, one can only hope that a resolution comes soon.