I am a lecturer meant to be on strike next week

[PicketPickle]

wwyd? I hate academic strikes. I think they punish students who are paying huge money for lectures they never get back. I am in sympathy with the cause - terrible terms and conditions for many of my colleagues including no job security, and our pensions being decimated - but I think there would be other ways to strike. Not to set exams for example, or not to mark them, or not to participate in research thus impacting uni funding. I just can't justify the refusing the teach.

So, do I cross the picket line, teach my students and be a scab (and, er lose nearly a month's pay). Or join my colleagues in action I do not support? Or the third way, in which no one is happy, and put all my course materials online for students to self-teach?

Oh, name change, for obvious reasons.

Before striking I would find out how many attempted suicides there have been among the students at your university in the last month. How many students were sectioned or hospitalised. How long are students with suicidal thoughts or actively self harming waiting for support? I bet you would be surprised how high the numbers are.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all because I spent five years as Senior Tutor, dealing with all sorts of student issues, including students who were suicidal. The counselling wait for students is long, continuity of care is not guaranteed when students move from their home trust to the trust where their university is, and existing conditions are massively amplified under the pressures of university life. That is not a fault of academic or academic-related staff. It’s a fault of poor management and an under-resources system. My own mental health suffered with the strain of my regular workload plus the Senior Tutor work on top where I was going above and beyond for these students. I’m not a trained counsellor yet I was spending several days a week dealing with very distressed students, fighting to get them help. Don’t blame academic staff for the mental health problems in universities. The story is much more involved and is way out of our hands.

Don't be a scab.

I agree with Bezalelle. I was a student not long ago, I missed some teaching time in final year due to strike action. I fully supported the action. My DH is a student and has missed some teaching time too, again his final year and fully supported the strikes.

I’m a lecturer in FE, and we had a load of strikes last year. As a union member, I wouldn’t cross the picket line. My feeling is that if you are going to work, you should resign your union membership. (I say “you” as in “one”.)

I did tell my students I wouldn’t be in, which we’re not supposed to do, but some travel a long way. I did extra work to make sure students were caught up.