Anyone in the UCU?

[Closetlibrarian]

And striking at end of Feb?

I joined UCU after the last strike, so this will be my first. Even though I voted in favour it, I'm now in an utter quandary. I have an absolute monster of a semester coming up and I'm fretting about all the lectures, tutorials, etc, I'll have to cancel as part of the strike.

If you've gone on strike before how did you present it to your students so that they didn't just get really pissed off with you for cancelling lectures (that we're then, according to UCU, not supposed to reschedule)?

Also, how did you mange with the loss of income? I'm the 'breadwinner', so 14 days of strike action is going to massively impact us (i.e. I'm not sure we'll be able to pay our bills).

Where is the info on the deal being rejected?

Yoga It's on twitter. I also just got an email from our union rep.

Branches rejected. HEC currently meeting (but very unlikely they'll go against the branches).

Question will be how to proceed from here. Negotiating to get this crappy offer was hard enough. I envisage more strikes ahead after Easter.

Gawd it's so miserable. Didn't think much of the deal tho. Just seemed to lower the benchmark for future deals, tho I know there are no easy solutions
What a mess

Off to look at train driver training courses

I take it we're still on strike till Friday then? (Union rep never emails me...)

It is now on the UCU webpage that the deal has been rejected and strikes remain on.

titchy yes - strike on for rest of this week. The UCU will then announce the further 14 post-Easter strike days in due course.

I feel so bad for my students. Our semester starts late compared to others, so we only had 3 weeks of teaching before the strikes started. We have a v. long Easter break and then 4 weeks of teaching in late April/ May. So I anticipate most of those weeks being decimated by the strike. Ugh.

Gosh, so striking till Friday.

I am a bit late to this thread, but can anyone help me with this question: Is it OK to only strike on days where it will actually cause disruption to the university?

This has been advocated by our Union rep. I teach two days and on the other three have been getting on with research.

It seems ridiculous to me in one sense that I should strike but continue to work for nothing. That seems to play into the university's hands, in one sense, as they are getting my labour for nothing. But on the other hand, to only strike on the days that I teach seems terribly unethical.

Sorry if this is a stupid question - I am a novice here.

In reality, some people are striking on all days; some are striking on days they have teaching; a few are striking on days they don't have teaching (where courses are vital for students); some are "working from home" and not declaring one way or another.

It seems, both on this thread and in my university, that different subject areas/staff are taking different attitudes towards teaching too. In my department, making up for missed lectures wouldn't be a big deal because it was planned for by most lecturers anyhow. Most staff have in practice left students material to carry on with.

But I know in other subject areas/departments staff have taken much more strict views of striking - they didn't leave students with material/work to carry on with, as they felt this would undermine the strike.

a few are striking on days they don't have teaching (where courses are vital for students)

^What is the point of this?

I say that as someone extremely concerned for my students and in despair at the thought of more strikes.

I have been working at home on every strike day, because I have a book manuscript due in a few weeks, the deadline for which I can't push, and which I'm already very behind on. As such, I'm declaring to my Uni that I'm striking only on days that I have cancelled teaching/ meetings. This will equate to 11 or 12 days out of the 14. If I was at home doing nothing/ actually making the most of the strike by seeing my children for a change, then I'd declare all 14 days. I do know people who are, e.g., on research leave this semester so not teaching at all, but are still registering as being on strike for all 14 days. So, essentially, people's mileage varies on this issue.

Many argue that the university's only judge the seriousness of the strike by how many people register as having been on strike. But I don't know whether this is actually true. The strike is clearly having a large PR/ public impact beyond university administrators counting up the number of people who admit to being on strike.

Many also argue that working from home during the strike is 'unfair' and making others do the work of striking (ie. picket lines, marches, etc) whilst furthering one's own career through spending time on research. While I do feel conflicted about working on my book during the strike, I feel this attitude is a little harsh. I'm trying hard not to judge anyone else's actions during the strike. Many people have valid reasons for not going on strike.

ugh. universities
Apologies for rogue apostrophe.

a few are striking on days they don't have teaching (where courses are vital for students)

This is for courses that are related to professional exam i.e. if the students don't pass (externally set and moderated) exams then they don't get certain professional qualifications.

I also know staff who are teaching large first year courses that are going to be almost impossible to reschedule. They feel that if these courses don't get taught we are going to be picking up the pieces for the next three years, filling in gaps in students' knowledge.

And then there are staff who are guiding students doing dissertations, on the basis that these form such a large fraction of the mark and simply can't be caught up later.

While I do feel conflicted about working on my book during the strike, I feel this attitude is a little harsh. I'm trying hard not to judge anyone else's actions during the strike.

I think this is important, because people still have to work together after this is over. Many of us don't know everything that is going on in our colleagues' lives.

That’s fine closet what I was querying was from a teaching perspective - specifically asking the previous poster (I forget who, sorry) what is the point of not striking on teaching days because those days are ‘vital’ for students?

I’m querying because my students are missing huge amounts of teaching because I’m not crossing the picket line.

I’m not sure how cherry picking days helps. Isn’t the point to cause disruption?

But user again - all you’re doing is justifying crossing the picket line.

Isn’t the work of my students important too?

You’re essentially advocating others causing disruption for our own students, whilst protecting your own. Where is the solidarity in that?

Or am I missing something?

Isn’t the point to cause disruption?

To the point of your students not getting professional qualifications and not being able to progress to their career, without retaking the required external exams in 2019? Really?

This is surely a very grey area.

You’re essentially advocating others causing disruption for our own students, whilst protecting your own.

I am stating what other people are doing, not what I personally am doing.

I am not advocating anything above.

But, personally, I would not be able to abandon students who are taking externally set professional exams in May and I would not expect anyone else to do so.

The first year courses/dissertations are in a completely different category in my opinion.

However, again, I think it is important to respect that other colleagues may have different viewpoints to your own. You have to work with them after the strike, whether they have been striking or not, teaching or not.

To the point of your students not getting professional qualifications and not being able to progress to their career

You could argue the same for any qualification.

I’m not saying I have the answers. I’m on the verge of losing sleep about what is best to do.

I would also comment that universities are counting in detail the number of people striking. They are not at this point measuring the effects on the students. So if somebody strikes but teaches/helps their students they still count in the official statistics.

It is the statistics that universities are using to measure the impact of the strikes.

Okay - so does that mean you (or others) will teach for free so it’s registered as a statistic but you’re still helping students?

I think that is a really tricky position to be in user.

Or rather, that's a shit position to have been put in by USS trying to totally do one over on our pensions and UUK completely failing to do due diligence on the valuation or to properly lobby their membership for their stance on the issue.

It's crap that we're the front-line who deals with the fall out of this situation. But I guess we have to try not to take on responsibility for the entire situation. Hard, I know, seeing as it's in most of our natures to do just that. After all, isn't that why we continually give up our labour for free by working unpaid overtime, etc.

You could argue the same for any qualification.

No, I'm sorry, it is not the same. Final year students are going to graduate in the summer, even if we have to delay exam periods, base their degree classes on earlier years' work etc. The point is that the university controls the outcomes for the degrees, so can make appropriate allowances and modifications.

This is just not the same as for students taking exams set by external professional bodies.

Closet I agree.

What’s really happening is divide and rule.

I am at a complete loss about how to proceed with this after Easter.

LeChat, was it me? If so, I think I am doing the opposite from what you suggest above. I am ONLY striking on teaching days, which for me is two days a week. I could strike on the other three days but it would cause no disruption to anyone other than me and also I would not get paid. So that seems like a win-win situation for the university. I do see though that I should use the days when I would be teaching to join the picket line or protest and I will look into that.

Okay user - fair enough.

so does that mean you (or others) will teach for free so it’s registered as a statistic but you’re still helping students?

In my department/subject area a number of people who are officially on strike are in practice helping the students. In the case of the professional exams, the classes are actually being held off campus.

(Can I point out BTW that Oxbridge is in a very peculiar position, as I wrote above, because college work is non UUK so not on strike..... i.e. in practice much of the most important teaching is actually happening in Oxbridge.)