When do you think the strikes will be?

[JasminaPashmina]

Just that - when do you think the strikes will happen?

Before Christmas by chance?

Nadine El-Enany is also an academic who believes that due to Britain’s imperial past it should open its borders to all countries it used to oppress in some way. This is not someone who is concerned with political feasibility.
I am seriously considering emailing my line manager and saying that I would regard it as extremely unfair if there were no deduction for strike pay because frankly I am exhausted and have not had time off while being on strike.

Should I?

Up to you although I knew a bunch of the woke crowd read this page so they’ll probably use this as ammunition to show how evil we all are. The UCU needs to step up and increase the amount that can be claimed from the fighting fund but I see Jo Grady is busy tweeting that fucking stupid knitted heart gif for the millionth time.

I don’t think Nadine and reality are well-acquainted actually. This was her during the 2018 strikes, 7 years after the final salary scheme had closed:
twitter.com/nadineelenany/status/974794397194838016?s=21

Must be nice to live with such an unshakable belief that you are always right. You can go on strike, slag off your employer and non-striking colleagues daily for 4 weeks and still it’s your employer’s fault for not paying you your full salary for doing so.

And if anyone should get assistance from the universities, it should be precarious staff and low paid support staff who might otherwise lose their jobs. Not SLs on over 50k with a permanent position. Same as those SLs aren’t hard done by victims who must get a pay rise and have their pension contributions frozen forever (which is all the strike was really about from the outset).

@Daca to be fair, whether striking staff get paid their full salaries is not really high on my list of concerns just now. I wouldn't get crossed if they were, but then I didn't suffer the effects of others walking out. Honestly, if those in precarious or junior contracts didn't get strike deductions I wouldn't make a fuss about it, they probably need it at this stage.

On my ex-branch facebook now they are bemoaning the fact that staff with children at home are being asked to fit some work in around their caring for them, rather than having emergency family leave for the entire duration of the crisis. In other words those of us with no children should pick up all their online teaching, student support, admin and research supervision. If they also want to be paid for three weeks of swanning about on the picket line while the rest of us were picking up the slack then I think they are severely short of collegiality.

We’re so incredibly lucky to work in a sector where we get full pay and are able to work from home. So many people have lost their livelihood with little chance of it being reinstated once the virus is under control. I think that allowances can be made for carers that they might not be able to work at full capacity but no, they cannot have the entire period on full pay. I would imagine that there isn’t much teaching left on the calendar anyway. Those households with two adults will have to work in shifts and take turns. Marking will have to be done while kids are in bed or watching TV (and parents will have to drop any desire to limit screen time) and research will need to be totally parked until the crisis is over. School age kids over say 10 should be able to entertain themselves without constant parental input. Help should be offered to those with disabled kids obviously as well as those providing round the clock care for adults. But one of the people I see complaining about this has a wife who’s a stay at home mum. I appreciate that his house will be a bit noisier but no, he shouldn’t be given three months on full pay.

Arid, I see where you are coming from and I would also want precarious or fixed-term staff to be treated with leniency. But professors (such as the one quoted in the El-Enany tweet) have to realise that no deductions for them now might mean more redundancies and fewer contracts for others in the future. Why aren’t these professors on 60K asking UCU to restrict the strike fund to those earning less than 40K, and to increase compensation?

I couldn’t agree with you more, Chemenger and I’ve also seen a fair bit of moaning about this at my institution. To be sure, though, the unavailability of childcare will mean that colleagues without children are at an advantage when it comes to productivity.

I completely see that people with children at home will find wfh harder than me. I would be happy to have them do less, but to be adamant that they can’t do anything (even with two parents wfh) and shouldn’t have to, is a very entitled position.

Absolutely agree. It’s very, very entitled and just goes to show that many supposedly clever people have not yet grasped the gravity of the situation.
It is perfectly possible to fit in some remote teaching around childcare, unless you have a newborn in which case you’d be on maternity leave. Spare a thought for any colleague who is pregnant right now or has a serious underlying condition.

Maybe I'm being cynical but I think many of the "cancel everything & give us full pay" team are just after some unofficial research leave to finish their books or articles... I've already said this, I think those of us who can should keep things ticking to the greatest extent possible... not only because it will have real consequences for some students (i.e. being able to graduate or not), but because I think it's more helpful for the mental stability of everyone to have some semblance of a routine rather than spend all day indoors worrying.

they are bemoaning the fact that staff with children at home are being asked to fit some work in around their caring for them, rather than having emergency family leave for the entire duration of the crisis

They can have emergency leave. They just can't expect to have indefinite emergency leave that is paid. Institutions have already increased the number of paid days of emergency leave, but nobody can afford to pay people for doing nothing indefinitely.

Yes, I agree. The universities that are being lambasted are the ones who have given a definite response to the question. The ones being lauded are the ones who have fudged things and have just said they will be sympathetic. The latter category are going to start getting pissed off if staff do nothing. I don’t think that is what they meant by saying they would be sympathetic.

There’s a lot of entitlement flying round which I think reflects the fact that many academics come from privileged backgrounds and get angry when they aren’t given exactly what they want.

Quite. KCL say they won't deduct strike pay - good on 'em.

** to be fair, whether striking staff get paid their full salaries is not really high on my list of concerns just now. I wouldn't get crossed if they were, but then I didn't suffer the effects of others walking out. Honestly, if those in precarious or junior contracts didn't get strike deductions I wouldn't make a fuss about it, they probably need it at this stage.

Oh my GOD, is she actually for real?

twitter.com/nadineelenany/status/1241270670807498752?s=21

I shouldn’t be shocked by the level of entitlement at this stage but I actually am. What part of strike action does she not understand?

We've been told we "must put our strike days in the notification system now because otherwise the tax implications are carrying over to next year". Um... although I was actually taking the advice (legal) from various UCU branches that you do NOT have to input them immediately, this was BECAUSE I wanted them deducted in future months. That's the idea. But I fully expect to have all my days deducted!

Yes, I am not sure of the tax logistics. I don’t want to see anyone suffering or going without and therefore I would be in favour of postponing deductions during this crisis. However, the idea that they should be completely cancelled is astounding. It’s a very basic part of strike action that you don’t get paid. Why should the universities ignore the fact that UCU took 22 days of strike and has made it clear that they will take more as soon as things quieten down? I don’t understand that logic.

I suppose the tax thing might be because the tax year closes in April? Maybe at another times there would be more leeway with this kind of thing, but not now.

Some more wtfery from UCULeft: twitter.com/HannahQuirk1/status/1241156398265876482

Wow, my jaw is hanging open. She’s unbelievable. UCU Left is totally undemocratic so it’s particularly galling to see her use that line. They’re the ones who refused to put what in hindsight was a pretty good USS pension offer to its members for instance. They constantly push for fewer member votes and more power for HEC to decide what happens re strike action.

Let’s also not forget that this is someone who fought tooth and nail for a man who had been found to be a serial sexual abuser. She’s not apologised for that or showed any regret. She would have been an equally bad choice for UCU GS as Jo Grady. After seeing that thread, I think she’s both callous and utterly unreasonable. People like this weaken rather than strengthen the union. She wants to sacrifice ordinary members to prove her own political points.

Almost as amusing as a certain women's rep shouting that SOME OF US ANTICIPATED THIS WEEKS AGO!

Not in my name is all I can say ...

UCU is deeply undemocratic. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easily captured by special interest groups.

I’m still annoyed by the fact that it looks like some academics will get paid for not teaching and indulging in self-promotion (book launch rebranded as ‘teach-out’, anyone?) during the strike. You may think I’m being petty but consider this. Student fees pay our wages. We are letting our students down when we strike. And compounding the situation by not responding adequately to this emergency. It’s that simple.

Interesting that Jo McNeill is celebrating the fact that Greenwich and Roehampton are still on strike on 20 March, just after the UK death toll passes 100 and the day on which schools are closing probably for the rest of the academic year. It also says in her twitter profile that she is battling cancer - she must realise how serious the situation is, not least due to her own health?

Times of emergency are usually times when gains can be made for trade unions but it takes skilful leadership to do this. We don’t have this at the moment.

I agree with you entirely Daca