When do you think the strikes will be?

[JasminaPashmina]

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

Before Christmas by chance?

I have left UCU Chemenger, but do feel a bit vulnerable not having access to legal advice (though one of my colleagues recently had need of such from UCU and said they were next to useless). So I'm looking into joining either Unison or Unite.

I've heard the argument that people need to stay in and stand up to the bullies together, but I can count on two hands the number of academics that are actually prepared to do that.

I hit the button. Not a union member for the first time in 30 years since I started work. I don't feel "woke" enough for UCU so I'm sure they're glad not to have my £20 a month.

Woo, congrats. I am going to leave too but I want them to know why so I am going to call them tomorrow to explain why, regrettably, they will not be getting my subscription money anymore.

@Dolorabelle and @Pota2 Move over, I need to be on the ducking stool too.

I'm so glad the strikes are done. I agree, they've achieved nothing and I think students are actually probably grateful of the time to work on assignments as we head towards the end of term. Idiotic.

I'm going to sleep on it but more than likely ending my UCU membership tomorrow.

This thread seems to suggest indeed that not much has been achieved on the USS dispute... and I don't have much faith for the precarity one either:

twitter.com/Sam_Marsh101/status/1202241614011404288

Oh great, so we’re back at the beginning again. Could UCU maybe outline precisely what it is seeking to achieve right now and how it fits with this upcoming valuation. If they want people to carry on taking action, there needs to be much much more clarity than this time around. Why are we taking action at this precise point? What will our action achieve? What is our strategy and what points are we prepared to compromise on?

I say we but I am leaving UCU tomorrow. Enough is enough. Maybe there’s a union out there that doesn’t bully women and which doesn’t call unnecessary and wholly pointless action just because the leader wants to show how tough she is.

I have now left! I phoned them up but the person I spoke to said that the best thing was just to do it online so I did that. Sad that it’s come to this but I am looking forward to ‘union-shopping’ for something better. Relieved.

I'm glad you feel better @Pota2

I left the union this morning too.

Yay! Onwards and upwards.

I wonder what their numbers will show of people leaving after this strike...

I'm a bit scared to leave at the moment due to my disability; I'd be very interested to hear about your exploration of other unions. I feel like I don't have the bandwidth to manage something like that at the moment, unfortunately - I've been doing quite poorly these last weeks unfortunately (contributing to my fear of leaving a potential support structure).

Yes, the lack of support structure is a worry and I do realise I am taking a risk and that others may not wish to do so. My main worry was in relation to getting support if I had a problem at work but I think I can get that better from another union as I now know for a fact that I would be hounded and bullied for believing in feminist theories of structural oppression. So being in a group that would potentially bully me doesn’t make me feel safe.

I also found out that house insurance policies also often have legal expenses cover which would cover representation if I got dismissed. That gives me more security than having the union there. The reps at my place are rubbish and have no legal training. They’re just bearded woke-bros who happen to be active in the union. If something serious happened, I’d rather have a professional in my corner than one of them.
Also, they don’t have magic powers. People still get treated terribly despite their existence and I haven’t heard that many success stories of where they have truly saved the day. So I’d rather get an insurance policy plus a different union rather than putting all my eggs into the UCU’s woke and flimsy basket.

Yes, there is an element of risk not being in a union but I do think that risk is over-blown. In social sciences (my discipline) there is very real sense of having to be in a union for protection but I work with maths and physics people a lot and I don't get the same sense from them. Don't me wrong, a lot of them are in the union and see it as protection. But there's a very significant number who aren't in the union. And I don't get the same sense of fear (for want of a better term) about not being in a union that I get from my social science colleagues.

I can guess that my biggest issue which I'd need to involve the union in would be about my gender critical views. But, like @Pota2, my UCU branch is stacked with woke folk who I don't trust to have my back on this issue. Of course, I might well need the union for other matters for that's the risk isn't it.

I'm also mindful of career stage though. I'm quite late-on (though 'old' in age terms) and I'm looking at winding down my academic career over the next 5 years or so to change career direction. I'm not as invested in my job as I used to be so I find myself letting petty niggles wash over me and just flatly refusing to do stuff I don't want to do. What I mean is that I've mentally taken a backseat so I can't see myself getting entangled in an issue which would involve the union because I just don't care enough anyway IYSWIM

Virtually nobody in my department is in the union (engineering) I was one of two people on strike out of 100 or so academics.

@Chemenger One of my colleagues is an engineer (actually chemical engineering too) and is currently arguing with his Head of Department because there was a whole-staff meeting on Wednesday (on the last day of the strike) which wasn't cancelled. He's out of the country anyway so not sure if he'd have been striking or not. His pleas are falling on deaf ears as most people in his Department are not in the union.
It's such a different atmosphere and approach to what we see in the social sciences where not being in the union is unusual and a bit deviant actually!

Absolutely nothing was cancelled in my department.

Just saw that Mike Otsuka has said that the UCU at the HESC conference just voted for 14 more days of strikes in February and March. I wouldn’t have been able to afford that anyway but I feel for the precarious workers who won’t be able to handle 22 days of lost pay. And I’m still unclear about what they actually want at this stage, given that the JEP valuation hasn’t been carried out yet. I get the sense that they want to put pressure on VCs re the pensions dispute but I can’t see them being able to influence much before another valuation is done.

Hmmm

Just saw that Mike Otsuka has said that the UCU at the HESC conference just voted for 14 more days of strikes in February and March

For fuck sake.

But, but, where are the updates on progress on negotiations? All I’ve seen from UCU is jolly pictures from the picket line. If there are more strikes next term I’ll have a serious problem. Heavy teaching load, visiting PhD student attending them, expecting lab time with me. And I’m sorry, but the management aren’t going to be bothered even if they complain. This is not a factory where downing tools makes the machinery grind to a halt.

I don’t think there is any progress, this seems to be a strike that is celebrated for its very existence, not for its effectiveness. So many pictures of cakes, parties and people dancing on the picket lines, no news of negotiations. Not even the Guardian has been reporting on this strike, too many significant things going on in the world and too little effect.

Agree that there is no progress. Having a meeting is not progress and nor is writing an emotive letter calling for the chairman of USS to step down.

I also get the sense that this strike was mainly for show and had very little substance and urgency to it. And as well as the cakes and dancing, you’re forgetting the Jo Grady lookalike competition that JG herself judged. Excellent reason to lose pay of course. Her narcissism really is unrivalled. I still haven’t seen the announcement of her and her colleagues donating the 8 days of salary. She earns well in excess of the majority of professors- not sure if the people celebrating her as a ‘working class lass’ realise that. Yes, she’s stood on the picket lines taking selfies with you but that is not her job. Her job, for which she gets paid a huge salary, is to lead the union. The strategy for this strike, for which Grady is ultimately responsible, was an utter disaster.

Maybe people will start to wake up a bit more and put more pressure on the UCU when their pay packets are hit. A few places are taking all the money from the January pay so how are those people supposed to afford to strike for a further 14 days? Fucking shambles.

I am also concerned that in Grady's e-mail to UCU members on the last day of the strike, and also on various conversations on twitter by officers/enthusiasts of the union, the tone is now that this is just the beginning, just a show of strength... Well if that's the case it was a very expensive show of strength, and I for one would have wanted to know before I gave up hundreds of pounds. I'm no fan of Sally Hunt but I remember that during the 2018 strikes we were sent frequent (if not daily) e-mails with a brief report on the progress of negotiations. This time as you say @chemenger it seems the great success of the strike is its very existence.

I do actually think that working to contract (if everyone really stuck to it and found ways to make it visible) could be more effective than striking straight away.

This for me would definitely be the way to go. It would benefit staff on the workload front and force the institutions to face up to their ingrained every day exploitation. All without having pay docked.

I agree re working to contract being a more effective way to tackle some of these issues. Forcing people to lose 8 days of pay to ‘show solidarity’ is idiotic. Strike action should be a very last resort.

I’m reviving this thread in the light of the latest report by Michael Otsuka, who seems to be suggesting that UCU is preparing to vote for 14 days‘ more strikes. I don’t see how this can possibly be good for anyone, including our poor students. Does anyone have any hopeful alternative perspective on his forecast that talks are almost certain to fail ?

Sadly not, @impostersyndrome, I think he's right. Even if Jo Grady and and UCU agree something with USS and the employers, but the UCU Left faction dominating HEC seem determined to lead us into some prolonged dispute for no better reason than ideological purity. I reckon we're looking at the full fourteen days from 20 Feb...