Strike question

[ZeroFucks]

I'm not in UCU but I feel bad about crossing picket lines. I know that as a non-union member I can strike and be protected from dismissal.

I intend to stay away from work during the strike period, work at home on writing which is counted as working normally at my university.

I have three lectures scheduled over the strike period. I don't want to cross a picket to deliver them so I was going to add audio to my slides and post the slides online. This means students don't miss content but I'm not physically there delivering it. But this isn't different from lecture capture really.

So I'm finding myself in an in-between state, not physically at work but also not striking because students won't lose those day's content

From an HR/HoD perspective, what do you think of this? Is this a terrible idea? Will I get into all sorts of trouble for this?

I'm a fairly new lecturer.

I think you need to seek advice as to your legal position here, as I don't know exactly what it is and you don't want to put yourself at risk if you are not working but not officially on strike. Alternatively, can you join UCU? You can go on strike as soon as you join the union, so that would make you able to strike during this period with all the same protections as everyone else.

I don’t know what your legal situation is, but I know that doing what you propose would get you into trouble at my institution. I understand you don’t want to cross picket lines, but I think you need yo be officially on strike, or you carry out your normal duties.

If you are a new lecturer, why not join the union if you want to strike?

If you aren't in it, then no, I don't think you should go on strike. Those on strike are not getting paid their salary, you are, so I don't see why the students should then not get your normal lectures.

It's a bit different for students who might have solidarity with the strike, by not attending (half mine don't attend anyway so they can all pretend they are engaged in political action!)

I am not in the union anymore so will be working normally. But if you feel so strongly about it- why not join?

I think that if you refuse to cross the picket line to deliver your lectures in person then you would be counted as being on strike, regardless of whether you are a member of the union or not.

You would be expected to forfeit some, or most likely all, of your pay on those days as you are not fulfilling your normal duties.

While you should not face disciplinary procedures for being on strike, you can for not doing your normal job while still receiving your normal pay. There is a risk that your students will complain.

I have also left the union so will be working normally. I think you either go on strike, which you don't need to be in the union for, and therefore lose pay for the strike days, or work normally. There is no in between. You could make a donation to the strike fund, I think, to show solidarity. Not meeting your normal duties while receiving full pay could get you in trouble.

My university issues very straightforward guidance about strike days, including getting permission to work from home ahead of time (which we would not get if we were teaching). When I was striking I found the colleagues who "pretended" to strike by not coming in and keeping their pay more irritating than those who worked normally.

Join the union.

Agree that this probably isn’t fulfilling your contractual duties. If you’re not striking, you need to be there to give your lecture. If you don’t want to cross the picket line, could you maybe only strike on the days you have lectures and not on the others? I would recommend being in the union to give you protection though if you are planning on striking.

Thanks for all of this feedback.

I absolutely won't be joining UCU any time soon. I got into bother last year for seemingly innocuous gender critical comments I made at a seminar. I was a member of UCU back then and I had all sorts of problems getting any support or representation because all of the Union people at my university felt threatened by my hate speech.
By the time I got some support, the original issue had evaporated into nothing so the person who I actually got to support me then sent me horrendous emails telling me off for wasting everyone's time as there wasn't an issue. I had only been in my lecturing post for a few months and it rocked me massively. Absolute fuckers.

It's not that I have a huge amount of solidarity with the strikers/strike, it's more that the physical act of crossing the picket is not something I feel comfortable with. I had to cross picket lines last time in 2018 as I was a post-doc and couldn't afford to strike. It was awkward and horrible.

Anyway, thank you for all of the feedback, I think I will just say I was striking on the days that I am meant to be teaching and lose the pay.

Oh total solidarity. Their shocking approach to women being able to talk about feminism is why I left too. They’re total fuckers as far as I am concerned and there’s so much toxicity within their ranks.

But do be careful striking when you don’t have union membership. It’s not just a question of losing pay. Technically it’s legal to strike when not a member but you might be opening yourself up to being a target of bosses who want to punish you for striking. So if I were you I would just cross the picket. That’s what I am planning to do. If UCU wants to keep its members and wants us to participate in strikes, stop bullying women and calling them hateful bigots for saying that biological sex exists.

Oh and given the spectacular failure of the December strikes, those who are striking now had best prepare themselves for even more action if this round doesn’t work either. Even if I was in the union I couldn’t afford that so I am glad I have bowed out.

Thanks @Pota2 I'm just catching up on the other thread!

When you say that I could be open to punishment, what do you mean by that? Like formal punishment or just being treated a bit crappy informally?

I mean disciplinary procedures for not complying with your contractual duties. If you don’t have the backing of the union, you could be vulnerable. Don’t take my word for it though and maybe ask around, but I have always been told that you should join the union if you want to strike. I don’t know how likely it is to happen as I don’t know if they have a list of who is in the union and who is not (presumably they don’t).

Hi @Pota2

Thank you. I found this on the government's website here:

Non-union staff and striking
If non-union members go on strike, they are protected from dismissal and have the same rights as union members, as long as the industrial action is lawful.

The UCU is advising non-members who wish to strike that they should take a sick day but I'm nervous about this because I haven't been in post long and I don't want sick days on my record. I also think it'd be really transparent that I happen to come down with explosive diarrhoea the three days I'm teaching in the strike period but no others.

Sorry for my naivety, I'm new to all this and already feel like I'm drowning.

Hi ZeroFucks, this depends on how closely monitored your teaching is, but in the past I've maybe two or three times replaced a lecture with some kind of online activity if I needed to be speaking at a conference or at a public engagement event. The thing is, most of my courses have slightly more teaching hours scheduled than are given in the "official" course document, so if a student complained that they're being shortchanged, I could always point out at the document and say that they aren't receiving fewer hours than they're supposed to. In reality no student has ever complained but it depends on how your students are like and whether this is something you'd need to ask for permission for (in my place, given the nature of our subject, there are always external visits, "non-traditional" activities in several of the courses, etc., so it's not as if a given number of teaching hours need to be happening every week for every course).

And @ZeroFucks what you say about your union reps is absolutely appalling...

The advice to take sick days is pretty suspect and as you say it could count against you and three non-consecutive ones could be enough to trigger disciplinary procedure in itself. Also, what are they playing at? Pretending to be sick doesn’t put pressure on the employer. But then again, they have given pretty reckless advice to staff on a visa who are worried about repercussions from the Home Office.

I think you probably should be okay to strike as a non member, as the HoD wouldn’t necessarily know who’s in the union and who isn’t. I wouldn’t do the pulling a sickie thing and if in doubt, then you’ll have to cross the picket, unless you can conceivably get away with an online lecture.

If we take sick leave on the strike days we’re told to expect a back to work chat with our line manager.

Are you not able to reschedule the lectures to a non-strike day? I realise this might be impossible given the size of the class though.

Re crossing the picket, what is it that bothers you? Is it the physical act? If so, are all the entrances to your institution going to be picketed (or scheduled to be picketed when your teaching is scheduled? At my institution the picket knocks off for the day at 2.)? If it’s ideological, then that’s more problematic for you.

I did the Nov/Dec strikes very very reluctantly. I'm not doing this set. I've had enough. I actually think people not striking are better to go to work normally so UCU left can't claim a resounding success as they might try to if non strikers make campus look like a ghost town. I'm totally fed up with the Union - who on earth chooses 'four fights' - plus the pensions which actually they seem to keep forgetting about? How can we ever get five things sorted within a week?

You might want to have a peek at this other thread. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/academics_corner/3732596-When-do-you-think-the-strikes-will-be

Either way, you’re not alone in being unhappy with the strikes, but nervous about crossing the picket line. I’m in a similar position. Last time I rescheduled what I could off campus, but ultimately felt I must hold my head up and cross the line . My striking colleagues were ok, though I was slightly in a quandary about how to deal with their unhappy students coming to my office hours for extra help.

Thank you for all the feedback again. Yes, I feel really unsure about the advice to take a sick day given it would be flagged with HR. Weird advice from the Union.

I can't really re-schedule the lectures because of the students' timetables and we have several activities in the last week of term (after the strike period) that all students have to be at which can't be moved. That's why I thought to give my material online then they wouldn't be losing content. Attendance is pretty terrible at lectures in my department anyway so I don't see much difference for most of the students who listen back later anyway!

Our activities aren't very closely monitored so I think I could 'get away' with just putting stuff online. I think its unlikely students would complain given they'd be getting content anyway and I might give some suggested additional readings and site visits too so they've got stuff to be getting on with outside of the classroom.

Re. crossing the picket line. It's a bit ideological because I do believe in the importance of unions and collective action. But, if I'm completely honest, it's much more about awkwardness. I know that sounds daft but I had to cross in 2018 when I was a post-doc and it was horrible. There weren't any 'consequences' but it was a terrible experience having to weave through a narrow space having all my colleagues (some at the same level as me) seeing me. Should I have said 'hi'? Apologised for not joining them? Just looked down? It was awful. Now I'm a lecturer I feel like there's an assumption I will be on strike and I worry about how me not striking might affect my relationships with colleagues in the long-term.

Unfortunately the building I am teaching in only has one entrance and my teaching is at 11am so the time pickets are likely to be around.

Thanks so much again, I really do appreciate all of this help.

I feel the same re awkwardness. Honestly, I’m going to go in at 8 and work in my teaching building on my laptop until my lecture

Hi OP, I do understand where you are coming from. I will also not be striking, for a number of reasons, UCU's inability to defend academic freedom among them. What you've experienced sounds a bit like bullying.

My view is that if you go on strike without being in UCU, then you are technically breaching your contract of employment. I wouldn't risk it. If you want to avoid awkwardness, arrive early on campus and leave late. Pickets are usually there from about 7-8 am. I'm under the distinct impression that there will be quite a few academics who are fed up with UCU and will not support this strike.

I second the suggestion about going in early. Also, the estimate of the number of striking staff was about 5% in the December round. Only about a third of UCU members reported striking. The pickets at our place weren’t exactly huge. There will be loads of people who will cross the picket. Also, if anyone asks, you can say ‘I’m sorry, I’m not a union member, so I don’t want to risk it’. If they tell you to join, you could say that due to the union’s treatment of you, you can’t do that. Hopefully that will shut them up.

I feel bad for those striking because the 4 fights is a good cause. It’s just so badly organised and coordinated and is bound to be unsuccessful, so will just mean they lose pay for very little. Oh and the precarious staff are being used for the ones concerned about their pensions. They want extra money that could be spent on fighting precarity to be spent on guaranteeing that they won’t have to make an extra 1% contribution to their own comparatively generous pensions.

Pota2, may I ask where your figure of only a third of UCU members reporting strike action is from? Not doubting you, just thinking I'm not clued in enough when it comes to what's actually going on in UCU.

Also, has anyone seen this initiative about academic freedom in UCU (twitter handle @ucu4af, website ucu4af.wixsite.com/website-2/how? Is this a lost cause?

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/one-three-union-members-joined-strikes-say-employers

It’s from this article.

I do admire those trying to fight for academic freedom from within but I worry that it’s a lost cause. The Grady4GS and UCU left have a majority on NEC and HEC and they are absolutely hardline and brutal on this issue and will vilify anyone who disagrees. Branch accounts are being used to bully dissenters and it’s a really nasty climate. I support those trying fight though and wish it were different.