Leaving UCU and crossing picket lines

[BlackLambAndGreyFalcon]

I think the way that UCU has treated Kathleen Stock is completely abhorrent and I am going to resign as I no longer want to pay any more money to their organisation.

Leaving at this time would mean that I wouldn't take part in the upcoming strike ballot and in the likely event of any industrial action would therefore have to cross picket lines. How do others feel about this issue? I would feel very uncomfortable walking past colleagues on the picket lines and as a USS member I would benefit from any positive outcome which may occur (whether or not such a positive outcome does occur is another issue entirely) without taking part in the action.

I have no interest in joining another union. I only joined UCU back in 2016 because I was concerned about the cuts to the pension scheme. UCU is the only union recognised to negotiate about USS with the employers.

I'm feeling exactly the same - horrified at UCU stance on this issue and wanting to leave - but there's no realistic alternative. Committed to collective action and the limited protection membership brings (and the local UCU branch are often the best source of information around what's really happening in my institution) so currently stuck as to what to do !

I left UCU before the last strikes. We have very few pickets on our campus; a handful at one gate only. Nobody in my department was on strike. It is a different story in other departments on our other campuses. I've never had any negative experiences crossing those picket lines, but they are not my direct colleagues so I can see that would be different.
Our branch of UCI is absolutely horrific, there is no way I could be associated with them at all. They shut down their Facebook group because people tried to engage them in debate. If you don't speak fluent Newspeak you are the enemy.

I have no problem crossing a picket line given the way that UCU have behaved. I see them as an active threat to academia and universities.

They are also not ideologically equipped to handle the pension issue and have already doomed any strike action to failure by bundling the issue up with a range of other nebulous demands and refusing to come up with alternative proposals for securing the pension fund's viability.

My advice would be to just steel yourself and do it. I’m on good terms with most of my unionised colleagues and just gave them a cheery wave and a smile as I went in.

After the way they have behaved, I’m looking forward to crossing the picket line!

I suppose you could donate to their hardship fund if you wanted to share in action for pensions. Members of Teachers Pension Scheme were advised we could do that last time around for USS strikers, but we couldn't strike because not directly in dispute with our employer.

I left UCU last night. Our branch is rubbish and the head of it behaved extremely badly in relation to a vexatious harassment case brought against my boss- knowingly goaded the complainant to pursue appeals and threaten legal action even though the complainant had made exactly the same vexatious claim in a previous role and was paid off. I have always been a very proud member of whatever trade union was relevant to my work, and I'm sad that there is no alternative to UCU.

Thanks all. Will be resigning tomorrow. Not looking forward to the strikes though.

I have entirely missed this, beyond the standard persecution of Kathleen Stock. Could someone link me up to speed please? (off sick, awaiting PCR, brain not up to googling, but feel free to ignore my request as everyone is busy enough )

Sussex UCU statement

UCU statement

Good thread here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4372991-Kathleen-Stock-s-union-betrays-her

They won’t negotiate an adequate settlement anyway. They achieved zero last time around - the employers couldn’t even be bothered to make an offer and that was with over 20 days of strikes. It was seriously a blessing for them that the pandemic hit because that obscured the total failure of that action. This won’t be any better. They refuse the decouple the issues so what’s the point of even trying to settle. Their negotiators couldn’t negotiate their way out of a paper bag. They received an offer before the last strike that was better than what they ended up with plus people were out of pocket from lost salary. Due to mismanagement, they ran out of cash and had to forcibly take it from members. They’re seriously a joke and need to go.
I’d be happy if a more moderate academic union could be started but these clowns have alienated so many people with their school-bully tactics that there is no hope for them.
I wouldn’t worry about the picket lines. There won’t be that many people on them. Most people are exhausted from the pandemic and can’t afford to lose lots of pay for a vague and unspecific cause.

Also a reminder of how vacuous the UCU leader is, this is her doing a makeup tutorial online while the sector was in dire straits and people were losing their jobs:

twitter.com/combabeclem/status/1332260970878689281?s=20

Can you imagine if any other leader of a large institution or politician were to act like that at a time of crisis? We seriously deserve something better than this.

Thank you @ehtelp and @BlackLambAndGreyFalcon !

DH came home from work today, had a quick chat (he hadn't talked to me about this as he was so angry about it), then he left UCU and ordered Material Girls.

I also ordered my own copy using my research funds and put in a request for the library to buy it (unbelievable that we don’t have it).

I read this thread the other day and resigned my UCU membership. I cited Prof Stock and that I felt the union should focus on supporting members rather than political posturing. Our rep has asked me to reconsider as “gender politics and identity is core union business and directly supports its members.”

That’ll be a no.

I was going to name change for this but fuck it.

My rep said she couldn't agree more - union messed up big time on this. Feel sorry for her and other reps who aren't in it for the (mad!) politics ...

My Facebook page is full of UCU friends posting their spoilt ballot papers with #IStandWithKathleenStock plastered all over them. Seems fair enough to me.

Good plan

I disagree with the decision to take strike action at this time and also with the vague and meaningless way that the four fights have been expressed. I have decided to abstain from voting which is more effective for stopping strike action than voting no or spoiling the ballot. After this month, I am cancelling my direct debit and leaving but I’m still a member at the moment.

I left before the last strike because I can’t make sense of the four fights being bundled together. I am also furious about Kathleen Stock.

I am prepared not only to cross the picket line to do my teaching I will do the teaching of striking colleagues on the course I convene. It is a professional course and it will just be my bigger problem if the module is interrupted.

Enough already. Jo Grady is a menace.

@TupilaLilium

I left before the last strike because I can’t make sense of the four fights being bundled together. I am also furious about Kathleen Stock.

I am prepared not only to cross the picket line to do my teaching I will do the teaching of striking colleagues on the course I convene. It is a professional course and it will just be my bigger problem if the module is interrupted.

Enough already. Jo Grady is a menace.

The four fights thing is a mess. Also, if everyone gets a pay rise (including well-paid staff on 50-60k) then what do they think the knock on effect will be on precarious staff? Lots of unis are in a shit financial position following the pandemic and loss of income from accommodation and other services. Last time, 22 days of strikes had no impact so what has changed now? It was just a large donation of salary to the employers.

Something else I have seen in my branch is people saying that we should vote for strike action even if we don’t want to strike or if we don’t intend to strike. Eh? How will that be effective? I think last time round a pretty small percentage of total staff were on strike and many of them not for the whole time. So there’s never going to be enough pressure on universities and individual students lose out instead.

Also nearly every university in the country now has a recording of all teaching from last year so will easily be able to release that to appease anyone who does complain. UCU and its incompetent leadership doesn’t seem able to grasp this though.

I enquired with my branch committee what their stance is re Stock and Phoenix. They took my query to discussion at branch meeting.
The feedback I have received is that they have discussed it extensively and apparently will be putting out a statement in support of Phoenix and Stock, and wider rights to assert academic freedom.
I await this, and the reaction to such a statement before making my decision about whether to continue paying my subs or not.

So overall 76% of those who voted voted for strike action and 88% for ASOS, but the turnout was only 53% nationally and only 37 out of 68 branches passed the 50% threshold required to take action. Quite a mixed bag in terms of those that made it through the threshold and those that didn't.

Results of the four fights voting will be out tomorrow.

Surely if fewer than half of branches are striking it will seriously water down the effectiveness of any strike? I’m sure lots more were striking last time and it still wasn’t effective. My branch didn’t hit threshold and I’m relieved tbh.