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.

Yup, so glad I left UCU after seeing a GC colleague get hounded out. Plus the policy on self-ID for sex, race and disability! I did tell my local Exec my reason for leaving, but they ignored me. National branch kept after me for fees for months even though I resigned using their web form. I have sympathy for my precariously employed colleagues and respect for those doing case work, but am so glad I don't have to strike. Need a Kathleen Stock t-shirt or something...

UCU have announced 3 days of strikes: Wed 1st Dec to Fri 3rd Dec. This applies to both the pensions and pay and conditions disputes.

Working to contract is to begin on 1st Dec and can run for 6 months.

Branches that did not meet the 50% turnout threshold may be re-balloted. This will again be a disaggregated ballot.

Dates announced plus ASOS.
I am due on campus/Teams meeting on the first date but one of the days is my regular day off and no "extra" classes scheduled and one I can work/not work/as I wish from home.
In fact the ASOS/work to contract is more problematic for me as I've kindly said I'd reschedule classes to my day off in later weeks and if I work to contract I won't be at those, though it's all give and take and AAARGH I can't decide!

These are the last days of term at my place. So lots of classes were already cancelled anyway to give students time to complete their assignments, or they were revision anyway that can be skipped with minimal consequences.
So not as crazy as the 14 days in 2020 but minimal impact for the institution while staff say goodbye to three days pay, well done UCU.

Yeah, early December isn’t a great time for strikes. We finish all teaching in the last week of November at my place (although no strikes as we didn’t hit the turnout). I doubt it will have a huge amount of impact to be honest, apart from hitting the striking workers in the pocket.

It will be interesting to see what happens with reballots. I suppose these will be in the new year. For those who voted no to strike action, not voting would be better than voting no again because of the threshold. Voting no simply increases the likelihood that there will be a strike. However, a lot of academics in UCU seem to think that striking is optional anyway so will vote for action and then only take part in one or two days. That’s literally the worst of both worlds because you’re just handing your salary over to the employers and having little to no impact. If it was clearer that strike action means that all union members must go out for the entire period, no excuses, then I reckon people would be much more cautious about voting for strikes.

I am taking so much heart from you strong and principled women on this thread. I left UCU years ago and am increasingly pleased that I did given the way they're heading (for all the reasons mentioned on this thread and also allowing PhD students to become members which I think is a huge problem).

But I'm in a Department which is very very very 'right-on' - social sciences. The UCU branch secretary is in my Department. There is lots of Twitter chatter about 'solidarity', 'resistance' and 'scabs'. Lots of pronouns in email signatures. You get the picture.

Because of this, I'm very nervous about crossing the picket lines In December. I'm due to teach on campus on two of the three strike days. During the 2020 strikes, I moved my teaching online which was easy because it was only lectures. But I'm nervous about doing that again because i) I'm running discussion workshops this time, ii) students are loving F2F contact, iii) I'm worried students will see going online as a wimps way out (which it is), and iv) its our last workshops of the module so students will benefit from F2F more than online for these particular sessions.

In 2018 I did cross the picket lines on multiple occasions. But the tranche of very very very 'right on' colleagues weren't in my Department back then - there was a lot of union support but it was fairly mild compared to what it is now. Nevertheless, I had panic attacks before and afterwards, and was visibly shaking during my teaching (a student had to run and get me a sugary tea ). I'm naturally a nervous, non-confrontational person so I'm absolutely dreading crossing the pickets this time around

Oh poor you, RoastDumpling. I also dislike confrontation, and I confess to being pleased that my institution won't be striking due to missing the turnout requirement.

Is there anyway you could reschedule your classes to before or after the strike period? Double up the week before? Failing that, can you relocate them to a site that won't involve crossing a picket line (if that's possible, we have multiple campuses and some were not picketed last strike) or teach off-campus?

@ghislaine

Oh poor you, RoastDumpling. I also dislike confrontation, and I confess to being pleased that my institution won't be striking due to missing the turnout requirement.

Is there anyway you could reschedule your classes to before or after the strike period? Double up the week before? Failing that, can you relocate them to a site that won't involve crossing a picket line (if that's possible, we have multiple campuses and some were not picketed last strike) or teach off-campus?

Rescheduling or relocating wouldn't be possible - I have 10 classes affected and all would need to be rescheduled for the following week (last week of term). So it'd be a logistical nightmare.

I could move them online I guess but I'm worried that students won't like this and will take it out on me in my evaluations

Hi @RoastDumpling - I had to move some of my classes online early in the semester, mostly against my will, for a non-Covid, non-UCU related matter.
I was also quite concerned about how students would react but they seemed to take it quite well? Of course maybe some will complain in the student evaluations but my sense was that if all of your teaching has been in person, students can understand the occasional diversion into online (which could have happened anyway e.g. if you had had to self-isolate at some point).

Could you suddenly come down with a cough and have to teach from home while awaiting PCR test? Or family member ditto?

All it will cost you is a (hopefully negative) PCR swab.

At our campus there are at least 3 ways on and only one is ever significantly picketed so usually people who want peace and quiet use one of the others. I have actually had to deliver a child to nursery (on a day I was striking/not working) via one of the road entrances in the past and nobody really cared/noticed (especially if you honk in solidarity - will they recognise you? or is it on foot/very close to picket as in some city centre universities?)

Yeah I'm leaning more towards doing my teaching online. But then I'm also angry at myself that I haven't got the balls to just walk through the picketers with my head held high and my reasons for not being a UCU member ringing in my ears. I'm such a wimp.

If I go online, my choice is to either let them know now that it'll be happening online those couple of days. Or to spring it on them with excuses about coughs and temperatures. Tough decision, not sure what to do.

The building I'm teaching in isn't actually on campus so much as just next to it and is very very well picketed. There's no chance they won't recognise me as they congregate around the front doors and there's only way in/out. So basically if I go in and teaching in-person I will have to face them, have to walk through the picket line

Oh roastdumpling I really feel for you. I would echo what others have said on here that you should try to move it online if you can't face the mob. I'd find that difficult too, although you definitely won't be the only person going into the building. You could take heart from the fact that the number of people who actually declared their strike days to management (and had their pay docked as a result) last time was pretty low. So my guess is that quite a few of the loudmouths on the picketline will be secret scabs and will simply make a show of striking.

We aren't striking as didn't meet the 50%, I left the union anyway just before strike 4 as I'm a single parent who can't afford to keep losing money for something that appears to have no bargaining power whatsoever. I can't strike several times next year as they are now promising, losing money each time!

I've very recently started in a Department where the majority will be striking and I really don't want to strike, for many of the same reasons as people have outlined here. But I'm worried about then being a pariah in my new job, where everyone has so far been lovely, but will possibly then think me a 'scab'.... argh!

I'm thinking about this too... I'm irritated enough with UCU that I may cross the picket line, but if I do that I'd also oblige my students to cross it, which they may find upsetting. So perhaps the simplest solution is to take it online.

Or I might just go in super early because I know the picket won't start til past 9 am... :)

I agree that there just doesn’t seem to be any power to this fight. The employers will drive through pension reforms one way or another. The most successful round of action was the 2018 strike and all that did was delay the proposals. I’m not saying that there is no point at all of taking action but UCU needs to be more realistic in its negotiations rather than simply saying that everything USS says is a lie. They can negotiate over the salary cap for DB and the level of contributions but I don’t think they will get far if they just dig their heels in (at the 2018 strikes there were many who were arguing that we shouldn’t stop striking until employers reinstated final salary schemes for instance, which is off the scale deluded).

As for pay, there is no way that we will get an offer anywhere close to what UCU is proposing. I wouldn’t say no to more money but this one is futile. Also if unis have to pay more salary, they will cut the casualised staff budget. They won’t give all current casualised staff permanent contracts - they will get rid and increase workloads for permanent staff. Loads of the posts in academia also exist due to external funding, which is why they are fixed term and can’t just be made permanent. They also allow permanent staff to further their research by buying out their time doing teaching and admin. One big problem is the number of PhDs that are accepted, very few of whom will actually get an academic post. If casualistion is to end, one thing that needs to be cut is this practice of PhD ‘factories’ where some staff members in social sciences are churning out 3 PhD completions a year throughout their career. But these PhD students are also members of UCU so surely their interests are in conflict with those of other members?

Also, is it always the case that those negotiating on behalf of a union have to come from the rank and file membership? I’m just asking because none of the negotiators appear to be specifically trained in or have a background in negotiation (eg as a lawyer or similar). From some of their conduct on Twitter, I do wonder whether they are the best people for the job and whether they are equally matched with those negotiating for the employers.

I’ve also seen that the faction UCU Commons (previously Grady4GS) have released a slate of candidates for the NEC elections with the clear intention of securing a majority on the committee and thus influencing voting. While I usually see UCU Left as a bit deluded but ultimately harmless, this lot are pretty sinister. They are the ones who take the hardest line on purging the union of GC women. Their current women’s officer, Jo Edge, is absolutely odious in her behaviour online, eg congratulating students who bullied Kathleen Stock and using blocklists to block hundreds of the female members that she claims to be representing. Membership of the faction also seems an opaque process. Anyone can’t just join - they have to be vouched for by the founders essentially. I’d be really concerned if they gained a controlling majority. Jo Grady’s partner, Chris Grocott, is a founding member of UCU Commons so she has a direct link to them, which is also inappropriate.

Thanks for that information about UCU Comms @GCAndProud I've just looked up Jo Edge - wow.

I decided to move my teaching online for the strike days after all.

Not strike related but I've just taught for 2 hours in 0° weather with the lecture room windows all wide open and the heating off. I feel physically sick. I know this is what teachers are going through all the time but it's really just a symptom of what our employers think of us (and the students).

@worstofbothworlds that sounds horrific. Our classrooms are getting colder and colder too and surely it is not reasonable to make people work or learn in those conditions.

I’ve decided to go in but I’m going to go into the building before 8am so fingers crossed no picket until 9…

The pickets at my university are only there from 8.30 to 12.30. They are only at two of the seven entrants the campus. On twitter it seems to be mostly PhD students who are talking about being on strike. They talk about the precarious nature of tutoring, but since they are only here for the duration of their PhDs it’s difficult to understand how they can have anything other than fixed term contracts.

Yes, PhD contracts are by their nature fixed term. I think the bigger problem for them is that the majority of them will not get academic jobs because there is a huge over recruitment of phd students and academics higher up the chain use PhD completions as a means of securing promotions. So they are being shafted by them. I would hope that anyone who takes on PhD students is very honest with them about their job prospects in academia.

Does anyone know if the reballoting results have come in yet? My institution was reballoted but I can’t see anything on the main UCU Twitter or my institution’s. Curious to know if I am going to have to deal with strike action again this semester.

@ghislaine Re-balloting results are in for the pensions dispute, but the results of the Four Fights re-ballot are delayed until tomorrow.

Seven (out of 22) more universities passed the threshold for both strike action and asos: City; Courtauld; Newcastle; Queen Mary; Leicester; Strathclyde; and Swansea.

Thanks, that’s really useful. Where was this? Has it just been released?