Anyone else not striking?

[goingpearshaped]

I am not in UCU so not striking. Anyone else? I can sense the divide already between those striking and those not in our dept, I really hate this. Agh, what a mess all round.

Do you reckon the strike will carry on 'going' for the full 18 days, i.e., it won't be called off? My guess is that employers know that most staff can't afford to take all 18 days, and are banking on most people taking a day here and there. As such, they're in a good position to ride it out without fully meeting the UCU demands.

Conversely, I'm not sure what meeting those demands / 'success' would look like other than a pay offer that the membership accepts ... but where does that leave the other fights?

Argh, I'm confused (and frustrated). If it came to a marking boycott over the exam period I WOULD participate (without being union affiliated) because withholding the marks and refusing to run exam boards would absolutely have the administration over a barrel. I just can't see how the current strategy is actually damaging the people it's allegedly designed to damage :(

I just don't know, @SchnitzelVonCrummsTum. I'm working on the assumption that the strike will go the distance.

The reason I think that is that if UCEA have made a final offer (which has been rejected - albeit by 34% of the membership, not 80% of members, as UCU like to trumpet) then it's clear from UCEA statements that UCEA won't progress to negotiating on the remaining three items on the 'four fights' platform. So that dispute is unresolved, and presumably unresolvable.

Then on pensions, negotiations are on-going. I'm not sure when USS will put a proposal on the table. But even if they do, and it's accepted, the way that the mandate is set up, industrial action will continue because the four fights claim hasn't been resolved.

Thanks @ghislaine - it looks like such a mess. I hope I'm / we're wrong and it's actually facilitating real and meaningful progress towards a resolution.

I think the USS issues WILL see real movement this year. I don't know how much of that will be attributable to the strike though ...

I am not striking but I am pessimistic about the strikes being called off early. From the most militant sectors of UCU, I don't think there's any wish to compromise at all. We could get a 20% rise and free prosecco dispensers in every department, and people would say that why is the rise not 30% because the university has lots of hidden money because fancy new buildings and fat cat salaries.

Btw I have just seen that strike fund claims are capped at 11 days and at £50 for those earning over £30,000 and at £75 for those under £30,000. People are asking on Twitter, how I am supposed to be able to afford mortage and bill payments if I take 18 days strike, Grady fans nonchalantly say "oh no problem just claim to the strike fund", and now it turns out that many will only be able to recoup a fraction of what they lose. Clown world. I reckon that many people will be striking only on teaching days and working from home on the others.

Do you reckon the strike will carry on 'going' for the full 18 days, i.e., it won't be called off? My guess is that employers know that most staff can't afford to take all 18 days, and are banking on most people taking a day here and there. As such, they're in a good position to ride it out without fully meeting the UCU demands.

I expect so. Anecdotally, my department normally has a very high % of strikers (to the point that other departments make jokes about it!) This time, only a couple of hardliners are planning to strike all 18 days.

I think you could claim from both the national and your local strike fund so perhaps could make up the 18 days that way. But in any event £50 a day wouldn’t come close to covering my expenses.

I didn’t watch it but on the UCU live event as reported on twitter there were two statements that intrigued me. One was that negotiations were taking place informally (what does this mean, is it even possible?) and the other was that they are expecting a development in the next couple of days.

Any time anyone raises affordability all they get is claim from the strike fund or the local fund. If everyone did that there would be no money left! Or that table that someone in UCU prepared which apparently shows that you won’t lose that much salary. Thanks for being so patronising- I had actually figured out how I needed to calculate it before reading that. So the response to financial concerns seems to be gaslighting.
Intrigued what the progress Jo Grady hinted at will be. Either way, I’m sure that there will be a fresh round of strikes before we know it.

I agree with others - the strike will run for the full 18-days because most people will only strike on their teaching days. At my university, lost teaching is being heavily mitigated anyway so students aren't actually losing out on that much.

I haven't been to the office so haven't seen the size of the pickets. But social media is very quiet today. My branch, and certain individuals within it, are usually very vocal and visible during strikes but there's very little activity today. I suspect they don't have the numbers to make it look like it chimes with the hashtag UCU rising.

So the development seems to be that they are entering into mediation (actually I think it must be 'collective conciliation') facilitated by ACAS. And that all aspects of the four fights are on the table.

Mediation is an established stage of the JNCHES disputes procedure, it’s not a new development as such. It might lead to some movement on pay but ACAS can’t influence Trustee decisions re USS valuations for example, nor can it magic away so-called casualisation. The “four fights” strategy in reality makes meaningful agreement close to impossible!

The UCU press release says that the JNCHES dispute resolution meeting scheduled for tomorrow is not going ahead and they are going to ACAS instead. ACAS approached the unions according to the press release: www.ucu.org.uk/article/12780/Further-talks-agreed-in-university-pay--working-conditions-dispute.

I wonder if UCU will focus on pay and say the other issues are 'won' if UCEA agrees to establish working groups to look into them.

Fingers crossed this means actual progress. I'm getting so tired of these UCU strikes that don't accomplish anything.

Are there any sane and realistic people on Twitter worth following re. the strike and negotiations? I realise this may be a stupid question.

I doubt very much that ACAS just reached out to the unions. Much more likely that there is a consensus with UCEA that they can’t make further progress through the early stages of the disputes procedure so move on to this stage. Grady will call anything a victory, and any increase on the pay offer will be one of sorts (with the caveat that it may lead to cuts at some HEIs). National working groups has long been the get-out clause for both sides and I agree that’s a likely outcome.

@GCAcademic you would hopefully find sensible USS commentary by Mike Otsuka twitter.com/mikeotsuka/status/1621076574052274179?s=46&t=Ruh24Tf4YOfGrrUp-LrhqA

Thank you @Impostersyndrome I was trying to recall his name earlier, I vaguely remembered there was Michael someone from the pre-pandemic strike who was sensible on Twitter.

Woke up very despondent today about the whole situation. I am only teaching late afternoon so technically I won't be crossing any picket lines (they're gone by 11 at my place), but I will have to the week after next. It's like late winter strikes have become an university tradition for the foreseeable, people have internalized that the effective cost of UCU membership is £1000+ per year (due to wages lost to strike days) and learned how to reorganize their teaching and assessment so that students aren't inconvenienced in the slightest. Management has learned to coast this and of course has zero incentive to do anything. In my department, the same people (about half of staff) who are UCU hardliners are constantly and insistently coming up to me as Head of Department with wonderful plans to re-vamp our degree programmes, in ways that mean that my own specialism and research would remain marginalized and the university could very easily cut my job; they are also the same who actively encourage any undergraduate who shows slightly more ability than the average to pursue PhDs, knowing full well that 90% of them will only be precarious employment fodder. I despair so much.

Yes it’s so depressing isn’t it? I am pleased they disperse early at your place. I am teaching this afternoon and I am a bit worried about it but there’s a teach out on somewhere else so I am hoping most of them will be there and not trying to block my path.
Also agree with what you say about precarity. Lots of the ones shouting the loudest during the strikes go on to tweet about their 0.3 RA post lasting for 9 months and their success in a funding bid that will mean that their teaching is bought out for a year. As well as “come do a PhD with me” calls multiple times a year. Yet, zero ability to join the dots.
I’m praying there’s a better pay deal (that’s all that’s going to be able to be agreed at this stage isn’t it) next week and that the rest of the action is called off. But seeing as the core of UCU now seems to be casualised/phd students, I can’t see them being too happy if Jo Grady calls off the dispute.

I’m now getting emails both from individuals and SLT asking if I can pick up marking and some admin stuff due to it not being done due to strikes. Eh, no. I don’t think so

Wow, what a bloody cheek! I hope that you didn't beat about the bush when you told them where to go.

@GCAndProud I am teaching this afternoon and I am a bit worried about it but there’s a teach out on somewhere else so I am hoping most of them will be there and not trying to block my path

I was at home yesterday so just watching social media. At my branch, there was almost no Twitter activity from the usual UCU people. This leads me to think that the pickets were very small or non-existent.

DP was in work at a different university. Students 'occupied' a building at his university 🙄and there was quite a lot of Twitter activity from people at his university showing okay-ish sized pickets, lots of talk of 'solidarity' and 'comrades' etc. DP said the reality was very different. He was in/out of three different major university buildings and none had picket lines. Even the big gathering around the occupied building was, in DP's words, "just a dozen he/hims hanging around with illegible cardboard signs".

I don't think there'll be enough people around to bother you or block your path.

Don't get me started on 'teach outs'... 😠

@GCAcademic I’ve just sent ignored the emails. I’m not the only person the email came to and there’s certainly some annoyed people so not sure if anyone else has said something

"just a dozen he/hims hanging around with illegible cardboard signs".

😂I am laughing so hard at this!

I’ve just got in. I’m not kidding when I say that I didn’t see a single picket. Not one. Zilch. This is at a large pre 92 institution. I don’t hold out much hope for this dispute I must say, if this is what it looks like. Relieved there was no baying mob though 😆

Me too! Brilliant