Put a question to Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Education Minister

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Academic common room

Anyone else not striking?

1000 replies

goingpearshaped · 11/02/2022 22:17

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.

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KStockHERO · 02/03/2023 09:48

I haven't really been keeping up with the political motivations and factions of UCU recently - like @SchnitzelVonCrummsTum I've lost track of who's friends with who, its worse than being at school.

But can I ask what is UCU claiming as the logic behind another completely random strike date shoved in the calendar? I mean, what do they think one extra day (especially after a long pause) will actually do in terms of bargaining power and their position?

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aridapricot · 02/03/2023 10:16

Probably just to show they are super extra mega tough?

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MotherofPearl · 02/03/2023 11:22

What I don't understand is it looks like lower grades are being offered 8% but most academic grades have been offered 5%. Academics I know on strike - including those on the highest grades - often justify their action as showing support and solidarity with those on the lowest grades, but as far as I can see, by extending the strike further they are currently blocking those on the lower grades from getting the 8% they have been offered, suggesting that in fact they are entirely self-seeking in their motivations.

Unless I have badly misunderstood, and I admit that I actively disengage from all things UCU.

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Ameadowwalk · 02/03/2023 11:45

I think the employers have decided to implement the pay offer anyway (although my institution has not communicated about this).

but yes, it was my understanding of the UCU position when the strikes were suspended that implementing the pay offer should also be suspended (clearly no-one proposing this was a single parent with children to pay for but anyway…)

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GCAcademic · 02/03/2023 11:50

MotherofPearl · 02/03/2023 11:22

What I don't understand is it looks like lower grades are being offered 8% but most academic grades have been offered 5%. Academics I know on strike - including those on the highest grades - often justify their action as showing support and solidarity with those on the lowest grades, but as far as I can see, by extending the strike further they are currently blocking those on the lower grades from getting the 8% they have been offered, suggesting that in fact they are entirely self-seeking in their motivations.

Unless I have badly misunderstood, and I admit that I actively disengage from all things UCU.

I would still like someone to show me a UCU member who is on those lower grades. Because, as far as I can see in my own institution, no GTA, technician, etc. is paid at those spinal points (points 3-5) that UCU has apparently negotiated so hard for (while implicitly accepting the 5% for its actual members).

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WhoopItUp · 02/03/2023 14:32

I’m curious about this. What kind of roles are grades 3-5?

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ghislaine · 02/03/2023 16:02

From what I can work out, at my institution a lab demonstrator is grade 3 and a TA is grade 4. So they presumably could be UCU members especially if they are also PhD students.

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ExUCU · 02/03/2023 16:15

More money for PhD students would probably reflect current power balance in UCU

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Ameadowwalk · 02/03/2023 17:16

graduate teaching assistants (PhD students) are grade 6 where I am.

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GCAcademic · 02/03/2023 17:23

It's not grades 3-5 that the 8% pay uplift is for, it's spinal points 3-5, so Grade 1. Surely no UCU member is on Grade 1?

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ghislaine · 02/03/2023 17:41

Ooops! Would it be UNISON members, then? It's a joint pay negotiation. According to twitter a university cleaner is on spinal point 5.

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GCAcademic · 02/03/2023 17:45

Yes, I'm sure it will be UNISON members. Which makes me wonder why UCU are making such a big deal about what they've achieved for low-paid staff. I don't disagree that low-paid staff should be better paid (and a 8% uplift on not very much is, well, not very much), but it all seems a bit smoke and mirrors from UCU.

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ghislaine · 02/03/2023 17:53

Grasping at straws. I have no problem at all with unions working to improve the pay and conditions of actually low-paid people doing unpleasant jobs with few or no prospects. Unlike UCU, I don't consider myself one of them.

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GCAcademic · 02/03/2023 17:58

Yes, exactly. It all smacks of fairly privileged people cosplaying at being poor.

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SchnitzelVonCrummsTum · 05/03/2023 10:15

Getting truly fed up of the online pile-ons on people who dare to do something other than strike (e.g., a talk) on strike days. It crosses the line into bullying in several cases I think. There are ways to raise this concern politely but many are not. Don't they see that non-union staff are watching and this often cements the decision to stay far away from UCU?

Why aren't they thinking more honestly about why they have such shoddy levels of membership amongst actual academics? Union-member colleagues I know closely as friends are honest about the union's strengths and weaknesses, but the person who actually leads UCU at our institution is definitely one of the online-pile-on people. Such a bloody mess.

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Chrysanthemum5 · 05/03/2023 11:04

This thread is fascinating and I'm relieved to find I'm not alone in thinking UCU are just a bunch of ex-sabbatical officers playing at running a union. I grew up in a union family and have attended many picket lines (including in the miners strike etc.) and the UCU ones are an embarrassment. Lots of posturing about 'fighting' for rights but equally no real critical thinking around whether their strikes are working.

I have a colleague who is striking on all the days as he admits he enjoys not working - I can't get him to understand that he won't be paid 🤔😳

There is no way the 4 fights can work because they actively work against each other. So better pensions and pay is expensive and will not leave money to remove precarious contracts.

I left UCU years ago when I realised their attitude towards women who believe in biology as my branch is especially rabid about this. I don't regret it

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KStockHERO · 07/03/2023 10:33

Spotted this tweet today about a 'transphobe' being elected to the UCU NEC.

Here's the election result I don't know any of the people so not sure who the 'transphobe' is.

Anyone else not striking?

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tresleches · 07/03/2023 10:57

KStockHERO · 07/03/2023 10:33

Spotted this tweet today about a 'transphobe' being elected to the UCU NEC.

Here's the election result I don't know any of the people so not sure who the 'transphobe' is.

Jeanette Findlay elected President for Scotland, bravo! A convincing win, too. She is openly called a terf by some of the younger members so this result says something about how they (and she) are regarded by the majority

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GCAcademic · 07/03/2023 11:10

Gosh, that is a very sizeable win for the incoming President for Scotland. Anyone would think that her views aren't actually those of a minority on the wrong side of history . . .

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tresleches · 07/03/2023 11:21

GCAcademic · 07/03/2023 11:10

Gosh, that is a very sizeable win for the incoming President for Scotland. Anyone would think that her views aren't actually those of a minority on the wrong side of history . . .

Indeed. This "proxy indicator" stage of the debate is interesting.. the changes are there to see, but still quite stealth

For anyone not in Scotland, Findlay also took the university to a tribunal over its sexist professorial appointment criteria. She didn't have to do this - she had been appointed professor by the time she went to tribunal, so she presumably did it to expose the practices and improve them for younger female academics (she didn't win but it was widely reported in the press and the university made some important statements). The irony of hearing some of those younger female academics calling her a terf..

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worstofbothworlds · 07/03/2023 12:42

I know one of the new electees through "a network" and they are also GC. I can message anyone who wants to know. They are not on Twitter as far as I know nor public about their beliefs, though maybe this person knows them? But they are at a different university/in a different region so it doesn't seem that likely and they aren't in a field where you have to come out and say "I don't believe in queer theory", either.

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LaChanticleer · 07/03/2023 13:47

Excellent news re Jeanette Findlay!

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aridapricot · 07/03/2023 15:25

This might out me but I will delete is later on: I know someone who was facing difficulties at work and apparently got quite a lot of support that they found quite helpful.
Then, the horror!, they discovered Jeanette was a TERF and proceeded to wax lyrical on twitter about how disappointed they were to receive support from a TERF and how unsafe and violated they felt.
So all in all this is probs good news.

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GCandproud · 07/03/2023 15:43

aridapricot · 07/03/2023 15:25

This might out me but I will delete is later on: I know someone who was facing difficulties at work and apparently got quite a lot of support that they found quite helpful.
Then, the horror!, they discovered Jeanette was a TERF and proceeded to wax lyrical on twitter about how disappointed they were to receive support from a TERF and how unsafe and violated they felt.
So all in all this is probs good news.

Yep I remember that from twitter. I think said person has also been elected onto NEC. All I can say to the disappointed TRAs is cry harder… As I’m sure they would say to us if the situation were reversed.

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BadSkiingMum · 08/03/2023 09:53

Chrysanthemum5 · 05/03/2023 11:04

This thread is fascinating and I'm relieved to find I'm not alone in thinking UCU are just a bunch of ex-sabbatical officers playing at running a union. I grew up in a union family and have attended many picket lines (including in the miners strike etc.) and the UCU ones are an embarrassment. Lots of posturing about 'fighting' for rights but equally no real critical thinking around whether their strikes are working.

I have a colleague who is striking on all the days as he admits he enjoys not working - I can't get him to understand that he won't be paid 🤔😳

There is no way the 4 fights can work because they actively work against each other. So better pensions and pay is expensive and will not leave money to remove precarious contracts.

I left UCU years ago when I realised their attitude towards women who believe in biology as my branch is especially rabid about this. I don't regret it

Regarding your colleague not 'getting' that he won't be paid. There was a news item the other day (it might have been in The Guardian) where union members were very upset about a university (London) asking students to fill in a form to clarify what teaching had been missed. There was lots of uproar from UCU about asking students to 'tell' on their lecturers so that pay could be docked (I refuse to use the word that rhymes with 'itch' or the one that rhymes with 'dab' for that matter, as both are bullying words that seek to coerce individuals, enforce group-think and do not have a place in reasonable adult discourse).

However, this article really puzzled me as surely you only take strike action if you hope it will be noted - it's a private decision but could be seen as a public act - why would you want to strike but fly under the radar?

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