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.

Good point about the time/overworked point. My colleagues in UCU seem to spend their lives on Twitter (whether on strike or not).

Students know I'm not on strike so I am currently fielding lots of extra emails from my colleagues' PTs who have nobody else to turn to with questions about extensions, mitigation, wanting tutorials etc. I answer them all and try to help as it's of course the students who are suffering, but it's a bit galling doing colleagues' work while they're on bloody Twitter all day long.

I don't have a Twitter account and never go on it because I spend enough time on MN already.

😂
Yes, I’ll never understand why people who are gainfully employed post so much rubbish on twitter. Everyone can see you’re not working.

What a shit-show.

These students are an absolute embarrassment - mediocre, middle-class children cosplaying at some rose-tinted idea they have of a radical mid-century student movement.

And, of course, egged on by UCU - the supposed adults.

As PP have said, don't UCU people realise that their tweeting this sort of gubbins is pushing UCU-skeptics further and further from them 😬

I'm glad I'm not in her branch!

Christ on a bike 😱😱😱😱

I'm cringing so hard, I'm in actual physical pain.

<reaches for eye and ear bleach>

Looks like HQ have launched another e-ballot. Let's hope it raises less ire than the last one!

Painful, very painful. Could I blame students who mined this to embarrass their lecturers in the future? I‘m honestly struggling a bit.

Featuring UCU Scotland President Lena Wånggren and UCU Scotland Vice President elect Grant Buttars. Yes, that's who's running the show in Scotland. Edinburgh UCU branch is one of the most dysfunctional branches in a highly dysfunctional union.

Well look at how they have bullied Shereen Robinson. She’s a hero (and a lovely woman ).

Aaaand ... there's another strike mandate.

MAB here we come?

Give me strength …

Turnout 56.4% on pay & working conditions ballot, 58.4% on pension ballot. Those who voted were overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.

MAB seems like only sensible option, final-year students are in for some disappointment.

How will this all turn out with the vote on the current offer, I wonder...should be interesting I guess.

Really wish the strikes would end, personally.

Jo Grady has agreed to pay libel damages:
https://twitter.com/PaulEmbery/status/1655875078603644929

Hope she’s paying it personally and not out of union funds?

Well, she has a pretty good salary, so … does anyone remember what she said about Embery?

I think Embery filmed some young women behaving obnoxiously on a train and put the clip up on twitter, with Grady accusing him of being a misogynistic, etc.
I think Embery is a bit of an eejit and his video should have been taken down, but Grady chiming in as a union leader seems somewhat... undignified to me. Like she is in the lookout for any Very Online person to post something ludicrous to call them out.

Holy moly! Sometimes I can’t believe what I’m watching. It’s the whole spectrum from tragedy to farce, you couldn’t make it up.

@exUCU according to
https://www.brettwilson.co.uk/blog/ucu-general-secretary-jo-grady-pays-paul-embery-twitter-libel-damages/

“Grow up Paul and take a day off bullying women and pretending to be outraged for clicks. It’s pathetic at any age, but especially yours” and “It’s creepy to record young women on the train, share that video, and lie about them on social media for clout.”

Jo Grady is getting paid a salary that puts her in the top 1% of earners. (According to this statistic based on 2019 ONS data: https://www.statista.com/chart/20092/how-much-pay-makes-you-a-top-earner-in-the-uk/ )

Worse, her salary is funded by union dues. This entirely avoidable episode must have cost her time and energy, and the matter has absolutely zero to do with the politics of higher education. She is unfit for office, has been for a long time, and yet she is the de facto representative of UK academics …

It's why I'm ex-UCU !

And that's Jo Grady's press release on the matter... https://twitter.com/DrJoGrady/status/1655908999303254016

Desperate stuff. Grady never misses an opportunity to virtue signal.

Does anyone remember her Insta make-up tutorial from November 2020 when, er, we were in the middle of a pandemic? I’m sure that was a great use of her time.

I think I saw mention on twitter that the damages were £22k. Not massive but not insubstantial either.

It must really stick in her craw given where it’s destined.