@aridapricot
I do not think you are over-reacting *@ThinkingAboutCrumpets*. To me it's more the principle than the actual amount of work asked of you... it's like wanting to appear "tough" on picket lines/on social media with other UCU members, yet at the same time wanting to save face with external speakers and partners, so that you can preserve your relationship with them. I no longer bat an eyelid at these things, but in past strikes I've seen "tough" colleagues (not just from my department, but more generally) demanding that everyone not only religiously observes the strike but refrains from tweeting about anything remotely related to their research because Digital Picket Line or something, and then rushing off on strike days to a conference abroad or a public engagement event with a high-profile partner. Oh but apparently they crossed off their institutional affiliation on their conference name tag so that's ok and that really damages the university.
God, I hate the term digital picket line. I've seen so many stupid petty arguments about it on twitter, with people flying off the handle about someone who's not even at a striking institution tweeting about their research. A lot of it seems to boil down to jealousy, as so much else in academia does. If you see someone you don't like doing well, you now have a chance to really stick the boot in by 'digital picket-shaming' them.
As soon as the strike is over, these academics will immediately tweet a 'catch-up' of everything they didn't publicise during the strike, so the message gets out there anyway. "I [selflessly] didn't tweet about my article during the strike because I was observing the digital picket and I didn't want to bring publicity to my research, but here it is [bringing publicity to said person's research, albeit slightly later]. Yeah, effective. The miners would have been proud.
You're so right about the conference attendance stuff too. One person I know (a prof) was on the pickets on the strike day, tweeting about how everyone is at breaking point and how senior staff have to lead by example etc, then the very next day, she examined a PhD (another poor precarious soul added to the pile), and fitted in a research seminar too. Yeah, really well done for leading by example. She has also talked of waking up at 5 am every morning to write and setting insane publishing targets. She (and people like her) IS the problem but in her head, she is fighting for justice.