Lecturers crossing picket lines

[angrygoat2]

I’m an older postgrad student, and a few of my lectures this week have been affected by strikes. I am very sympathetic but also haven’t done a huge amount of research/reading around it, so forgive me if anything I say comes across as uninformed.

One of my lecturers will continue to teach on strike days. This person is very
prominent, both within the university and in their field. Widely cited, published a few mainstream-ish books, frequent speaking engagements, and working on a number of well-funded projects. Friends working in the field often ask “do you have xyz as a lecturer?” So definitely a heavyweight, and probably in a better financial situation than most of their colleagues.

Why isn’t this person striking? Surely they have very little to lose by showing solidarity given their status? Unfortunately they usually treat students as an afterthought (and often use them to do unpaid work under the guise of experience/exposure) so I very much doubt it’s for our benefit.

I’ve discussed this with other students and so far, no one has a compelling answer. Not trying to be judgmental - genuinely confused - but not sure I’m brave enough to ask to the prof’s face. Any insights would be appreciated!

You don't need to be in the union to strike so it's irrelevant whether they are a member of UCU or not (however, agreed regarding protection when it comes to rights if in a different union).

Most profs in my dept dont strike. They get paid enough - we have plenty of profs earning 100k plus. Many have been through multiple strikes over the years and are fed up of them. Certain disciplines rarely ever go on strikes e.g. economists, our economists never ever go on strike, they just focus on their consulting projects and fees. For a lot of sciences etc - some of the discussions surrounding UCU arent always very relevant (but very relevant in other ways). Some people are nice and just 'love' their students. Some people cant afford to but if they are a prof thats unlikely - they would be on a nice wage.

To get to be a prof you have to be fairly career centred and good at working the system. So instead of being against the system or trying to change it - they often just focus on working within it rather than wasting their efforts on striking. A lot of academics are quite self-centred and dont have much solidarity for others - personal gripe.

So lots and lots of possible reasons.

Bit creepy if staff are expected to explain their personal situation or politics to students?

Really think it is not your business, OP. They don’t owe you an explanation.

@Byelaws I think thats unfair. OP isnt asking the lecturer directly - it's an anonymous forum. It's totally fine to ask on MN.

Less than half of lecturers are in the union, very few scientists are for instance. My ex gets paid fairly for his work and doesn't strike, he's not in the union

Me too, generally

Some small specialist places may be highly unionised. I believe some Oxbridge colleges are like that too. But generally I'm sure 25% striking is far nearer the mark.

Personally, I voted against this strike action. The last one didn't achieve anything & this one won't either. I am on the edge of leaving the UCU, as it's run by people who use Rik from The Young Ones as a role model. (I didn't vote for them either).

There is also freedom of conscience in this country. Maybe your professor is not a member of the UCU. Maybe she is concerned about her students. Maybe she can't afford to strike. I can't & I' a well-paid professor - but my expenses are high, particularly as I tend to subsidise my research from my own salary re going to conferences, travelling to archives.

Lots of reasons why this person is not striking.

I’m a STEM Postgrad (in my late 30s) and there has been no strike action on the STEM campus and, having checked, no strike action on any other campuses either.

UCU present stats like “87% of “my Uni” staff say the workload is too much” - when what they mean is that 87% of the staff that are UCU members say that. They use tricksy wording.

I’m not doubting the workloads are horrid, but I don’t like how they present that.

I'm not in the union and won't be striking. I'm in the social sciences and the strikes have had less and less support with each one. Several ardent union members have left as they are fed up with strikes being called every year.

DH is in the same university in the science fields - strike days have pretty much always been normal days in his building, the union has next to no support among his colleagues.

The professor might also be at any one of a number of places that have said that if teaching not done on strike days isn't rescheduled then 100% of pay will be deducted after that. There is an active UCU or Jo Grady twitter thread naming them all. I can't imagine many people have the appetite for complete loss of income for an indefinite period, even if the threat seems to me very legally dubious.

If you support the strike then you have the option of not attending classes held on strike days.

Yup, my university has in the past said that ASOS and various other things (eg marking boycott) are a break of our contracts and they deduct 100% salary. No-one - not even so-called "rich" professors (we are NOT!) - can afford that, for so little return.

I definitely do not feel that the costs (loss of income) are warranted given the very poor strategy and probable outcome. So that's a no to the strike - union or not. It's political posturing, justifying UCU existence.

But really, even this is not my fundamental gripe with UCU - which is the attack on academic freedom that pps have already very eloquently described. That - is just an absolute no wrt UCU. To support anything that supports UCU is therefore tainted - even if it did benefit me.

As others have already said, there are many not striking. We simply are not as loud as those who are. I've never been part of the UCU, I don't agree with much of what they do. During last year's strike I crossed the picket line to teach, and two of my male colleagues (from my department! people I know and have been friendly with!) confronted me at the entrance to the building, stuck their fingers in my face, and yelled incomprehensible things at me. I was physically shaking afterwards. No fucking way am I joining them after that.

That's disgraceful. I too refuse to get involved with the childish postering. Nor with a union that refuses to support gender critical colleagues (or worse, campaigns against them).

When you felt you transpired to a " them" position and no longer "us" did your values change overnight?

I’m not sure if you are referring to my comment or not. But no, my values did not change overnight. They are deeper held than that. By “them” I meant these specific colleagues and I suppose the union more broadly. But in general I don’t think of it as “us” versus “them”. I think people should be free to come to their own decisions. I respect their decision to strike, and I’d like that they respect mine not to. If they have issue with my decision, they should speak to me as a colleague and not as an adversary.

It seems your values changed as you entered management. The dispute is not against "you" . You cannot change the outcome but you could support your colleagues to get fair pay, better conditions and reasonable workloads.

in your department is workload not a problem? You have control over that.

I’m not in management.

Is your lecturer Brian Cox by any chance?

I would respectfully suggest that you know nothing at all of what anyone on this thread does to support their colleagues and improve conditions on a day-to-day basis, week in, week out, probably for years.

As a former HoD (and other academic leadership roles) I can confirm @Finlaysdaddy that even ”management “ don’t have control over academic workloads. But I suspect you’re not an experienced academic as your posts demonstrate that you know little about how departments work.

UCU have done nothing for many people for many years

they shout and shout and then ultimately agree some shit deal then pop up and say ‘yay we won!’

thwy won’t get another penny from me

I’ve paid for 20 years and they’ve not won a single thing I’ve voted for

Maybe teaching to them, is more important

The strikes won’t work. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? What is so different now compared to the other 40 days of strikes called over the past three years or so? The USS valuation hasn’t even happened so why exhaust people now? All staff who are striking are doing is losing pay.

4. a union member but can’t afford to get behind on three days of work (this is a very stressful and overlooked factor - the work is still there and usually needs to be caught up with).

As a disabled academic, this is the one that gets me. I can barely manage full time work as it is, if I stopped working for a day, it's not like I could say to my PhD student: "Oh, sorry, I was on strike. I'll never look at that paper now; you won't get to publish it." Of course it needs looking at! Only actual taught classes on a day are a thing that can't be 'recovered' - I know so many union members who work until midnight the day before a strike to try to keep from getting too far behind. And then the same after strikes to catch up. But that is physically impossible for me.

The strikes it seems to me are mostly performative. Some are privileged enough to be able to undertake them and recover; some are committed enough to take major hits. These hits can effect both themselves and others - people working on collaborative grants for example. For me, personally, it seems that the track record of strike action has shown it isn't doing much, and I'm just not willing to take a few days off which for many others they can recover from, but for me could end up having significant negative effects on my career and my health.

As a disabled academic, this is the one that gets me. I can barely manage full time work as it is, if I stopped working for a day, it's not like I could say to my PhD student: "Oh, sorry, I was on strike. I'll never look at that paper now; you won't get to publish it." Of course it needs looking at!

Huge sympathy @anotheranonacademic I experience that and I’m healthy and able-bodied (but old and tired). It’s why I rarely take a sick day or more than a week of real holiday, because the work is always there.

And as a senior academic, a lot of my work is facilitating and supporting junior academics’ careers. So do I stop doing that? “oh sorry I couldn’t write a letter of support for your Fellowship”. No, I can’t do that. So I am not striking.