to congratulate Tristram Hunt for crossing the picket line

[longfingernails]

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/tom-watson-hits-out-at-scab-tristram-hunt-for-crossing-picket-line-to-give-marx-lecture-9121775.html

Shame about his lecture material...

'The rest of the time my tutors are working on their own projects and research'.

If only. An academic workload is far more than simply delivering lectures and doing your own research.

Ummm, awkward. It's 2014!

Interviews were concluded last term outside of normal term and offers were made over Christmas so applications are out of the way. This term it would appear that my tutors have lectures to give as well as some classes and tutorials, but they would not arrange those for a day in which they were on strike though they will in general have those commitments and the corresponding marking. I admit that I was flippent in saying that their only other commitment is their own research as they do have others and that I should have said that it is the committment that appears to take the majority of their time instead.

At my university, lectures, labs, seminars and tutorials happen between 9am and 6pm, with some lecturers making themselves available outside this time for meetings with students. Obviously no lecturer has to lecture all that time with no break, but it is very silly to make assumptions about other uni's timetables based on your own.

When lecturers and staff at my university went on strike, students were asked not to cross picket lines to show solidarity with lecturers and other staff who are having pay cuts, while the vice chancellor gets a pay rise and more perks and the university continues with building works that won't benefit the majority of students. Obviously not all did, but the SU's view was that they felt that strikes are important to raise awareness of the problems with higher education in the UK.

If lecturers are not paid well, then the quality of research and university education in the UK will decline. If support staff are not paid well, then the quality of student experience will decline. There are very serious issues in UK higher education right now, especially since the current funding structure appears to be unsustainable.

Higher education in the UK is in a mess at the moment, and I think crossing the picket line in this case suggests that Tristram Hunt doesn't care about these issues. As a Labour MP, I do think he should have thought carefully about crossing any picket line. His party is funded by unions after all.

I think it was the wrong thing to do but I'm not sure it's worth him resigning over. Ironically, his actions have at least meant that the strike got more attention.

In my university, the term time divide between teaching/admin and research is about 80/20. As is the case for every other academic I know in the UK. I'd be very surprised if your lecturers were able to devote much more than that proportion to research during the week, LondonOx.

Jennycalendar to answer your question - yes if you're not in that particular union you would be expected to cross the picket line and to to work. I have done this. However, a number of (generally older, and obviously more principled!) staff members would refuse to cross. They would lose a day's pay for this and be given a "warning" though nothing more serious than that.
This man isn't just a lecturer, he's a friggin Labour politician though. Respect for union action should be part of his make-up, I cannot see the party disciplining him for this! Though the uni might.