To not support strike action

[Happyhappyveggie]

I’m in a university trade union and we have been called to take strike action over our pension.

The action is 14 days over 4 weeks, starting at 2 days a week and then escalating over that month to a full week.

I simply can’t do it. It will put my children and family security in trouble but now I am thinking should i leave the Union rather than strike break.

I am finding it all very stressful and upsetting actually as I support the need to protect pensions but it feels like my immediate circumstances are more important- as in keeping a roof over my kids heads.

Aibu? Can you be in a trade union and not support action? I find morally I am struggling with it.

If a Union votes to go on strike then I think you must go along with the strike action or leave the Union. I wasn't happy to go on strike but I did. I hate the way people are happy to accept the better conditions that going on strike can lead to but aren't prepared to take the financial hardship of striking themselves. Not on.

@SteamyBeignets nasty, selfish people giving up wages to fight for each other. Horrible bullies prepared to stand up to management to make sure everyone gets a fair pension. Ugly, nasty people who want to help and support each other for the benefit of all. Yep fighting together to make sure everyone has employment rights and job security. Bastards.

Not like the nice kind supportive people who want to look after themselves first and not support colleagues in a mutually beneficial way. I can't afford it so I won't do it despite the fact a democratic ballot took place. What benefits will I pass on to others? I don't know and I don't care but don't worry the nasty, ugly selfish people are fighting for them.

I assume you think nasty, ugly selfish people fought for the employment rights you enjoy?

Moussemoose I didn't have to gang up against my employer because they know their employees' values. We offer higher than market rate salary and benefit because we want the best candidates to do the jobs and keep them happy. Being part of the recruitment process we compete with other companies to get them in. Companies are not all enemies. I see it as a mutual beneficial relationship. I suppose you will never understand this being stuck in your narrow minded view.

My company isn't unionised.

I am however a member of a union and have taken part in strike action when it has taken place. The exception was the last occasion when I was on holiday so I donated my day's wages to the union fund.

It's simply what I believe in.

@Moussemoose that post has kind of proved the pp point.

Glad your world is so straight forward as everyone in unions and does strike is good and those that dont strike are bad.

Hate to break it to you but life isn't that simple.

Can you go on the sick for stress and anxiety? That was you won’t strike, or break strike and will be paid?

Hate to break it to you but life isn't that simple

How is not simple? If you're in the union, you're all in. If not, then leave.

Absolutely right life isn't that simple and that is why I was using the words of a pp to prove my point. Trade unions are not filled with "ugly" "nasty" people. And I was using irony to indicate the other side is not necessarily nasty and ugly either.

Trade unions are not perfect but the impulse behind them is mutual support to improve. The union I am involved with works very closely with the employer - we work together. Indeed the directors I work with question the ethics of companies who don't want unions because we help each other.

The wider point is you are where you are in terms of rights because of trade unions so we all owe them a debt of thanks. To suggest otherwise demonstrates historical illiteracy.

I do think this strike action is different, as it is not about short term issues but a major and permanent change to the pension that will disproportionally disadvantage the young at the start of their career. And it is sector wide, so people can't just take their skills elsewhere - unless they go overseas and we really don't want to lose some of our amazing research talent. Yes, there are the post 92s, but they are seldom research intensive so anyone with a specialism really needs to fight for the sector they are in.

This thread does make me worry that the unions have had their day. The idea of collective action and making a sacrifice for future generations sounds so old fashioned. Mumsnet is meant to be broadly left wing but this thread shows that the sense of a society pulling together for a better future has been replaced by short term individualism.

I am still going to strike, but it seems there will not be enough of us to make a difference. But I want to make my stand for inter generational fairness and against the culture that sees Vice-Chancellors on obscene salaries while valued academics can't afford a mortgage.

I gave never gone on strike before - I feel I enjoy good pay and conditions - but this issue really goes beyond that. Our pension fund has been grossly mismanaged and that is being used as an excuse to take away any guaranteed future pension, That cannot be right.

@MouseMoose I still think you are ugly and nasty to attack the OP because she can't afford it. She has children to feed and roof to keep over her head, which part of that don't you understand?! The collective good does not fucking matter if your kids are starving at home! And are you condoning people calling her a scab? I don't mind people striking but the tone the likes of you use honestly put me off and I imagine put off a lot of people who do sympathise.

Just explain your situation to your union rep and see if they can help. Take their advice before making any decisions.

This is a really interesting thread.

I don't work for a unionised company so has never been an issue - although I fully accept the benefit unions have had in improving and generally protecting workers rights and that despite not being in a union (or in an industry where there is a specific union) they will have benefitted me.

I will be interested in how the strike goes - 14 days in a month seems a huge amount and to be honest it wouldn't surprise me if there were a great deal of strike-breakers.

Surely they are at risk of making the conditions of the strike untenable for many workers - and presumably the strike would then be less effective?

How is not simple? If you're in the union, you're all in. If not, then leave.

Because according to at least a few on this thread would make you a terrible freeloader. Can't win.

I quite see how without strike pay people on low incomes wouldn't be able to afford the loss of 14 days' pay. However, the UCU website says that strike 'compensation' is £75 per day, tax-free. For anyone on a low income, isn't that more than a day's pay?

This thread does make me worry that the unions have had their day. The idea of collective action and making a sacrifice for future generations sounds so old fashioned. Mumsnet is meant to be broadly left wing but this thread shows that the sense of a society pulling together for a better future has been replaced by short term individualism.

I know, it's very sad. I'll watch the strike with interest, and I'll also ask my own union branch whether we can contribute to our local UCU effort - there have been some good ideas on this thread e.g. offering meeting space, as well as taking up collections and setting up a food bank which we've done for other striking union branches in the past.

Morningtoncrescent thank you, we are all stronger if we support each other.

I don't think the union will be able to afford to pay everyone strike pay. The fighting fund is £1.5m, according to this document:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/352100/792T_2013.pdf

That's 1, 875 payments of £800 and the entire lot is gone. I am pretty sure at my institution alone, there will be more than 1,875 people striking. There are another 60 universities involved. Face facts, they're asking us to lose a month's salary.

I think they have been INCREDIBLY tactically stupid in calling for such intensive action. If they'd gone for 5 days each month for the next few months, people could have at least had some chance to absorb the hit. But to ask members to lose an entire month's pay is foolish. I suspect many people simply won't be able to afford to join in, which will mean the strike is broken after the first few days, and rendered ineffective. Bad judgement.

When I first started work, the organisation's union members were striking. As a non union member i went in and covered for those striking. It did not seem right but I was young and unaware of the details. when I had been there six months, I was invited to join. In joining, I knew exactly what was expected of me as a member and what to expect of them as the union. Strike action would leave me short of rent and food as the pay was not great at the best of times. However, it was my choice whether to join and benefit from the provisions and cover but risk the hardship of possible strike or not to join and have neither. I joined.

Whether you choose to leave it stay, is up to you. You must have understood what would be expected of you should the union need you to stand behind them and their other members?

I would be checking out the hardship fund and other routes but seriously questioning my commitment to the principles of union membership.

@SteamyBeignets I'd rather not call anyone names. I haven't done on this thread and won't in the future. You can, obviously, behave how you want.

In reference to trade unions in general and those suggesting we don't need them. Take a look at Unisons Dignity in Care campaign. Minimum wage employees are subsiding care homes and the people they care for, buying their own gloves and flannels. One minute calls and no pay for travel. Union organisers given no shifts because they use zero hour contracts.

It is a trade union that is fighting to help these people and by extension the people they care for. You might not need a TU now but the people caring for your parents and you in the future absolutely need a TU.

The UCU may be tactically weak in this instance, I don't know, but it is a democratic organisation where all members get to vote and have an input.

Call me names if you want. I will be standing with the other trade unionists defending pensions, contracts and dignity at work.

mousse - I do agree with you about the importance of unions, 100%. However, I do take some issue with the statement about this being a democratic decision. Strike action was a democratic decision, but I don't believe that anyone who voted knew that they were voting for action of this depth, or on this scale. A LOT more specificity is needed on the ballot about exactly what kind of action is being voted on. Like I said upthread, the UCU has ordered dim-wittedly light action in the past (useless 2 hour strikes!?!?) so many of us interpreted the phrase "robust" action in that context - to mean full day strikes, not 3/4 of a month out of work. Honestly, the way that they are run, and the language they use, is making them an absolute joke amongst staff - and we're talking about academics here, who are mostly pretty left-wing and supportive in their views. I think almost 100% of my colleagues think Sally Hunt is a total idiot.

To me striking is the adult equivalent of a toddler tantrum

F**k me; just think where we'd be if we all shared that opinion

Actually, if some incredibly amazing women in history had shared that opinion, then I doubt that I'd be sitting here with the right to voice an opinion .... if that makes sense. (It does to me, in a convoluted kinda way)

but I don't believe that anyone who voted knew that they were voting for

Then they really should have either:

1. FOFO or, failing that
2. abstained from voting

We're talking clever people here (hopefully) .........

Ucu definitely has a hardship fund. Usually it's targeted at part time or zhc lecturers whose shift falls on a strike day, but it's discretionary and if you can show genuine hardship there's a good chance they will pay something. Better that than break the strike. Can you take annual leave maybe?