Dd scared of crossing a university picket line

[littlemissrain]

Dd's university is taking part in the strike next week.

Most of her teachers (mostly postgraduate students) will be striking, but none of her lecturers are. 2 of her lectures aren't recorded, so she has to go to them. This will
mean crossing the picket line, and she's terrified that the strikers will call her out/jeer at her as she goes in. She has anxiety problems so is really building this up in her mind. The strikes are, as things stand, going to last for up to a month, possibly longer.

Does anyone have any experience of having to cross picket lines?

Yes, I have read the thread. What it boils down to is a belief that strikes work. Which I don't share. A belief you are as entitled to have as I am to have mine. But the disingenuity here is not the OP but the insistence by those striking that students should be grateful for it and are somehow selfish or short sighted if they don't support it.

Fighting for pensions benefits people now and will inevitably help future generations. It just will.

Is your problem that some people might be fighting for themselves and others? You just can't believe that some people might take an action that is not entirely in their own self interest. Yes they want it for themselves but they are also concerned about others.

If you can't believe some people might be striking for others as well as themselves I think that reflects rather sadly on your own attitude towards society and people's motivations.

Strikes very rarely work in a 'ping' we'll back down now way, but they do increase pressure and shift the argument. As I mentioned if you have sick pay, holiday pay, if you are a woman who enjoys equal pay with male colleagues people striking in the past have helped you.

This is just the start- strikes will soon start in local FE colleges (same union but different issues mostly pay)- 11 colleges are going out on a two day strike this month.

What we all need to be campaigning for is more government support in education.

Fighting for pensions benefits people now and will inevitably help future generations. It just will.
But it wont.
Because the schemes are in deficit because unaffordable pensions of the past are still being paid out.
Keeping on offering unaffordable pensions will result in later generations getting nothing at all.

Pensions were only really invented in around 1920.
They will be effectively gone by 2020

My daughter was told politely but firmly by a striking lecturer that she could not go into campus. I’ve checked with the university and this is not allowed. But it’s too late, she feels too intimidated to go in, I am absolutely livid!

Sorry to hear that DesiBy, and I hope you take it further - does she know who the lecturer was? The strike is actually achieving its aims, which is good for everyone including students I think, but it's discouraging to hear things like this about hopefully a small minority of people being dicks on pickets. I think the official UCU line is that you can try to persuade people not to cross the picket line - not sure I agree with that either! - but you certainly can't forbid people from crossing it.

Tbh I don't like the idea of pickets much, seems to be a blunt instrument from a different age. And universities aren't like mines or factories, people have business in them which are not going to in any way compromise the basic withdrawal of labour (which I support).

I saw this on Twitter and remembered this thread!

Laura Sangha
‏ @_drsang

Quick thread on picket lines before I head out for .... the picket line.

1. Students, we hope we are not intimidating! Come and have a chat, ask what you want to know about the strikes, or just say hello as you go by! 12:42 PM - 15 Mar 2018

Tell your DD not to wear her young conservatives or Theresa May badge (joke).

This is an important life lesson for your DD. She has to take a deep breath and keep walking into the building otherwise her anxiety will stop her doing many things in future. If she can be brave enough to say hello the lecturers will be friendly towards her.