Not to want to be referred to as ‘Comrade’

[Shellacbabe]

I work for a university and many uni staff are on strike this week. I am not a member of the union so am not on strike, and disagree with a few of the things that the strike is fighting for, but my main gripe with the union is that many members still hail each other as ‘comrade’. Can we agree that communism is dead, and that’s a very good thing, and referring to people as ‘comrades’ has no place in a modern society?

I'd rather be hailed as 'comrade' than 'Miss', 'Mrs', or informed that I have a 'maiden' name. If 'comrade' is archaic, the others are positively antediluvian.

The continued decimation of the USS pension scheme, which employers have voted for right in the face of the most sustained rounds of strike action in recent history, shows the contempt with which HE sector staff in the UK are currently treated. Incidentally this action was validated by two ballots, which are stymied as it is by some of the most draconian legislation in Europe demanding a 50% turnout. Never have people been so angry, disaffected and disillusioned. To do this right in the face of such emotive timing shows how tone deaf and utterly bloody brutal this sector has become.

The necessity of this action should be obvious from the fact that everyone hitting an age where they're eligible to retire, because owing to the assault on pensions mean they stands to gain more financially from going than staying, is going. More and more professors are dropping off the radar like flies. USS members who now can't afford to retire on a pittance are being forced out of the sector, whilst newcomers working on zero hours contracts are either emigrating, or deciding they can't afford the conditions either financially or mentally and are leaving the profession in droves.

If things carry on the way they are, the UK won't even have a Higher Education system (and you won't have a job). And all you can find to blather on about is being called 'comrade'. Do you actually get it?

Crossing picket lines is, by the way, really not cricket. Hope you're proud of yourself for undermining a very necessary public dispute.

And yes. I agree that this post has to be a wind-up.

@Shellacbabe

Anyone who thinks communism is a good thing only has to look at the state of Ukraine 1930s

Not one single person has said this. Just like no one is calling you comrade at work. There's a common denominator here...

@Shellacbabe

Anyone who thinks communism is a good thing only has to look at the state of Ukraine 1930s

We get it, you're not a socialist. I'm not a socialist although there are elements of socialism in the society that we live in. I guess I'd call myself a social democrat but if someone wants to call me comrade it wouldn't bother me that much.

We get it, you're not a socialist.

Unsurprising that the OP fits right in. If they're a right-wing hack (likely), not on a wind-up (unlikely), or a VC/Senior Faculty member (even less likely), they must be as happy as Napolean and Snowball in shit, working within one of the most aggressively capitalist business models to emerge post-deregulation of the banks.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying and up the Junior Anti-Sex League ...

The state of the pension scheme doesn’t bother me at all. I’ve had 25 years working in the private sector and it’s better than anything I’ve had before. I work in professional services and know nobody on strike at all - because we have all worked in private sector and know what a really bad pension is. You don’t think that if lecturers started leaving in droves wages might start rising to keep people?

I would have laughed in his face. I'm in my 60's and remember the havoc unions wreaked on this country.

Believe me, this post isn’t a wind up. So many working in the private sector would happily take the current pension offer. Get out of your academic bubble and meet the real world!

You don’t have to be a socialist to join a union ffs. 🙄 It makes sense that most people who join have some leanings towards socialism as socialism is about the collective not the individual and unions support the workforce as a collective. Their power (ha) exists because of the system of collective bargaining by the collective for the collective.

If you’re one of thatcher’s individualists then no, unions probably aren’t for you but you also ought to request not to benefit from any union negotiations, particularly where your rights and remuneration are involved. You can go persuade your bosses as an individual and good luck with that if they disagree, comrade 😂

I used to be a teacher in the 90’s in a university city.

There were always Russians on exchange. All their kids got nicknamed Comrade at school. Makes me feel very old!

"I work for a university and many uni staff are on strike this week. I am not a member of the union so am not on strike, and disagree with a few of the things that the strike is fighting for"

a) Don't worry they won't be referring to you as a comrade
b) That's because this is scab behaviour

'b) That's because this is scab behaviour'

And that sentence just about sums up unions and some of their members mentality.

As a matter of interest, if the Union action results in benefits for all staff, will you be taking your share?

This used to be an old school labour party thing in the days when I went to meetings. Always irritated me. Performative silliness and always the ones who were a bit weird with women.

@Shellacbabe

Believe me, this post isn’t a wind up. So many working in the private sector would happily take the current pension offer. Get out of your academic bubble and meet the real world!

I feel sorry for your academic colleagues OP that they have to deal with someone like you on a daily basis. I wonder how many hours you work unpaid overtime a day and how many years you spent to build this career.

It's just a joke. Chill, comrade.

My husband's an academic and not in a union and I absolutely understand what you're saying. My impression is that you and he and probably many others are essentially unrepresented because the union is not one you can join without feeling you are compromising your own values.

@stuntbubbles

Cowards flinch and traitors sneer, OP

Yes.

You also have no right to regulate how people who believe in the union movement address each other OP. If you think it has ever been confined to members of the Communist party, you are displaying great ignorance.

Love being called Comrade. And definitely prefer it to a few other things I’ve been called in my time x

Staffed as it is by people with PhDs, academia is by its nature an elite profession. It doesn’t involve tiring manual labour, little autonomy or dangerous working conditions. So when academic use terms rooted in working class struggles, I appreciate it can seem incongruous.

Trade Unions are socialising organised op. Join or don't join but they're not going to charge terms significant to their conception just to get your tenner a month.

*socialist organisations

I wouldn’t have thought the £10 a month makes much difference, it’s the proportion of the workforce they can claim to represent I thought they’d be interested in. It seems I have a lot to learn.

@Junction5aOnTheM4

One of my professors referred to us thus, and it fitted in with the areas he lectured in. It was endearing and it was understood where it came from and why. Lovely older hippy guy. Very left. He wasn't suggesting we adopt communism.

I think we had the same lecturer...

I used to be interested in getting involved with my local Labour Party when I was young. I was really put off by a load of middle class north Londoners calling each other comrade. It just felt incredibly false and pretentious in that context.