The upcoming strikes

[mrsrhodgilbert]

I have a dd in her third year at a university where there will be strike action for the next four weeks starting on Thursday. I've only been aware of this for a few days and I've seen nothing about it in the press. Dd doesn't yet know how it will affect her, she has one lecturer who covers her two modules this term and hasn't asked her if she will be striking. Literature from the university says they can ask their lecturers if they will be striking but the lecturer doesn't have to answer, so all a bit uncertain.

I'm just interested to know what your dc have been told if anything and what might happen re completing final modules without teaching and indeed if final exams could be cancelled. In that case what would happen?

[mrsrhodgilbert]

squirrils hello again. I can't believe we have almost got through six years of university, dd1 has flown the nest at last and is working and living with her boyfriend. I'm just keen for dd2 to make it through as smoothly as possible now. I hope yours are doing well. I'm wondering if this is going to make the tv news some time soon.

[hellsbells99]

DD1 had to walk through a lot of protesters today at Liverpool university. She says she has been given a lot of leaflets and they were being encouraged to boycott all lectures. 1 lecturer didn't turn up today. She thinks 2 out of her 4 modules are affected.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Loads of our students turned out today to support. Really touched.

[SoupyNorman]

Our uni was pretty dead today, notably fewer students around. Solidarity to everyone striking to protect USS pensions for union and non-union members alike!

[Figmentofmyimagination]

Something v interesting about this strike for all you employment law nerds is that its 'hard hitting', front loaded nature (the longest most comprehensive strike in higher education etc) is a direct consequence of the conservatives' new restrictions on the right to strike, brought in last year by their new trade union act.

Your strike ballot used to last as long as the dispute lasts. Our Stupid daily mail-beholden, craven government changed this so that the ballot now only lasts 6 months. Then, if the dispute hasn't been resolved, you have to reballot - by post. Balloting a large Union by post is a huge and expensive endeavour, so now workers on strike must maximise the impact of the 6 months, with hard hitting continuous strikes - not the odd day here and there to make your point but continuous action at the point of maximum impact. Everyone who knew anything about industrial relations told them this would happen but they were too arrogant to listen.

[OuaisMaisBon]

I am trying to compose a letter to my final year student child's Vice-Chancellor, showing solidarity for the striking academics, and asking for compensation for lost tuition fees (on principle). I have seen the letter he wrote to all students and feel he is being economical with the truth about the state of the pension pot for the academics at his university. I am not happy. Any help with composing a polite and factual letter would be gratefully received, as I'm out of practice these days!

[blueskypink]

This has only come onto my radar as I knew DS3 (1st year) was getting exam results today. Didn't happen because of strikes.

Daren't ask DS2 who is in his final year and working incredibly hard - and feeling very stressed.

Feeling mightily pissed off that they are both incurring massive debt and potentially having their education disrupted.

[kath6144]

hellsbells - my DS is at Liverpool and yes, he said he had to walk through a gauntlet of picket lines (who said on another thread that there would be minimal picketing?!!) and told that he should tell his lecturer that they were betraying colleagues by not striking. Plus they tried to shove a myriad of leaflets onto him.

I have mixed thoughts on the strike, but as the mum on the other thread was pointing out, why should the students, who are already having their studies severely disrupted, be hassled like DS felt he was today. Any sympathy the students have will soon dissipate if they feel they are being hassled every strike day.

[Do2Little]

uk.news.yahoo.com/university-strikes-turn-violent-protesters-190612674.html

Seems to be escalating.

[hellsbells99]

Kath6144 - yes, my DD did find it quite intimidating but I didn't like to say that after people laid into the Op in the other thread!

[hellsbells99]

Just read your link Do2Little - not good.

[OuaisMaisBon]

My child felt guilty about crossing the picket lines to go to a seminar which was not cancelled yesterday; she was only heckled by friends on her Politics course who were standing in solidarity with their lecturers/tutors and feels incredibly guilty for not having been on the lines with them. She will be joining them today as the picket line she crossed was peaceful (apart from her course-mates holding her to account for going against her principles!) and she supports the strike. As I said above, I am in solidarity with the academics and blame the university administration, not the strikers, for the disruption to my child's final year. The university administration has not answered the question of whether missed teaching hours will be caught up on. The Vice-Chancellor is one of those who earns over £300,000 pa just in salary, let alone the whole package, and whose pension plan will presumably not be affected by the proposed changes for the ordinary academics whose salaries are risible without a proper pension plan in place and who look to be losing £10,000 pa from their pensions if the proposed changes are implemented.
"This university has rightly emphasised that our protests will be peaceful but it seems that this message has not been sent to the opposition. And students are only protected from violence when they are on the same side as management." Is a shocking quote from that article linked to above. (When I was a student, many moons ago, Sussex was a by-word for unrest and strikes amongst students, not lecturers!)

[Do2Little]

I agree that the violence was terrible. Hope it doesn't happen again. It seems relatively peaceful at my dc's universities.

However it will be massively counterproductive to storm lectures, heckle or intimidate other students. They only get one shot at their education and they have a perfect right to go to the lectures that are still going ahead.

[blueskypink]

they have a perfect right to go to the lectures that are still going ahead.

None going ahead for 5 days for my final year ds

[Do2Little]

Oh no bluesky. He must be quite worried.

[HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood]

“he should tell his lecturer that they were betraying colleagues by not striking. ”

My DH is not a union member. Ergo he cannot participate.

However, it’s been really handy as there are loads of rooms free for the rescheduling of classes he had to postpone due to illness.

[SoupyNorman]

It’s ok, Hells, your DH can rely on the sacrifice of his colleagues to fight to defend his pension as well as their own. Or alternatively he could join the union and show some solidarity.

[Do2Little]

You should not compel someone to join a union by heaping on guilt. It should be an individual choice as befits a free society. If you carry on like that you will lose sympathy and at the moment you have quite a lot of sympathy on your side.

[HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood]

Except he’s not all that bothered about the changes. He knew they were in the offing years ago - it was pretty damned obvious. Hell, I can recall a conversation from 6
years ago where he told me these changes were coming. The only surprise is the delay.

So no thanks, he won’t be joining the union, and if his colleagues want to strike, that’s their decision in pursuit of their own wants.

[SoupyNorman]

Not heaping on guilt, just setting out the facts of what we are striking for. It seems that Hells’s DH isn’t bothered about losing 50% of his pension, which suggests he’s in a radically different position to most academics, not to mention current and future generations who already have extreme precarity at the start of their careers.

In any case, it seems there is a massive spike in union membership - hurrah! 3000 new members in the last week, and 2000 waiting to have their applications processed. Solidarity to all!

[NotDavidTennant]

Hell, I can recall a conversation from 6 years ago where he told me these changes were coming. The only surprise is the delay.

If you were talking 6 years ago that would have been about the previous set of cuts that have already gone through. What's being disputed now is a second, deeper set of cuts to the pension.

[user150463]

My DH is not a union member. Ergo he cannot participate.

This is not correct. Non-union members cannot by law be treated negatively by employers when joining legal strikes.

Except he’s not all that bothered about the changes.

Unless he is very close to retirement, this is hard to believe. It is a very significant decrease to pensions, based on flawed and biased modelling. Even a number of VCs have broken ranks to call UUK back to the table to negotiate (a dozen or so, to date, including Durham, Newcastle etc).

Oxbridge want out of DB so that they can take big loans to compete with Harvard and US Ivy Leagues. This is their way of forcing it to happen - too expensive to buy themselves out, so manipulate, and count all Oxbridge colleges separately for voting purposes, to force the scheme to change.

[blueskypink]

How are people's dcs being affected? DS3 had labs cancelled yesterday (but others in his year didn't). DS2 is stressing over his dissertation anyway and having all his lectures cancelled isn't helping.

[hellsbells99]

Both DDs are affected. DD1 has had lectures etc. cancelled for 3 out of her 4 modules. DD2 has still had 4 hours of labs today but other stuff cancelled. Neither of them like walking through the protesters.

[Do2Little]

Yes mine too.

What has really pissed me off is that a whole module for a first year will not be taught but will still appear in the examinations.