University Strikes

[ILikeTrains]

I feel like I should be posting this on the AIBU thread but I'm bloody furious that there's going to be another round of strikes. This will be getting on for a months worth of education that these students are missing out on, this could affect their outcomes over all.

I'm sure the unions have very valid concerns for their members but who is the strike really harming? These students only get one go at this - the staff have their degrees already (and probably not at the same expense that these students have).

I'm so angry that the people most affected by this are the students and the have no control at all over this situation.

[Kuponut]

My uni really don't "get" the mature students with kids issues in things generally - we've all tried to change things but then the SU voted in a mature students rep who is 21 and filling their CV and won't engage.

At least after this week we'll have a better picture of which of our staff are involved in the strike so can moderate our lecture expectations accordingly is the way I'm looking at it. Thankfully the way our course is, the bulk of the academic content for the year's been covered by now and it's revision sessions and assessment surgeries we're mostly losing out on at least.

I'm more pissed off with the uni sending out shit stirring emails trying to get us all to contact the unions ourselves and complain and with shortcut complaints process forms attached - rather than relaxing some of the attendance monitoring nonsense - we've all been told we still will be penalised for attendance (meaningless for most of us - but implications for the international students' visas) if we don't trot along and swipe in for attendance! There's trying to run business as usual and then there's taking the piss and shit stirring and it's been about as gleeful as my 6 year old dropping her sister in trouble with some of the communication we've had.

[Kuponut]

Oh joy. Came in today because we have to... There's a coffee fuelled mob outside our lecture building reliving their student activist days with a megaphone they've blagged from somewhere. So much for not wanting to hurt the students.

I'm hoping the latest batch of lattes wear off and laryngitis kicks in by my next session where I need to do audio stuff!

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

I feel you @Kuponut

[Kuponut]

The megaphone lost the motivation by lunchtime and vanished. One of our lecturers was a no show today and has basically told us he's not teaching the remainder of the module.

So, for a speech and language therapy degree we are not going to cover: the tongue, the pharynx and the ear and hearing. Now somehow I can't imagine us being allowed to qualify with those gaps in our knowledge so whatever the uni says - we ARE going to have to cover it ourselves to pass exams.... Or you're going to have some really shit professionals in a few years!

All the lip service of not wanting to hurt students - today we've had students physically prevented from entering buildings and lectures disrupted by Megaphone Mary. I'm complaining to uni security about the doorway blocking as some of our younger students have been really intimidated by the behaviour.

We've been told we look like we're going to be made to come in on our own time to cover missed work. Will mean my booked childcare arrangements are fucked.

Goodwill toward the strikers now gone completely when they're bullying 18 year olds trying to enter buildings

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

That's very upsetting update. Luckily ours are not intimidating students as far as I heard and we have no Megaphone Mary.

I absolutely feel for you because as I said above we too are missing important topics which WILL be in exam so we have to learn ourselves. I understand that uni is predominantly self study, but having the lecturer explain these helps a lot.

I think this strike is bullshit and only people hurt will be students. Apparently they will be looking at our exams after to see if whole class did worse than expected and then they will MAYBE try to do something. What will they maybe try to do? Who the fuck knows. Are grades important in our field? Fuck yes.

[Kuponut]

I'm as self-directed as they come - thankfully I'd already read around and researched the holes in the powerpoint for today's lost lecture (he gets a bit rambly and sidetracked so I've taken to going through the topic outline and researching myself some notes to hook the lecture content onto - which then get shared around most of our course cohort cos I'm an obliging sort). Can't get my head around the content we'll lose from the next week though as the outline's all in abbreviations which make no sense to me without the lecture content (which happens sometimes with this module).

So yeah basically I'm doing content for the course students to teach themselves from and I'm an undergrad myself! (Yes I do have QTS but for primary kids!)

[AgileLass]

I’m shocked to read your update Kuponut - NOBODY should be physically preventing anybody from entering buildings. That’s not what the picket line is for. I urge you to contact your local UCU branch so they can ensure this sort of thing does not happen again.

[lostinleaves]

I'm furious about it, DD has just told me that there are some students who are in their final year who now won't be able to graduate because they have missed so much content and others who won't be graduating with the professional accreditation that they need for their careers.

[PhoneLock]

I feel sorry for the students- still having to pay for lectures that their lecturers aren't going to be teaching them.

A lot of them don't seem to mind paying for lectures and not attending them.

[Kuponut]

Yeah that's what worries me lostinleaves - we've lost a huge swathe of fairly vital content - there's talk of the other staff working out how to make up the gaps which is inevitably going to fall back on us all having to come in extra or work extra to cover it (and probably a fair whack on additional childcare if they pull us in extra hours). My childcare and travel's been carefully budgeted and doesn't have enough slippage to accommodate this.

Thankfully I'm carrying high enough marks in most of the affected units to be able to afford grade slippage and I'm first year so it doesn't count - but today was bloody horrific being on campus anyway with the way some of the staff were behaving on pickets (again - seems to be the bunch who actively hate undergraduates) so I'm not looking forward to that for the next few weeks. I cope going around campus with my mental health problems by having headphones on moving between buildings and just tuning noise out - so people blocking doorways forcing you to let them put stickers on and explain their gripes, and going past people giving it large outside lecture buildings with megaphones was pretty horrendously anxiety inducing. I'm robust and old enough to stand my ground though - like I said before, some of our younger students were really upset and shaken up by it all.

I had goodwill and understanding toward the staff until they pissed me off today with the way they were trying to bully and intimidate students. No more.

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

And EVERYONE washes their hands off it. Uni will claim it's not their fault, as will the teachers. Again. Only ones really fucked over here are students.

There must be a better way

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

@Kuponut you should really contact the union. They have no right to do this

[Kuponut]

A lot of them don't seem to mind paying for lectures and not attending them.

And a hell of a lot DO. Again it's coming back to this undercurrent of wanting to get one over on those nasty little lazy undergraduate fuckers isn't it? The whole of today (I wasn't in yesterday - timetable like that, not me avoiding lectures) was not designed to target university officials - it was designed to make students as intimidated and threatened and distressed as possible so THEY would go running and complaining to the university on the staff's behalf.

That's pretty damned cowardly when you've got 50 year old people standing shoulder to shoulder across doorways blocking 18 year olds from going in until they agree to go running and telling the authorities why people are pissed off and accept a sticker being clagged on them. Oh then actively seeking to disrupt the lectures that WERE going on by standing by the windows with a megaphone to block out hearing in the lecture theatre. I lost all respect today.

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

Phonelock is a uni staff. Based on reaction I wonder if from @Kuponat's one...

There are thousands upon thousands of students who do go for all lectures possible, do their work and they are the ones getting fuck over here

[PhoneLock]

Again it's coming back to this undercurrent of wanting to get one over on those nasty little lazy undergraduate fuckers isn't it?

Hardly. I was in at 7:20 am today and am still at my desk. I've been teaching undergraduates face-to-face practically all day. However, generally speaking, lecture attendance by undergraduates is abysmal.

I'm not sure which university you study at, but at mine, students are not being targeted by pickets, only staff.

[PhoneLock]

There are thousands upon thousands of students who do go for all lectures possible, do their work and they are the ones getting fuck over here

Not from me. In fact I haven't noticed any of my colleagues missing today. Lectures, seminars, tutorial, labs etc., have all run as timetabled.

[WalkingDeadTrainee]

Lucky you! (No sarcasm there btw) We are certainly missing quite some number. Worst is that it is honestly mainly the most difficult modules.

Also our attendance % is suffering. We are not swiping in and there is no one to take attendance now so apparently it will be as authorised absence. I can't be absent from something what isn't there!

[lostinleaves]

Thankfully I'm carrying high enough marks in most of the affected units to be able to afford grade slippage and I'm first year so it doesn't count

My DD is in her third year on a degree which needs accreditation, she has lost lectures in each year of her degree because of strikes.

[PhoneLock]

The accreditation shouldn't be affected.

It's a difficult one and there is always a dilemma when strike action is scheduled. On one hand staff pay and particularly pension benefits are being eroded and that needs to be stopped but, on the other hand, we don't want to disadvantage our students. Me, my husband, and seemingly most of our colleagues in the school just work as usual.

[Kuponut]

I was in at 8am, same as I am most mornings I'm timetabled on campus. For what turns out to be 2 hours of stuff and a lot of what really was amounting to bullying.

Ours is probably our second worst module really hit (the other really impacted one is near the end of actual content being covered and into assignment/exam revision time) and unfortunately the one where we've got the most content still to cover and important stuff.

We've also got half the course having covered stuff because their seminars fell on a different day and the other half not having covered it... So where that leaves the "not being assessed" thing will be anyone's guess.

Most lecturers seem to be gleefully impacting the students right now to be honest. What I've seen today in terms of behaviour and intimidation and active attempts to sabotage was appalling.

[hairquestions2019]

I wonder if there's any indication that overseas applicants are leaning towards choosing eg USA over the UK because of last year's and this year's strikes?

I suppose it could be hard to tell until it gets to acceptance dates.

[newbathroomforme]

The first time there was a strike it affected every lecturer my DS had and they were still examined on the areas not taught.
This time is affecting 2 out of his 5 lectures/seminars a week. He’s changed subject and this dept offer daily drop in help sessions anyway and all the lecture notes are on line.
My DS does support them he’s at a very good RG uni but apparently many are paid sessional work with no real permanent contract. For the less popular subject this is worrying for the staff as some don’t know if the have all their sessions until the start of the year/term.

[LittleDragonGirl]

I fully support the strikes, being the child of a academic I've seen first hand the impact of absolutely ridiculous work loads on even full time contracted senior staff. My parents work full time monday to friday, most evenings and weekends, and big chunks of the year I rarely get a phone call or get rushed off the phone due to insane workloads they are having to manage.

Secondly to every 2 hours contact time really at least 10 hours own learning should be done, lectures are meant to provide a ground basis but own learning should be used to make up to top grades and provide solid understanding. Realistically, what the lecturers teach will come from research papers and textbooks that are available to read and learn from, even more so as almost all universities now have online databases where journals are easily accessible. So even as a student myself i dont think strikes mean everyone will fail if people put the work in. I'm a mature student and do a majority of my work from home as unless I've got contact time I'd rather not deal with costs and logistics of travelling in. (Although I hugely support individuals on practical courses with labs which unfortunately the physical side cannot be self taught).
Attendance again, theres very little they will do over attendance, so I personally wouldn't be worrying about attending if it's a definate that there are no contact hours going to be happening. If all the students who are missing lectures due to strike stay home and work from home instead then the university dosent have the resources to chase up 100s of students and they certainly wont remove from the course.

Instead of being angry at the lecturers, instead aim your anger at the institutions which have forced the hand of the academic staff. The decision to strike wont have been taken lightly and many academics are upset at the impact it has on students, but dont deserve to work ridiculous hours at under minimum wage and have no pension security, specially when many are making huge research contributions and changes to policy through research.
Complain at the uni and DEMAND compensation for lost hours, theres a entitlement to it and hit the institutions where it hurts most, their chancellors pockets, dont humour them by attending and spending money on the campus, as then ultimately the university is making no loss, and the impact of the strike is being lost on the university, and it will continue.

Actually makes me angry to see how commercialised academic has become, at the detriment of the people who allow it to exist (There is no university without acadmeics) while they happily spend money on million pound buildings, while there staff are struggling to afford to live, have any home/work balance, and a rising prevalence in mental health issues. Academics should be there because they love their research and they have passion, and passionate people who have the real possibly of making valuable contribution to their fields of interest should not be having to consider if it's a feasible long time career option due to financial limitations. It's a job many academics have dedicated their lives too, research is incredibly demanding and consuming, and this should be reflected in pay, contracts and pensions. And work loads will only increase for the few staff trying to keep it going as younger researchers and lecturers shy away from the difficult and exhausting working conditions they are expected to work under.

[Takeittotheboss]

My dd is in her third year and has been hit hard by strikes every year of her course. However, both she and us (her parents) are supportive of her lecturers.
Students and parents( who are often paying the bills) need to find a way to insist on compensation from the individual universities because of the non-delivery of the contracted service. Preferably as a mass action. Other service providers can't get away with it. If they don't provide a pre-paid for service due to staffing difficulties, then they provide a refund or some form of compensation to their customers.
Focus any blame where it rightly should be, on the management of the universities for their poor treatment of lecturers, which has forced them to this point. Plus that management's disdain for any detrimental effects on their student customers after their monies are in the University bank accounts.

[Ginfordinner]

DD has told me that none of her lecturers have gone on strike this time. she is disappointed as she needs a bit of breathing space to keep on top of her work. I think the lecturers in the medical school must belong to a different union.