University strikes before Christmas?

[dreamingbohemian]

Hi everyone,

Apparently UCU will be balloting next month on having another round of strikes, starting in the run-up to Christmas, so disrupting end of term, and then continuing into next term.

Just wondering how people on here are feeling about it? I am very much against it, but willing to hear the arguments for it.

I'm not in UCU so won't be voting but all of us will have to decide about crossing picket lines, respecting boycotts etc., and I'm feeling very unsure about all that. Would appreciate any views.

I'm in Unison at a university so, like you, wouldn't vote. I don't know whether they'll get the required minimum number of votes because it's our lecturing staff who are not back on site as yet - big lectures are being done online so the staffare more likely to be off site. I can see why they're balloting, but I can't see where they think extra money is coming from. Universities are on their knees (certainly where I work, post-92 ex-poly.)

I'm no longer a university lecturer but I see my former colleagues embattled by appalling pay and conditions (with a few exceptions at the top end), and even the opportunity for a decent pension scheme is being dismantled.

OTOH I feel so sorry for the students, and for the recent graduates who had a shitty degree experience (especially the ones whose departments chose not to have a 'no detriment' policy), and who now owe huge sums of money for a bad memory of a mediocre learning experience.

Adding strikes to the covid burden? I'm not sure it'll garner much sympathy tbh - although I'm personally sympathetic as I hate what the government has allowed universities to become.

There are two separate issues being ballotted on.

With regard to pay and conditions, given the pandemic, I think we should wait a bit - although pay has fallen woefully behind, there's perhaps a new perspective on this after the pandemic. Many universities are struggling financially, and it also doesn't seem fair to subject the current generation of students to yet more disruption.

However the other issue is pensions, and although the same argument about disruption for students applies, failing to take action now could affect outcomes for many years to come, so there is some urgency. The universities pension scheme has, for a few years now, been taking what is arguably a very pessimistic view of the state of the pension scheme, and so has been trying to make very major changes. Their latest position is based on a valuation of the funds in March 2020 (which as you can imagine, was something of a low point). Apparently other pension schemes have disregarded valuations from then, and used more representative valuations.

I think it's going to be quite a difficult decision, particularly on the pensions battle.

I don't know that being off site will affect things too much - the voting is done by post, and communication can happen by email.

My husband used to be in UCU, was on strike in the last strike, and has since moved outside of the UK system. So I don't have current skin in the game but remember the issues and vaguely follow them still. I would definitely not be crossing a picket if they go on strike. What has been done re: pensions is horrific - its really not a case of there simply not being enough money, it is v clear its a tactic not fully backed up by the numbers (some v interesting people on twitter who have produced evidence and calculations around this). A huge number of our EU and international friends in academia have chosen to move abroad in the last few years, this and Brexit being factors, and I think its going to be such a loss to the UK if standards in higher education keep being eroded. International candidates won't want to come, many UK academics who have the choice will move abroad.

I understand given all the issues faced by adjuncts pensions may seem like a luxury issue but its all part of a fairly appalling decline in standards. I'm v happy we're now based in a country where a decent pension (seems!) to be secure.

And yes, that being said, it has been so incredibly shitty for the students. But in the long run, I can't see that having the sector's rights eroded further will help, both for future students who will see the standards fall and for those current students who may well go on to become lecturers themselves.

I would think time would be better spent communicating the issues to tory voters within uni ranks.

I really can’t believe the UCU would go down this route again , it does not affect the university at all , only the students . The trouble is that the things which would hurt the university , like not co operating with surveys , research applications etc will hurt the lecturers too .

I think I will cry if they go on strike no I am broadly sympathetic , there are some horrendous issues with precarity and the USS is a basket case , but this is not the way to go about it .

This is how I feel @Peaseblossum22

Fair enough to object to the pensions decisions but why is the only answer a strike?? Previous strikes don't seem to have made a difference and only the students get hurt -- students with an unprecedented level of mental health issues, who are paying a fortune for an education that's already massively disrupted

Surely it would be better to cause direct pain to the administration. A massive boycotting of grant applications, REF committees, unpaid admin work, something like that.

I've never had a good answer as to why these kinds of things can't be done, why it has to be strikes.

Now is not the time to be striking. I would judge anyone’s commitment to their students that thought it was.

I do think a 'work to rule' regarding admin would be more satisfying and effective. When I think of the unpaid hours I used to do writing policies etc that the Head of Dept couldn't be arsed to complete ...

I agree @DustyMaiden

But what will you do if there are strikes? Would you cross the picket line?

I would normally never cross a picket line but so many of our students are really struggling, I don't want to contribute to the harm they would experience (and I do think it would be actual harm, not just inconvenience)

@SpindleWorld

I do think a 'work to rule' regarding admin would be more satisfying and effective. When I think of the unpaid hours I used to do writing policies etc that the Head of Dept couldn't be arsed to complete ...

And it would more directly get the point across -- it would make it more obvious how much unpaid labour is being done, how universities can't function without their staff

Pensions are being absolutely hammered and I support UCU’s right to strike (though I’m in unison as UCU were dreadful at remembering that non academic staff existed). But I’m dreading the impact. Staff just feel broken and I’m not convinced the employers listen enough to make the pain worthwhile.

Can't afford to strike on this issue, but also can't afford not to strike. I'm long enough in the tooth to be largely okay, but I'll be damned if I let my younger colleagues and future academics studying now bear the brunt of a vastly reduced pension while having to put more in.

My central London uni has more students than ever before and is richer than ever before. This is a choice on the employers' part.

The golden rule is 'never cross a picket line'. If we can't show solidarity we've already lost. We need to learn from countries where people mean business - eg France. They have much better working conditions, nursery provision, state pensions etc. They also have innovative ideas about action. 'Strike of the schoolchildren's parents' ie keep them off school to protest about lack of money for staff etc., was one I'd never heard of before.

Years ago the Unison people at my son's school were on strike about pay and conditions. I wouldn't cross their picket line so took him straight back home but I think I was the only parent to show solidarity.

My central London uni has more students than ever before and is richer than ever before. This is a choice on the employers' part

And they will still get that money whether you strike or not . In fact arguably it suits them financially and reputationally if you strike. They don't have to pay you so get to keep more of that lovely dosh to pay for vanity projects and management salaries, and they get to blame all their own shortcomings on the 'striking lecturers'.

The key to successful industrial action is to hit the decision makers where it hurts, which academic staff striking singularly fails to do. It's a vanity project for Jo Grady and her acolytes. Why the membership cannot see through this I really do not know.

Well that will certainly wrap up the final year students' university experience nicely. £27,750 for one normal term, then strikes, then two years(?) of Covid disrupted learning, then more strikes, then graduate.

I'm sympathetic to the plight of lecturers (DP is one) but also sympathetic to the students (DD is one) who have had, no beating around the bush, the most horrendously disappointing experience of university life.

Not again! My poor twins had 2 years of strikes and then March 2020 did not have their last term, did not have a graduation , then next course was 100% online. I still think they are better off than those who were freshers last year and those who didn't get the normal exam hall A levels however.

Yet more strikes is pretty unfair on the students.

Thankfully this academic year my twins' final post grad law course is 10 hours a week in person seminars of about 15 students (no masks) so they are at least meeting real students again and seeing a real lecturer.

I am usually very pro action but this year will get zero sympathy. The students have had a massively disrupted 4 terms and a completely shit deal

I’m a lecturer. Not in ucu. Also not in the university pension scheme so guess that bit doesn’t affect me. I’ll certainly cross any picket lines and carry on as normal.

Totally agree the students have had a shit deal the last two years and this is the last thing they need.

I’m a lecturer, left UCU because I couldn’t agree with the last lot of strikes. So few people are in the union here now that there is no picket line to cross and there is virtually no effect on the students. UCU is a joke.

Yes I normally appreciate solidarity but in this case -- solidarity with what? At our uni, in the last strikes, the total number of staff who were in UCU, bothered to vote, and voted to strike, represented a small portion of staff overall. And a lot of people were very much opposed to the strikes.

I think when an issue is this contested within the staff, it's not reasonable to expect solidarity. And when a lot of staff cannot afford to strike, it's not reasonable to be upset with people who don't join in.

I think you'd be more likely to get solidarity and support if you did work to rule.

I'll be suspending my degree if they start this crap again. First year - we lost massive swathes of topics because of the strikes and ended up teaching ourselves (well I researched the missing topics and produced crib notes for the cohort) pretty vital bits of anatomy that we needed.
Second year obviously got fucked by Covid.
If we lose a huge chunk of the third year - I'm not bloody paying for shitty teaching from previous year's recordings again.

The behaviour of some of the strikers in terms of intimidating students was appalling.

Have left UCU over the way they've treated GC members so won't be striking. Still would find it impossible to cross a picket line. Also not a good time right now.

I do think a 'work to rule' regarding admin would be more satisfying and effective.

Absolutely.

I remember one industrial action at a university I worked at that we decided we would have a specified lunch break, and refused to schedule meetings across that hour. It wasn't much to ask, and most people expect to be able to have at least 30 minutes to get & eat lunch, but it brought the whole university to an administrative stand still.

It was a local, rather than national action. The other thing we did was to hit "Reply All" on any emails from the university administration or senior management which was asking us to do extra work, or work outside our specified contracts. The email server crashed within the first morning of that action.

None of these things harmed students. They threw the onus back onto senior management.