Uni strikes mess: DD can't do exams and is panicking

[BansheeofInisherin]

DD is in a uni very affected by strikes. All the staff and admin are on strike and refuse to answer any mails or phones. Her year end exams begin on Tuesday and she doesn't have her exam registration number yet, without which she cannot do the exams. Is there anything I can do? She may now need to do resits in August and is in tears as she has had a hard time in uni anyway with the pandemic.

I don't really want to get into a debate over the validity of the strikes. Just what we should do now.

Strikers do get docked pay! Most universities 100%.

I presume joke from Xenia though, since illegal (pension fund, proportionate deductions) and impractical - you could refund what - six or seven students - from a striker's full annual salary. There aren't that many staff, never mind that many strikers.

University has a legal responsibility to handle the situation, OP. They had requisite notice of lawful strike action and the form it would take - they have had a month to deal with this.

Look for the level of management above strikers - deans or equivalent safe bet. Get daughter to get her situation in email to them. Admin may indeed be UCU members in UL or may be junior / agency workers who can't act independently.

They do get docked pay FFS. Do you really think employers continue to pay staff who are on strike?

Yes, they get docked pay- I think it may be 100%- and this is mostly the fault of the Uni. I am just fed up of years of disruption. Students are caught in the middle.

I am sceptical that 'all the staff and admin' are on strike. The percentage of union membership is only a proportion of the staff in most institutions, and senior staff/admin staff are very rarely in the union.

Have you tried ringing the main undergraduate admin desk number, just as a test, to see if anyone answers?

No one answered any phones or replied to emails in the last week. There's been little teaching. Papers she submitted in October have still not been marked.

This is an outlier. Yes there has been disruption. My kids have had nothing like this level of issue.

I do find it hard to believe, as the vast majority of admin staff are not involved in strikes.

This is particularly bad! But unfortunately, I fully understand the strikes. You may think lecturers are rolling in it, but starting salary is £38K, and you're capped at £42K until you get promoted to senior lecturer (which is nortoriously difficult!). Not a low salary, but bear in mind that these people have likely done a degree, 2 postgraduate degrees (1 yr masters, 3/4 year PhD), several years as post docs on short term contracts then have 5 plus years lecturing experience and are still on £42K.

Thats 8/9 years of postgraduate study, then 10 years of postdoctoral experience. To get paid £15K a year less than the average train driver. The USS pension is almost 10% contributions, add on that the level of student loans they have etc and take home pay ends up being just over £2K a month. To deal with an unmanageable workload, no overtime pay, expectation of weekend and evening working.

Ok. It's SOAS.

I am glad your kids haven't faced this level of issue. My son is in another London uni and hasn't faced this kind of disruption, so I am going to venture it differs from one uni to another.

My god how stressful

Poor students

I don't know SOAS well, but specialist depts in older universities will often have more local admin support, and specialist admin roles can fall under UCU.

Small depts in my place varied from 100% to 33% out earlier this year. My impression is that London, Russell group, humanities, languages are prime strike territory. So I find this entirely plausible.

Good luck to your daughter OP. Pushing the university on its obligations is not an anti-union stance - the obligations are theirs, not employees'. They'll want to fix this.

SOAS (and Goldsmiths) are unfortunately for the students well known for being spectacularly radical in London.

If lecturers prefer the wages of train drivers go for it. The UK has recently solved hte issue of shortage of UK truck drivers by advertising more and British men have come forward and filled the vacancies. it is a free market.

As for someone only given their student number 10 minutes before an exam is due to start that is unacceptable.

https://thetab.com/uk/durham/2023/05/03/durham-says-final-years-will-graduate-even-if-only-have-of-exams-are-marked-amid-strike-chaos-52397

They are, not necessarily train drivers, but there are a lot leaving, both to other jobs and other countries. Just after covid there was a voluntary redundancy round. There were too many people wanting to take them. Of a group of 15 in my PhD graduation year, only 2 are still in academia. Post doc posts are going up multiple times because there is a lack of qualified applicants, and a significant majority of applicants are from non-UK and non-EU citizens. It will shortly become unsustainable.

Phew OP, what a relief. What year is she?

Looking at the Academic corner on here, doesn't look like talks are taking place, let alone progressing.

@BansheeofInisherin I knew it was going up be SOAS!
That chimes with everything I know about them.

I would suggest that the lack of response from the admin team is not because of the strikes but more likely because of poor organisation and management.