#ucu strike

[aspirations-of-beauty]

Two job rejections in one day: one from LSE for a postdoc fellowship; one from Morrisons for a shop floor assistant.

One would have been incredible for my future career, the other would have helped put food on the table today.

Feeling inadequate on every level this week.

#academia #phdblr #ucu strike #precarious academia

[anthonywilson]

UCU Strike: reflections and resources

Reflections from previous UCU industrial action

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and liked or commented on yesterday’s blog post about the UCU strike action over pay, pensions, and working conditions. In case the news of this dispute is new to you, here are a collection of blog posts I put together during the last two periods of strike action that I was able to participate in. If you work in higher education or are a member of UCU,…

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#Education #Higher Education #Life Lessons #Pension Dispute #Poems #Poetry #Poets #UCU #UCU Strike #USS Strikes

[damnesdelamer]

On the picket line the other day, I saw a former lecturer of mine, and we got talking. Part of the whole dispute we in UCU are involved in is around the fact that Higher Education as a sector has over £40 billion in reserves nationwide, and many universities have chosen to dump that into vanity projects like shiny new buildings (many of which are both exorbitantly expensive and also not fit-for-purpose), rather than invest in staff during the biggest cost of living crisis in living memory.

My former lecturer, a staunch liberal, intimated that £40 billion seems like a lot, so who knows if that money even exists. So I told him, here’s what I do know: three years ago, my managers, who were responsible for allocating a £5 million bid of government funding, ignored the advice of me and another expert on practical teaching equipment, and chose instead to spend more on products from existing contracts. This could be seen as corruption, but technically I think it’s just laziness. But it also amounts to a mutual agreement among university management and external contractors and suppliers to continue to profit off government funds, rather than invest in staff.

Over the last ten years, workers across Higher Education are being paid 25% less in real terms, due to stagnating wages, due to inflation, due to increased cost of living. This is to say nothing of the fallout from covid, or the arguably substantial decline in education standards new students receive (in spite of all the money dumped into new buildings and equipment).

Meanwhile, my institution’s student intake has nearly doubled in the past five years, which both means greater workload and, in theory, greater revenue. But who sees that money? Not me, nor even the lecturers who make twice as much as me, but you can bet that money is going somewhere.

Initially we had no offer of increased pay, then we went on strike and got an offer of 3% (again, in the face of a loss of 25% over the last decade in real terms), and then 5%. These ‘offers’ have been overwhelmingly rejected by UCU members, in part because they prove that that money does exist, and is available for our employers to give us our due. But more importantly, this is not just about pay, and the problems of workloads, pensions, mismanagement, and discrimination, which sparked the current strikes, won’t be solved by throwing money at them.

Nevertheless, slowly but surely, we are making advances. Industrial action works. Support the Unions and support the strikes!

Solidarity forever.

#UCUrising #UCU #UK politics #strikes #strike action #industrial action #original #University & College Union #trade union #labour union #up the union!

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

General strike?

What are we saying the threshold for a general strike is? The famous general strike in 1926 was 1.7 million workers (yes, smaller population, etc etc).

So when can we call it a general strike?

#uk politics #general strike #strike action #civil servants #teachers #university staff #neu #ucu #railway workers #rmt

[klavierpanda]

You know what shoutout to all the UCU members who are currently taking part in the marking boycott. The news coverage from what I see mostly focuses on the students rather than understanding the harsh working conditions and bad pay lecturers and other uni staff have to endure. I know that with my uni in particular, staff partaking in the boycott are suffering a significant paycut (more than would be lost from the hours they would have been working).

Here's a link to the union's website if you want to find out more

#it's late and I'm tired but I wanted to say something about it #strikes #uk politics #ucu #marking and assessment boycott #panda's post

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Me and my fellow students at Brighton Uni are prepping a letter to be sent to the Vice-Chancellor and I just finished going through it; It's an important thing to stress being in support of strikes, so I'd suggest 'the result of poor wages-' and 'it's shameful we pay so much in tuition fees when lecturers' wages are so low' to anyone thinking of sending letters. This is just to emphasise, we are in support of the strikes - we are also just simply against universities prioritising profit over eduction. @ other anon

Very good points! And thank you so much

#asks #strike strike strike #ucu rising

[tips-from-a-tech-worker]

UCU Strikes

My branch of UCU has been engaging in a marking and assessment boycott in the face of mounting pressure, poor pay, and gender and ethnicity pay gaps - unfortunately, I've been unable to join in this action as I have no marking or assessment responsibilities!

During this period, workers have been refusing to carry out any marking. The university has decided to dock 50% of their pay (it was 100% but that wound up even the most neoliberal leaning workers), despite the fact that marking is less than 50% of what they do.

Because of this, my branch (and a couple of others) has voted to go onto strike.

If you can, please do show some support to striking university staff. We're a bit shattered, and this strike is showing just what we're willing to do for even minor improvements. It's rough at the moment.

Most people have been incredibly supportive but there has been a LOT of union busting from the higher ups. Scabs have been hired, anti-union propaganda has been distributed to the staff and students, and the news media has been playing the "Striking staff don't care about students", which is a very common line. If we didn't care about students and other workers, we wouldn't be on strike! Our working environment is their learning and research environment!

#ucu strikes #uk strikes #education strike #union #union strike #strikes #union organising

[thejugheadparadox]

well im being proven right in my hypothesis that im incapable of keeping a uni friend for more than like 9 months BUT. at least im besties with like four of my professors and am soooo good at having adult fun convos with them that make them think im interesting

#i chatted w my tutor about musicals and the state of modern shakespeare performance for like 20 mins #and then ran into lovely medievalist who i hang out with on the ucu pickets and talked to her about strikes #and the other day i spoke to Incredibly Cool Woman about my measure for measure production #I AM SO SOCIALLY ADEPT THAT IT DOESNT MATTER THAT EVERYONE WILL EVENTUALLY REALISE IM TOO DIFFICULT

[feckcops]

Universities are docking lecturers’ entire pay for not marking a few exams

“On 20 April, a national marking and assessment boycott began at 145 universities as part of a long running dispute over pay and conditions. The University and College Union (UCU) action will see staff cease all exam invigilation, the setting and marking of exams and essays, and processing of grades ...

“University staff taking part in this year’s marking and assessment boycott will still carry out the rest of their duties, which usually include teaching, research, supervision, and administration. Nevertheless at least 60 universities have threatened to deduct between 50 and 100% of the wages of staff taking part in the boycott.

“The University of Bristol is threatening to deduct 50% of the wages of staff taking part in the boycott, while reserving the right to escalate deductions to 100% should the boycott ‘significantly impact student experience’, a term staff believe is purposefully vague ...

“SOAS University, Middlesex University, University of Suffolk, Liverpool John Moores, University of Sheffield, University of Leeds, and University of Cardiff are among some of the universities threatening to deduct 100% of staff wages.”

#lecturers strike #striking lecturers #strikes #strikers #right to strike #lecturers #university management #bad employers #universities #higher education #education #ucu #trade unions #unions #uk #europe

[swarmmunism]

Back on the picket line, three unions from two universities. Never seen so many of us out

#strikes #universities #UNISON #ucu #unite #unions #i love striking

[otterjpg]

yday after picketing i attended a march with a few other local branches of unions that are striking too, accidentally ended up leading it, and now one of those unions has posted a pic of me as the leading photo on their national page 😵

#i am the posterboy for them now #tbf im wearing one of their colours quite prominently BUT im holding my unions banner #also.. obvs UCU being on strike meant i was asked of i was just a supportive student 800 times 💀 NO i am fellow worker #also the guy holding the other side of the banner was a certified dilf and my friends all laughed at the photos cos #i look really happy and photogenic but those that know me can see im just making hearteyes at the dilf

[anthonywilson]

UCU Strike: a list of poems about work

A blog post in support of the UCU strike action

Today was not a normal day of work for me. Instead of teaching my amazing students, I chose to participate in the UCU industrial action over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions. I have blogged about this issue before, in 2018, which included a series of poems about work and working. Today, in support of the strike, I collect them all in one place for the first time. What Work Is,…

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#Education #Higher Education #Lifesaving Poems #Pension Dispute #Poems #Poems about work #Poetry #Poets #Reading Poetry #UCU #UCU Strike #Work

[damnesdelamer]

Together we bargain and alone we beg.

#UCUrising #UCU Rising #UCU #industrial action #strikes #labour union #trade union #labour strikes #original

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

All those of you who keep talking about a general strike in the UK, we are building a movement towards it, genuinely.

1st February is likely to be the largest day of action since 1926.

Estimates of teachers who can strike on the NEU ballot vary, but I think it's likely to be 200000+

100k or so civil servants

70k university workers

13,000 train drivers

NEU have got more national strike dates in March. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could make those even bigger days of action?

Btw IWW members I know you don't exactly follow the rules... Maybe you should join in on 1st Feb, just saying?

#uk politics #strikes #general strikes #neu #ucu #pcs #aslef #rmt

[goblincow]

I was at a rally for the first Amazon in the UK to unionize today, the day after UCU (higher education) start their strike alongside CWU (communications workers, post offices) who are continuing to strike, plus ASLEF (railways) striking tomorrow & more across the country & in Scotland.

The NHS is balloting for historic strike action right now, PCS (public sector) is doing the same and NEU (education) is getting ready to strike in the new year.

Socialists and trade union members have been calling for more organised coinciding strikes and I'm glad to see representatives from other picket lines that are out right now showing up to Amazon to support the workers there who just lost their first ever ballot for strike action by 3 votes (thanks to anti-worker laws, but they've learnt their lesson and they're going to absolutely smash the turnout required for the next one, just watch).

Amazon workers in 40 different countries are on strike today, and litigators working with the GMB union (which now represents one of the biggest and the FIRST EVER unionised Amazon warehouse in the UK!) have fought the US government about human rights abuses at guantanamo bay in the past - and they said earlier today that they moved to fight against private employers like amazon because conditions there are as bad if not even worse than they've seen fighting against the US government.

Solidarity with all workers, it's time to build for more united strike action because the solidarity between workers in different unions is immense. It's a political fight too: strikes earlier this year got rid of Boris Johnson and made Liz Truss lose to a lettuce. Time to get rid of the rest of the conservatives and Labour too - just this week Keir Starmer has been trying to turn workers against their favourite scapegoat: the refugees that this government is killing and abusing at a horrific rate.

All strikes are political, and by building the rank & file in the trade union movement, by building solidarity in the working class, we demonstrate the power of the alternative to capitalism, a world run by the working class and for the working class.

Solidarity to members of all striking unions, victory to the workers, and let's continue to build these strikes until we seize the means of production and fully rid ourselves of the capitalist class.

Fuck Jeff Bezos

Here's to the workers at Amazon BHX4!

Watch them crush the anti-union laws and together we'll bring the bosses to their knees! ✊

#amazon #workers #UCU #GMB #PCS #NHS #unite the union #bhx4 #build the strikes #class solidarity #victory to the working class #socialists and workers unite #NEU #ASLEF #RMT #rmt union

[omgthisisnotmyrealaccount]

i bought sweets for halloween but didn't have any trick or treaters :(

#might take them with me to the next protest/demo/picket line i go to #is anyone even striking atm?? #i live near a uni and so i couldn't leave the house without coming across a ucu picket line for a good chunk of last year #if u make a habit of going down to picket lines (which i would recommend) assorted treats are always a hit! #in other news my sister sometimes asks me to download books for her #her most recent ask was a romance novel she was recommended #so my sister seemingly with no doubt embarrassment or shame asked me to find the book 'the alpha king's human mate' for her #she typed those words and sent them to me over text #with no clue about the psychic damage her message would give me #hope she enjoys it?? #this isn't me saying my sister should be embarrassed or ashamed of reading a/b/o #i've read at least 10 moby dicks worth of the stuff #but never in my wildest dreams could i fathom being like #'hey sis would u be able to find me a stucky a/b/o coffee shop au at around 100k extra predator kink on the side pls&thx' #but maybe i should aspire to be more like her