Strong student backing for university strikes

Submitted by AWL on 7 December, 2021 - 10:01
Sheffield students

University staff walked out for three days on 1-3 December as national disputes kicked off over pensions, pay and conditions.

Fifty-eight universities are taking action: some over proposed cuts to the USS pension scheme, some over the national claim on pay, workload, equalities and casualisation, and some in both disputes. The cuts to pensions would see a typical member facing a thirty-six per cent cut to guaranteed pension provision, while pay has fallen by 20% in real terms over the past twelve years thanks to below-inflation pay rises.

Many casualised staff shared stories of precarious employment on social media during strike days, including workers who slept in libraries, cars and on friends’ floors in order to make ends meet. Across the country there were lively picket lines and protests, with local marches in London and Manchester attracting hundreds of participants.

Student backing for the strike has been impressive, with university buildings occupied in Manchester and Sheffield. In Sheffield University and College Union (UCU) members have also voted for action in a separate local dispute over the threatened closure of the archaeology department and broader restructuring.

With the initial strikes over, the dispute now turns to a period of Action Short of a Strike (ASOS). This begins with a “work to contract”, in which staff will refuse to work more than contracted hours, or, in the case of academic staff with no fixed working hours, log and via the union publicise the quantity of extra hours managers require them to do. The union has so far not called on members to refuse to reschedule teaching missed during the strikes, relying instead on the fact it will be very hard in practice to timetable extra sessions at this late stage in term.

The key now for branches with active strike or ASOS mandates is sustaining an effective ASOS campaign through December and January, a period which in many universities is focused on assessment, with teaching restarting in late January or early February for the second semester. This will be a chance to escalate the action with a refusal to mark essays and exams.

A marking boycott escalating to strike action once teaching resumes would put management on the spot, but it’s important for branches to organise regular contact and meetings to ensure members aren’t left feeling isolated in a period when many people will work from home.

Alongside this action, many branches that did not make the 50% threshold in the first ballot — some by just a handful of votes — will be reballoting. Organisation in those branches is equally vital to ensure the national dispute has maximum strength.

Student support for both reballots and ongoing action is also essential. Management will try and play off students against staff. But after the experience of the Covid pandemic when many students were first locked down (and in some cases literally locked up) in halls then refused refunds for accommodation they couldn’t use, there’s a much sharper awareness among students that university managers don’t have their best interests at heart. Students should get involved in their local strike solidarity group — or if it doesn’t exist, set one up.

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