The unions are on strike. For restoration of pensions. For fair pay, job security, manageable workloads, equality. The value of pay in higher education has fallen by over 20% relative to inflation since 2009. Pensions have been subject to devastating cuts – amounting to 35% of staff’s guaranteed pension. To find out more about the reasons for the strikes check out the UCU website, and go here for specific info on the Four Fights and the UCU’s demands. To view the student union’s stance go here.
These strikes will cause significant disruption to our timetable over the next couple of weeks, just as it did in the run up to Christmas. I pay £6,650 a year for this course. I know many of my fellow students pay far more than this, due to international fees. This is a huge amount of money, especially for someone who believes education should be free. In the present political climate we’re encouraged by the Tory government to view it through the neoliberal lens: this is an investment in our futures. A guarantee towards better employment opportunities and more skilled jobs when we graduate. In the neoliberal argument, monetisation of higher education will mean competition between institutions, driving up the quality of the product delivered. Of course this is not what we’re seeing. The strikes show this.
Our studies, our already very limited contact time, will be significantly impacted by strike action – the current fight has been going on many years now, and currently shows no signs of going away. We will not receive replacement tutorials, nor a refund for hours missed. We will not get what we paid for.
This is of course the whole point of a strike. To cause disruption.
So, the question is, how to pass the disruption upstream? How to make sure the students don’t absorb all the shock of the strikes? They, after all, have done nothing wrong.
My instinct is that it is vital in these moments that students do not passively accept this disruption, this loss of tuition. For did we not enter into a contract with the uni when we handed over the money? And are they not letting their side of the deal down?
They are failing us by failing our tutors. They are failing them through casual contracts and unequal pay and conditions. They are failing us through undermining our tutor’s stability and their futures. They are failing us through reduced budgets, increased class sizes. This is what happens when you turn universities into businesses.
The conditions of the staff and tutors of the university are intimately connected to the conditions and experiences of the students of the university. I wish that there was more acknowledgement of that in the communications being put out about the strikes. It seems to me that a strong show of solidarity and support from the students would help the strikes succeed (though I’m no expert on strike history and tactics), since we do, after all, bring the money in. And it’s clear that better working conditions for the staff means a better experience for the students.
“University staff working conditions are student learning conditions; our fight for a better education system is inherently linked. A free, liberated university cannot truly exist without its staff being treated fairly and respectfully.”
Shahadah Shahril – SU Campaigns Officer
Collaboration would be mutually beneficial! By standing by the staff at this time we would be fighting in solidarity, but also for a better educational experience for ourselves! To find out how you can get involved and support the strike – go here.