USS strike: why aren’t more administrative staff on picket lines?

Hi, Whilst I agree with Fiona on the importance of University support staff to the institutions, and agree that Universities could do more to appreciate their people, I have to disagree with the comments regarding UCU. At our University UCU participate in induction and training events and respond to all levels of colleagues in welcoming them to membership. I am an active member of UCU who works in an academic related role. I was on picket this week alongside many colleagues whose participation in strike action has far reaching consequences. If IT colleagues are on strike that can lead to cyber security issues, If finance colleagues strike there is the risk of unpaid bills and accounts with providers going on stop. If administration staff do not process grant funding documentation the funding may be delayed or lost. We should not underestimate the potential disruption from colleagues in support roles as part of the strike action. This strike has aligned staff across the sector towards a common goal of retaining a defined benefit pension scheme. We remain united under the excellent representation of UCU.

I agree with Fiona. Things need to change. As a 'non-academic' I attended a 'Raising The Bar' UCU meeting a couple of years ago. When I asked how I could participate to support ASOS I was told by a lecturer in a rather haughty tone that I "should just support the academics" and the meeting moved on... In fairness, our local UCU is now recognising that they need to work more closely with academic-related support staff and is proactively coming forward to make this happen. I'm sure things will get better but it could be a little late for the USS dispute. It isn't just the 'fault' of UCU though: the culture of universities has changed so much over recent times with much enforced separation of academics and support staff due to the introduction of modern business practices that have changed all of our roles. Many support people in universities are no longer working closely with academic colleagues but are out of sight in what are effectively 'call centre' environments.

I appreciate disagreement about the fault of UCU, who may well have been good in individual institutions about being inclusive towards all staff affected. However, I felt that the lead-up to the strike and subsequent coverage overly focused on lecturers. I wish that UCU would have taken a stronger public stance collectively to proactively state that this issue went beyond academics. As such, my criticism of UCU relates to their public communication as a whole, rather than the efforts of individual branches.

It would have been nice for UCU to allow a seat at the discussions with officers from other trades unions. Unite and Unison have members in USS, but both unions displayed unwillingness to take action due to the scheme 'belonging' to UCU. A real shame, as broadening the issue to all university staff would have much more of an impact. Also, UCU don't allow associate membership to members of Unite, which is disappointing in this case.

There are many other things wrong with the sector than worrying about pensions. A few plastic socialist profs suddenly lose some money and it's everyone out. No-one is striking over the extra hours worked by staff unsupported by management with broken promises on lectureships to come. Or the here take on yet another module as yet another person has left or the fill in the promotion application over Christmas etc etc . That's what's wrong and needs dealt with we will all be long dead of stress before we ever get our pensions.

I agree with most of what you say, but would actually go a bit further. I find the whole debate is around lecturers vs management. As a middle manager in a University I spend most of my time trying to get academics to do the jobs they should be doing, rather than what they want to do. There seems to be a very strong focus on most of the recent UCU messages about being anti-management, which as far as I can see is largely just because academics are being asked to do some work that isn't just their research.

"I spend most of my time trying to get academics to do the jobs they should be doing" ... is rather worrying. As a manager you are quite entitled to encourage academics to perform to their agreed contractural duties; but who are you to determine what they 'should' be doing??

but who are you to determine what they 'should' be doing?? - presumably someone who has responsibility for ensuring that Students receive value for money and determining that they are getting what they pay for. No one has the luxury of deciding which parts of their job they will or will not do.

Indeed Kate ... that is why I wrote 'agreed contractual duties' and that is why I used the word 'encourage'. You are also correct to write that students should be protected against what you hint at as poor professional practice. It's my view that this protection should also include those 'managerial' practices which undermine value added to students ... such as paying 'managers' outrageous salaries. I'm sure if you were to ask 100 students "what they pay for" you would get 100 different answers: so, how would YOU answer that question Kate??