UK union members back strike action over pay and pensions

About 1 million students set to be affected by walkout

Published on
October 31, 2019
Last updated
November 1, 2019
Chris Havergal
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Reader's comments (8)

#1 Submitted by Dukegg22 on November 1, 2019 - 8:47am
Cynically, Ucea suggest that pay awards are at the financial limit for institutions and that is the reason for the limited success in the ballot. The reality is possibly somewhat different. Over the period since the introduction of higher fees the sector has overall seen significant growth in income whilst at the same time the value of salaries has plummeted, as has the proportion of income devoted to salaries. University grandees have chosen to divert increased income away from salaries. The message is clear - our employers increasingly seek to devalue employees, preferring instead to invest in executive pay and estate development at their expense.
#2 Submitted by NJF on November 1, 2019 - 9:49am
We are seen as simply disposable cogs in the University sausage machine, to be used, abused and when worn out simply disposed of by management with the aid of (in)human resources 'professionals', why pay more when there are thousands of academically qualified potential staff available cheaply? For those of us who remember the time before Universities were used as a sink to absorb young people to keep them off the dole queue, and the accompanying lowering of standards, both for entry and graduation, we also remember personal personnel departments that cared about staff. The commercialisation effects, bringing 'professional' managers into Chief Operating Officer posts neutering VC's and dumping administration workloads onto Academics have all made the job harder, still the UCEA briefing notes make interesting reading https://www.ucea.ac.uk/library/stakeholder-briefings/. The RPI numbers using a 2008/9 baseline is ~-17%, let that sink in, we are considered to be worth ~-17% compared with 2008, which is on top of the ~-36% compared with equivalent industrial comparators we were at in 2008...
#3 Submitted by i.... on November 1, 2019 - 9:51am
I'd happily take a pay cut if it meant universities removing the opt out on 48hr weeks and putting our lab demonstrators on 12 month contracts.
#4 Submitted by t.... on November 1, 2019 - 9:30am
I'm hoping to see more inclusive messaging from the Union if strikes go ahead. As professional services staff, I voted to strike and will do so as I did previously. In the last strike, I felt underepresented, and even attacked at times by messaging and comments from the picket that compounded arbitrary divisions between professional services and academics. It's hard to feel like you're in solidarity when you're frequently told that you're on the outside or part of the problem.
#5 Submitted by i.... on November 1, 2019 - 9:53am
I'm sorry you had to go through this. Solidarity with our comrades in professional services, who are often paid less than us academics, and have far less secure employment than permanent faculty.
#6 Submitted by k.j.... on November 1, 2019 - 1:49pm
I completely agree with the 2 comments above. Most reporting inferred that the issue was solely related to Academics and bandied about potential losses to benefits in the hundreds of thousands . Well it is a Professional Services staff issue too and we will be striking to preserve comparatively meagre sums and our contribution should not be forgotten or understated.
#7 Submitted by ... on November 5, 2019 - 8:08am
Students probably don't need to worry too much, as the Universities have, like many other sectors, globalised their workforce - which aligns with a more globalised student body. For every would-be striker, work-to-ruler, there are a dozen other candidates to take on their work. Yes, teaching may be disrupted short-term, but any impact on grades will be masked by the glow of grade inflation. So really,business as usual.
#8 Submitted by lizzieu147 on November 6, 2019 - 11:22am
#4 Ditto. Our departmental P/S staff responsible for student support etc have seen UG numbers increase by 10% in the past 2 years but no increase in staff numbers, let alone wages. It's been steadily increasing for the past decade or so and we're having to do more and more pastoral support to ease the burden on academic staff but fit does feel as though we're left behind too. #7 Not for us. We don't have grade curves or grade inflation, in fact for the previous strike overall grades were seen to be significantly lower than the year before. For us, the proposed strikes are in the last 2 weeks of term and affecting core modules for each stage of our students.

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