By Chenoa Colaco
The University and College Union (UCU) has announced upcoming industrial action expected to take place for 18 days across February and March. A marking and assessment boycott has also been called to ‘strategically target the summer finals.’ The union is demanding pay rises to combat the cost of living, better job security, lighter workloads, and pay equality. The first day of strike action is set to be on Wednesday, 1 February. The UCU is yet to announce the other dates.
This response comes after several negotiations between the UCU and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) over the last several weeks, wherein the UCU received an offer for an average of 2-4 percent salaried increase for their roles, in contrast to the UCU’s request for Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 3 percent. The request was labelled an ‘April Fool’s joke’ by the vice-chancellor body of the UCEA.
Alongside pay, the UCU has also been fighting for a 35-hour working week basis for contracts, tackling gender and ethnic pay gaps, and abolishing zero-hour contracts. The UCU and UCEA will have further meetings on Wednesday, 25 January to continue negotiations.
The UCU General Secretary Jo Grady has said the UCU remains “committed to reaching a negotiated settlement”, but action will follow if employers “don’t get serious” in time.
Students have increasingly mixed views on the strikes. April*, a first-year Philosophy student, has experienced strike action and believes the UCEA “should take teacher demands seriously”. April commented on how her teachers tried so hard to make up for the missing lessons, such as by adding extra office hours. “I do not consider it fair when dedication and hard work do not receive the pay they deserve,” she said.
While many students support the strike, others are turning away from industrial action. A self-described “jaded” third-year history student, Sam*, described his increasing disillusionment,‘‘I feel like my entire university experience has been demarcated by the pandemic and then these strikes. Even though I believe university staff deserve fair pay, the amount of strike action has really affected students and has barely made a dent in management.’’
He also believes that as a History student, he receives disproportionately worse treatment than some other students. ‘‘It’s no secret that the History department is a lot smaller and funded less than others, but it’s really obvious during strikes. For some Economics classes last year, teachers that went on strike were replaced by a substitute so their learning wouldn’t be disrupted. For us, we just got 3 weeks of no classes.’’
When asked for his opinion on the negotiated tiered 4-5 percent salary increase, he said, ‘‘The amount of damage these strikes are causing are honestly not proportional to the reward.’’ He later described the situation as ‘‘overall just bad for everyone’’, including students who are ‘‘unfortunately stuck in the middle.’’
Other students, like third-year History and Politics student, Reem Ibrahim, are “livid” about the second round of industrial action this academic year. Appearing on GB News, she argues, “I do understand the pay cuts are difficult but we’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis and our students are bearing the brunt of these strikes.”
Third-year Economics student, Dania thinks students can play a much larger role. ‘‘The amount of strikes happening across the nation and other industries have made us treat them like they’re just a normal part of our days now. This defeats the point. We are being targeted because we are the consumers and if the consumers are unhappy, universities will notice.’’ Dania believes students need to ‘‘make more noise’’, especially in regards to paying fees, which can be done through ‘‘emailing and social media.’’ Dania concluded, “As students, we are the ones in power.”
An LSE spokesperson commented, ‘‘In line with other universities, we are awaiting further detail on strike action and relevant dates, but the School will do its utmost to mitigate the impact of strike action on both the provision of teaching and the student experience.
“The School regularly updates a dedicated industrial action webpage with information regarding studying during strike action. For further support, students can also find a range of resources, information and relevant contacts in the Support Map.’’
* Names in this article have been changed to preserve anonymity.
