WHAT IS THE STRIKE ABOUT?
We love teaching our students. We want to be in the classroom, and supporting student education. However, because our working conditions and students’ learning conditions are under attack, we have had to go on strike. We are on strike so that students and workers can have the universities that we deserve.
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Our bosses have been slashing higher education, while extracting massive profits off exploited labour and student fees. We are the backbone of the university, and senior management are pushing us to collapse. Strikes are our most powerful weapon to fight back against the escalating race to the bottom in higher education. We do not make this decision lightly.
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Staff at Birkbeck are going on strike for 14 working days, between Monday 24th February and Friday 20th March. This is part of a national UCU dispute with 74 universities across the country taking part, including our neighbours at SOAS and UCL.
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The strike is supported by the National Union of Students and Birkbeck Student Union.
COVID-19 STRIKE UPDATES
Message from Jo Grady, UCU general secretary
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Following last week's advice to cancel rallies and other large events, I have also decided to advise that those branches due to be on strike this week (click here for a list) should call off all pickets.
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However, while pickets are called off, the HEC chair and vice-chairs have decided that strike action in those branches will continue. The action taken in those branches will give the union ongoing leverage in our disputes with employers, which have not been resolved. We may not be able to picket workplaces but we can still withdraw our labour.
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A chance to resolve our disputes and focus on the Covid-19 crisis
This union is currently in dispute with employers over a range of issues including workload-related stress and ill health as well as equality, job security, pay and USS pensions. In the past two weeks, our negotiators have tabled proposals that fall short of our original demands but which we believe could represent an acceptable resolution to our disputes.
Coronavirus represents an extraordinary test of a university system that was already failing staff and students. Staff trust and goodwill have never been lower. The decision taken by HEC offers employers a period of time in which they can change direction.
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We desperately need university leadership teams to show leadership and work with, not against us. Branches throughout the UK have been working extremely hard to respond to this crisis. We are leading the way and prioritising staff and students’ safety with an urgency that has been sorely missing in much of the sector.
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An agreement to resolve our disputes and work with the campus unions to protect universities from this pandemic could be the only way to restore any goodwill towards employers before the situation becomes completely overwhelming. But if employers expect us to pause our action and/or take on extra duties to mitigate the effects of the outbreak without protecting us from its consequences, they will only be storing up more problems for the future.
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We won't escalate our disputes during the pandemic - but we won’t abandon them either
TEACH-OUTS
Due to the current health advisories, any upcoming teach outs will be virtual and online. Keep an eye out for links to videos
Over the course of the strike, Birkbeck, SOAS and UCL staff will be hosting free, public teach-outs around Bloomsbury, bringing our academic expertise to bear on the social and political circumstances surrounding our action. Teach outs are an opportunity to experience a form of socialy engaged higher education unavailable in the traditional classroom. In other words, you won’t get this education anywhere else - join us!
If you have ideas for a teach out and would like to contribute, email Jaz.
(This list will be updated regularly with information as we receive it)
WHY WE'RE ON STRIKE
University staff are officially striking over four problems:
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Precarious employment. Often referred to as ‘casualisation’ , there has been a growing reliance on fractional, highly insecure and underpaid teaching contracts in the sector.
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Pay inequality. Across the sector, there is a 9% BAME pay gap and a 14.8% gender pay gap.
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Reduced pay and threats to pensions. There has been a 21% drop in pay since 2009. Current pension reforms will mean we pay more and receive less. Staff could lose up to £240,000 in pensions under current proposals.
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Unsafe workloads. At the same time, staff are working more and being required to take on excessive and ever-growing workload. University staff work, on average, 2 days a week unpaid. This workload has become unmanageable and unsustainable for most staff.
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Our union has tried incredibly hard to negotiate on these issues but our bosses will not budge. We want our students to have the best possible learning conditions but these have been undermined by employers for years. Things have reached a breaking point. Overcoming the enormous barriers to industrial action recently set by the government, Birkbeck staff have voted in favour of joining our union’s call to strike. This means sacrificing two weeks of our pay -- for most of us, a very difficult undertaking -- in order to secure better conditions for all.
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We are striking against the employers. We are striking for better working and learning conditions. We are striking because we -- staff and students -- are the university, and we must fight back against those who are undermining us.
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By supporting the strike you will help us get employers back to the negotiating table,
and send a message that university bosses can’t continue to exploit higher education
for their profit.
BIRKBECKÂ PICKETS
How will strikes impact you?
All university activities during the strike action are potentially at risk of disruption.Â
Teaching will be cancelled on strike days and not rearranged.
Other activities such as emailing and marking will also be delayed
WHAT DOES STRIKING AND PICKETING LOOK LIKE?
Strikes are disruptive. They aim to stop the normal functioning of the workplace.
Strikes are educational spaces. We will all at some point have to work. Strikes are a way of learning about how workplaces function and understanding what collective action by workers looks like. Strikes can teach us more about ‘the real world’ than many classrooms.
Strikes are social and community-building spaces. Due to workloads, it is increasingly difficult for staff and students to meet and socialise. Strikes are a rare opportunity to get to know each other better outside the dynamics of a classroom.
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Beyond the university, strikes send a message of solidarity to workers everywhere fighting against the relentless downward pressure on our living standards
PICKETING RULES
The purpose of picketing is to convey information and to persuade people not to work. Pickets are not allowed physically to prevent people from crossing a picket line. Pickets should not use insulting, threatening or offensive behaviour or language. Pickets are officially held by employees of the college, although students can join the picketing area as supporters. There is no legal limit on the number of picketers although the Code ofPractice suggests six per entrance as an upper limit. In practice, numbers may exceed six provided there are no breaches of common law, such as disorderly conduct or threatening behaviour. Picket lines must be under the control of a designated picket supervisor who must be contactable e.g. by mobile phone. Pickets should wear armbands or badges that identify them as pickets and the picket supervisor must do likewise.