I’ve received emails from management asking me to report the days I will be on strike. What should I do?

 

The legal position is clear: you do not have to report strike participation to management until after the strike. The union served notice of strike action to commence Mon 24 Feb and to end Fri 20 March. Consequently, you are  not obliged to announce to management your intention to strike in advance or to complete the MyBirkbeck Industrial Action Declaration form until you are back to work following the strike action (e.g. Monday, 23 March). By refusing to announce to management your intention to strike in advance, you help ensure that our action achieves maximum impact.

 

What should I use as an out of office email?

Here is a template, feel free to modify and add your personal reasons for joining the strike.

​

​

How is Birkbeck going to deduct my salary for the days I am on strike?

The college has been formally asked to spread pay deductions for strike action over a six month period instead of taking it all in one instalment in April. For example, a lecturer on 30K net pay would lose almost 50% of their take-home pay from a single deduction, a measure that would create enormous financial hardship and distress. There is absolutely no reason why the college should want to impose such gratuitous hardship on its own staff. We are waiting for their reply.

 

If I am Birkbeck staff but not teaching, how can I participate in the strike?

Withdraw your labour, and join us on the picket line! Although disruption to teaching is the most publicised aspect of UCU strike action, all staff, including admin and research-only staff, are impacted by the issues UCU are fighting for.

 

Will the union be paying strike pay?

Yes. The union has agreed to provide strike pay as follows: members earning £30,000 or more will be able to claim upto £50 per day from the third day onwards (subject to a cap of £800); members earning below £30,000 will be able to claim up to £75 per day from the second day onwards (subject to a cap of £1500). To apply for the strike fund click here.

​

I am an hourly paid lecturer who is paid for their teaching, preparation and marking in one

payment - how will the strike fund help me?

The union will pay appropriate strike pay, subject to the rules governing the Fighting Fund, for each strike day upon which you would have worked based on your normal working patterns, as ratified by your branch.

 

What does taking strike action mean?

Strike action means not doing any work for all of the days specified by the union. This includes, for instance, time before 9am and after 5pm and includes any activity which is part of your work such as teaching, administration, meeting emails relating to work, marking, research or conferences where you are directly or indirectly representing your employer. In a nutshell, if you are employed by Birkbeck, don't do any work on strike days!

​

What does action short of a strike (ASOS) mean?

While a strike is a concerted stoppage of work, action short of a strike (ASOS) is normally action which affects only certain aspects of your work. Since the changes introduced by the Trade Union Act 2016, we have to determine and ballot members regarding the types of action short of strike we are calling. Action short of a strike in these disputes means we are asking you to: work to contract; not cover for absent colleagues; not reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action; and not undertake any voluntary activities. Action short of a strike begins at the same time as the strike action and continues until the union calls it off.

 

What does refusing to reschedule lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action mean?

This includes any scheduled teaching activity which would have taken place on one of UCU's strike days and applies to all UCU members, not just those directly responsible for the relevant lecture or class. You should refuse to reschedule this activity or share materials that would have been covered in the class or lecture when asked stating in

response that you are supporting UCU's action short of a strike. Rescheduling classes will dilute the impact of the original strike action.

 

Do I have to upload teaching materials?

Once you decided to strike and to cancel lectures/seminars, there is no requirement on you to upload materials into Moodle relating to the cancelled events (although material which is already there will obviously remain). Nor is there any legal requirement on you to replace work lost to strike action.

​

What should I do if I have already rescheduled strike-hit classes or if someone else such as my Head of Department has already rescheduled them?

Once the action has started, you should not teach rescheduled classes whoever has rescheduled them.

​

What can I tell my students about the strike?

You can share this website with them! Additionally, you can tell them that NUS and Birkbeck SU is supporting the strike, and you can relay your own reasons for choosing to participate.

 

I am not a member of UCU, if I join can I then take part in the action?

Yes, if you join UCU you will be able to participate in the action with the protection of the union as soon as you are signed up. While non-UCU members have the legal right to participate in strike action at their workplace, our strong recommendation is that you join UCU so you have the protection of a trade union before you join the action. If you have provided the details requested on the form, your membership will be active from the date of application. This means that you are able to take part in any strike action while awaiting your membership number.

 

I am not a UCU member. Can I refuse to cross the picket line?

Birkbeck management have agreed they will not impose repercussions on any staff who choose not to cross the picket line during the strike, in line with their legal obligations. You will be under the same obligations as UCU members to report the days you have missed due to strike action, at the conclusion of the strike, and your pay will be deducted accordingly. If you are eligible to join UCU we recommend that you join the union , on the picket line if

necessary. We will support any member who is subject to disciplinary action for refusing to cross a UCU picket line.

 

I am working on a visa - does this affect my right to strike?

Last year UCU won important protection for staff on visas so that they could take lawful strike action without affecting their visa status. However we recognise that many members who want to support the union have real concerns about the issue and have produced a separate briefing which explains your legal rights if you are a staff member or student on a visa or who may potentially apply for an indefinite right to remain in the UK. UCU is committed to supporting all our members in this industrial action so if, having read the briefing you are still worried about the impact of the strikes upon your status, contact Matt Waddup for further advice and guidance.

 

Some Tier 4 PhD students are also employed by their host university to teach. What are their rights to strike?

There is no specific prohibition on Tier 4 students taking part in industrial action, nor any requirement for a sponsor to withdraw sponsorship on that basis. Where a Tier 4 migrant is employed and is taking part in lawful strike action that prevents them working as normal, the restrictions on absence that relate to Tier 2 migrants do not apply. In short, those on Tier 4 student visas should observe the visa requirements that relate to their role as a student.

Since Tier 4 leave does not usually count towards settlement, there is no equivalent of the Tier 2 concern about periods with gaps in earnings not counting towards settlement.

​

Why are we going on strike again ?

The coming fourteen days of strikes follow close behind eight days of action taken in the same disputes in November/December last year. Those eight days brought our employers back to the negotiating table, and we started to press them on our demands. We’ve seen some movement from them, but not nearly enough. Unfortunately, it looks like they’d rather weather out another round of strikes, with adverse consequences for staff and students, than make serious efforts to address the systemic problems in higher education. The fact that so many of us are once again turning out to strike, with all the hardship it incurs, is testament to how deep these issues run, and how desperate we are for change.

​

Have we made any progress in negotiations so far?

From what we’ve heard from our negotiators, yes — some. On USS, our case has been boosted by the publication of the JEP’s second report , which questions the current governance of the scheme, and recommends greater input from members in deciding how the level of risk is assessed. Implementation of the report’s conclusions won’t go all

the way to settling this dispute, but it will clear the way for more accurate valuations of the scheme in the future, and offers the prospect of a long-term solution to this long-running problem. Click here to read UCU’s response to the JEP’s second report.

On Pay and Equality, the employers’ representatives at UCEA were refusing to discuss setting sector-wide expectations by which their institutions could then be bound. That’s changed: so much so that, at the end of January, they made us a preliminary offer, which — unsatisfactory and unspecific though it was, and consequently unacceptable — accepted the principle of nation-wide standards for working conditions in HE. It’s no

coincidence that this offer was made just before the decision to call another round of strikes, and just after staff at another fourteen institutions voted to join the action. It seems the threat of impending industrial action is necessary to make our employers get serious. The positive results from those other fourteen institutions makes our position

stronger as we head into this round of strikes, and bolsters our leverage in ongoing negotiations.