After a few weeks of waiting in high anticipation for the outcome of ongoing negotiations with both UCEA and UUK, we received disappointing offers that were rejected by the HEC at the end of January, who voted for a further 14 days of action.
Negotiators in the #FourFights dispute have outlined here why they believe further strike action is necessary, and you can find UCU’s 10 point briefing of the situation here.
For updates on the ongoing discussions between USS, UCU and UUK regarding the pension dispute, you can also follow Sam Marsh’s twitter account (see for example thread here). A big thank you to all negotiators who are working hard to get this dispute resolved on our behalf!
And so, on we strike! Our numbers have grown nationally with 14 new branches joining either (or both) fights, for a total of 74 universities – a historical precedent. Our employers seem to keep hoping that strikes will just be casual incidents (as evidenced by the multiple official emails sent to staff and students promising ‘minimal disruption’, including at Lancaster) even though we have demonstrated a growing commitment to industrial action to achieve meaningful change.
When she visited us last week, Robyn Orfitelli (pay negotiator) cleverly used the metaphor of the frog in boiling water to explain how we might have gotten to a breaking point in working conditions. ‘The water is now boiling’, she told us. We have no choice but to commit to this fight if we want to survive.
Our first day of this new wave truly showed our commitment to our employers both at a national level and local one. We counted between 80 and 100 people on the picket line this Thursday, despite pouring rain and high winds. The excellently curated playlist motivated us to push past the rain to hold our ground and we received visits from a number of supporters:
Two representatives from the Lancaster and Morecambe branch of the National Education Union visited us with a cheque of £250 for our local hardship fund. A massive thanks to their support.
A representative from Unison came to talk about solidarity, standing up for ourselves and each other, and wished us warm clothes and dry shoes. Many thanks to Unison and Unite who are once again providing us with warm drinks on the picket lines daily!
BBC Northwest came to the picket and interviewed Sunil in epic weather conditions. Lancaster Live and Lancaster Guardian came to do some reporting as well.
Nils then gave a speech decrying the strategy of our employers to always wait to see whether strike action will have an impact before agreeing to negotiate (as it happened last term). We should not have to walk out and see our wages cut just to start negotiations on working conditions!
At a more local level, Nils reminded members of the picket that the Union has brought a case at the Employment Tribunal against the University for the victimization of our local UCU president, Julie. Before Christmas, we thought we had reached an agreement with the University, but they backed out. Last Thursday, we thought we reached a new one as well, but the University backed out again. We’re now looking to speak to Times Higher Education which we’ll do if there is no resolution soon. If you haven’t already you can support Julie by signing the open letter.
The University tried, as they do every time, to move us further up the drive – this is dangerous for those of us on the picket line. The University claims concerns about how this might affect traffic on the A6. The irony is not lost on us, when traffic has been massively disrupted for the last year on the A6 due to the University’s expansion projects and new developments. That they would rather ‘hide’ the picket to save face with disregard for the safety of their employees is a perfect metaphor of the choices Universities have been making in the last ten years.
In the afternoon we gathered at the Gregson for a wonderful teach-out by Steffi Doebler on the ‘misuse of data’ in Higher Education.
She presented the misuse of ‘data production’ in schemes such as REF, TEF, KEF and noted that the Royal Statistical Society published on TEF being invalid and dangerous. You might find this twitter thread informative on the topic. A working group on ‘excellence frameworks’ has formed as a result within the branch to consider ways of responding / resisting.
Lancaster UCU 