Students nationwide have recently been notified of upcoming UCU strike action. Whilst most of us are either breathing a sigh of relief at the idea of some ‘downtime’ or frantically questioning how on earth we’ll make that deadline without the structure of classes, do we really understand the hugely significant background of the strike, and why should we show solidarity?
The University College Union represents over 120,000 staff members across the UK, formed by merging two existing unions which can be traced back to the early 20th Century. Many will remember the recent November-December strike action, in which 60 institutions participated. The upcoming strikes involve 14 more, set to affect 20% more students.
Alongside the ongoing pension concern, there are the ‘four fights’ comprised of: pay, equality, casualisation and workload. All of these collectively cause profound professional and personal uncertainty for educators who should be amongst the most admired in society. Let’s have a closer look at the reasons for the strike.
Concerns about pensions are particularly relevant for full-time staff. Under changes in recent years, member contributions increased by 3.4% from 2011-2019, whilst the amount received in retirement remained the same. Futures are placed in jeopardy. The UCU addresses individual impacts of the £240,000 expected average loss in retirement and puts pressure on employers to pay for these significantly higher costs.
The ‘four fights’ are all closely interlinked and influence each other. A 2016 UCU survey revealed the unmanageable nature of workload, finding that staff work unpaid an average of two extra days weekly due to thin spread of human resources. Institutions expect upkeep of existing high standards despite diminishing amounts of time. It’s clear why members suffer anxiety with this workload-based pressure alone.
On top of the unpaid work mentioned above, UCU report a 17% pay decline over a decade, seeing staff underpaid for their teaching and research with a shocking disproportionate effect on female staff and staff of colour. A 2017/18 analysis found an overall 9% pay gap between white and BME staff, while the 2019 Times Higher Education investigation revealed an average 15.1% lower mean hourly wage for women at UK universities. 46 of 228 institutions assessed in 2018 had actually widened the gap. With a progressive student attitude here at Leeds, and particularly as women, we should be outraged at these discoveries. These are some of the many reasons to show solidarity.
Additional equality issues UCU focus on include sexual harassment in the workplace as well as disability and trans inclusion, with four elected equality standing committees to represent these key issues and more. Generally, they do great work to enable members to self-identify and challenge any unfair treatment.
Furthermore, casualisation is another issue that is especially relevant to us as students. Typically, it’s junior staff that are on part-time or short fixed-term contracts. These people are close to our age, and are in the recently graduated workplace position many of us will soon be in. With 46% of universities actively using zero hour contracts, it’s imperative to ask why are our educators treated this way. The constant need to concentrate on your next job application hinders career progression, causing stress which negatively affects education prospects.
Special thanks to Dan Ashley of UCU & Carl White of University of Leeds School of English for providing information/statements.
Words by Laura Murphy.
Edited by Hannah Martin.