Lecturers at GCU, as well as across the country announced that they would be taking 14 days of strike action from the 20th of February up until the 13th of March. Back in November and December, 8 days of strike action occurred, however, despite this there was no resolution given.
Full details of the stikes are:
- Week one – Thursday 20 & Friday 21 February
- Week two – Monday 24, Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February
- Week three – Monday 2, Tuesday 3, Wednesday 4 & Thursday 5 March
- Week four – Monday 9, Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 & Friday 13 March
Staff are striking due to 4 things; casualisation, inequality (in terms of gender and BME), salaries and workload.
Casualisation– Over 100,000 staff are employed on fixed-term contracts, and an additional 70,000 are employed on other casual contracts across the United Kingdom. The teaching and research which occurs at universities would not be possible without these staff members.
Workload– Work overload has increased in recent years. It was found that staff do on average 45-50 hours of work per week yet salaries do not reflect this, and, this is not sustainable or fair.
Salaries- University salaries have fallen counter to inflation by over 20% since 2009. This is not acceptable, especially when senior management are found to be given bonuses.
Inequality– There are inequalities that exist in pay structures. It has been found that disability pay inequality is 8.7%, women on average are paid 15.1% less than men, and a study also found that black academic staff earn 12-13% less than white colleagues of both the same gender and experience. UCU feel that something has to change as in today’s society, it is deplorable.
Students across Glasgow and the west have stood in solidarity with striking lecturers. Various ‘student solidarity’ groups exist across universities and colleges.
At GCU we have the ‘Student Solidarity Network’ who have done some great work and continue to stand with lecturers on the picket lines at our front entrance.
I spoke with Lewis Atkers-President of the ‘Student Solidarity Network GCU’ and asked him why he thinks it is important for students’ to show solidarity with striking lecturer’s.
‘If we tolerate inequality among university staff then it becomes part of the culture of universities and seeps through into treatment of students.
Better working conditions leads to more satisfied staff who have more time to make sure they can dedicate the time needed to making sure they deliver the best level of education for students.
Casualisation means that academia is extremely hard to get into. This is because jobs are insecure, not always well paid, and, often don’t offer the hours needed. This restricts the types of people who can access academia and eventually gain full-time jobs.
Marketisation (running universities like businesses) means we are treated as customers rather than students. We want to be seen as students with unique differences rather than just numbers.
Trade Union victories in one place pave the way for other victories and for that to become the norm elsewhere. One example of this would be the equal pay strikes at Ford in the 1970s when women striked for equal pay and won. As a result of their battle, equal pay legalisation was brought in by the government of that time. ‘
Back during November and December, thirteen students from Stirling University occupied a university room in solidarity with their university staff who were on strike. Instead of being commended for their efforts, these students have been suspended from their studies for eight weeks (possibly more), with more than half of them staying in university accommodation. This suspension restricts them from submitting coursework which will mean that they may fail, with no guarantee they can return to study in September.
On Friday the 21st of February, the second day of the strikes, Vice Chancellors from universities all across Scotland were avoiding the pickets at a secret meeting at the Glasgow School of Art. However, it wasn’t a secret for long. The word got out to students and workers across Glasgow and the surrounding areas.
From 8 am that morning there was a crowd of around 50 students from Strathclyde University, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Caledonian University and Glasgow University outside the doors of where the meeting was taking place. Some of their signs read “Equal Pay Now!”, “Treat Staff and Students with Respect!” and “We Love Our Staff!”.
Those in attendance hounded the VCs and made sure to disrupt their discussion, further voicing their concerns regarding the reasons for industrial action. They also called for the punishment of the thirteen Stirling University Students to be ceased. Some of the ‘Stirling Thirteen’ were also in attendance to show their solidarity with those on strike across the country.
It is clear that students’ across Glasgow and the west want changes to be made. They know that the working conditions of university staff is also their learning conditions and they call for changes to be made promptly and support staff in their efforts for it to be rectified.
