We spoke to Dr Douglas Chalmers- Vice President of UCU here at Glasgow Caledonian University and the President of UCU UK- exclusively about the UCU strikes which are ongoing for eight days throughout the UK from the 25th of November until the 5th of December.
Why are strikes taking place?
No one wants to go on strike, it is a last resort. Lecturers are in dispute with the university regarding pay and equality
In terms of pay- uni employe pay settlement of 1.8% of all staff- inflation higher- real terms wage cut. University staff’s pay has dropped in the past 15 years. In terms of inflation, lecturers have actually received a cut to their wages when thinking about it in real terms in relation to the retail price index. If they received RPI plus 3% that would return pay to what it should historically be.
In dispute- want unis to sort gender pay gap in general- women paid 15% less than men- equal pay- women can’t get higher paid jobs- on average pay is a lot less- and it is same with BME staff- they also struggle to get higher paid jobs. These situations should not occur.
Casualised contracts are a scandal- staff members teaching and doing research yet don’t have permanent contracts which UCU members do not agree with.
GCU have lost over 200 the past 3 or 4 years, yet staff are teaching more students. Staff have the same conditions as students and it is hard to stay sharp and get time to do research when there is more workload.
Those striking are asking all students to ask the principal to get UCEA (University and Colleges Employers Association) to come round the table and discuss a resolution for them. Members of UCU think that it’s a reasonable request.
What about students’ who are going to miss content and who have exams?
As some lecturers are on strike and not providing content and there is no guarantee that exams won’t contain the content that they are missing face-to-face teaching time on.
Students are not the enemy- it’s the overall setup of working at universities, members of UCU want all universities to come back to the negotiating table.
In terms of missed lectures and notes, do your recommended reading in the off chance but exams shouldn’t contain questions about missed content. Seek clarification from your lecturers once they are back from strikes.
What about fourth-year students who are anxious about missed time and advice on their dissertations and assignments?
Don’t take it as a ‘holiday’ use time wisely work at home and work at the library, everyone is well aware of the syllabus but use the recommended reading which is provided within your module guides and catch up with reading and anything that you may have missed.
Staff can give advice on dissertations from the 5th of December when they return to work from the strikes, try not to be anxious and work through what you need to do. Realistically the closing date is in April. The first drafts are not marked so as much as you want to be ahead of the game don’t stress out about it.
What will happen if no resolution comes from the strike action?
Have a meeting of the Higher Education Committee and discuss what further steps have to be taken- staff from all universities sit on this committee. UCU members are determined to help close the gender pay gap- if further strikes have to occur then that has to happen. They hope that management sees sense
Realistically, it depends on universities telling UCEA- that the principal is on the board of- that they need to come together and sit down and take steps to ending casualised contracts and end the gender and BME gap and help with excessive workloads. Unsure what will happen but believes that sensible management will do something about it
Douglas Chalmers is pleased with the support from the Students’ Association and GCU Students’.
As you can see Tea and Coffee was supplied today on the first day of the strikes by the Full-Time Officers and it will be continued throughout the rest of the strike days on campus.
All pictures are courtesy of Monica Allen.
