I’m Joining the University Strike Action, And Here’s Why You Should Too

During my time at the University of Leeds, stretching back from first year all the way until now, I’ve been affected by strikes. Lectures cancelled, delayed marking, late emails, dissertation workshops missed. While this certainly has impacted my education negatively, especially as a humanities student, I still support and stand with striking staff. 

I stand with the striking staff members because the anger that I feel this week and beyond is a symptom of systemic unfair staff working conditions. I know staff care about our education deeply, as much as these actions might indicate otherwise.

While some of you might think that university professors are those male dons sat smoking pipes and drinking red wine in grandiose offices like in that one episode of Peep Show with Peter Capaldi’s Professor MacLeish, that is simply not the case. During the widely discussed Cost of Living Crisis, and throughout the vestiges of an arguably ongoing pandemic, both lecturers and crucial support staff have been hard hit by institutional policy. 

‘Excessive and unsafe workloads which have been perpetuated for years and have got even worse over the pandemic’ – The UCU stance on why they are striking.

While the university has released a further cut of living support package, including up to £650 in December for nearly 4,000 people on lower pay grades, it is increasingly inaccessible to postgraduate researchers who were classified as ‘workers’ and not ‘staff’, meaning they were exempt from this ‘tranche of support’. It is not those paid exorbitant salaries in the ivory tower of the Ziff building that feel these hardships. It’s the staff that really keep the university running, from professors to PhD researchers, to non-academic staff including technicians and librarians. The wide-ranging members of staff who operate the buildings we frequent every single day.

Action this week might feel overwhelming given the sheer number of unions on strike. UCU, (the one I was certainly most well acquainted with), represents academic staff. But you might remember UNISON – the crucial support staff who went on strike earlier this academic year. Also, Unite have joined and are a national member-led national union ‘committed to high-quality training and resources’ throughout education. All unions, but especially UNISON and Unite, emphasise the rights of staff members that enrich your everyday experience by reshelving books you need for Brotherton and Laidlaw, technicians who assist you in labs, cleaners who cover countless facilities, including those toilets in Eddy B. 

Another reason for giving your support, (and perhaps one less advertised), is that all three unions support the abolition of tuition fees. Why shouldn’t we support staff who passionately disavow the inordinate amount we are expected to pay after leaving university?

Speaking to Leeds Student Staff Solidarity’s George Aylett at the first picket line on Thursday, he told me that the strike this year was bigger than ever given the sheer scale of union involvement. He also summarised pithily why students should become aware of striking staff concerns:

“Why should students support striking staff? Because staff working conditions are student learning conditions. A failure to support staff results in poorer learning conditions for students.”

Precarious employment has been a longstanding reason for strikes. When it comes to the numbers, staff from UCU have seen real terms pay cuts as much as up to 25% since 2009. This is all while the marketisation of universities skyrockets, and rampant casualisation of working hours and short-term contracts leave staff limited in time to invest in us, the students. 

Another reason for student-staff solidarity is that the representation in our classroom is directly affected. The racial, gender and disability pay gap have widened at 17.1%, 18.9% and 9% respectively. From November 20 onwards, ‘women working in higher education will effectively work the rest of the year for free – earning £4k less than men.’ The head of UCL has admitted that ‘higher education is systemically underpaying staff’.

Following the speeches at Parkinson steps, the impression I got was that Leeds University and Leeds Beckett have avoided engagement with the unions, claiming strikes are a ‘national issue’. However, a national response is indeed possible – the Vice Chancellor sits on Universities UK, a leading body that represents the collective voice of 140 universities in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, supposedly proponents of our ‘world-class education.’ 

For scale, this is the biggest ever strike in UK Higher Education. While limited victories have been achieved at Open University and Royal College of Art, a lot more needs to happen locally at the University of Leeds. A much-desired end to disruption from those involved is significantly more possible if students support striking staff. These strikes may feel disproportionately unacceptable and hugely unfair. But that’s because at the fundamental, institutional level, they are. 

Cover Image Courtesy of Leeds Student Staff Solidarity/ George Aylett

Article Update: The Gryphon has been informed that as of 9/11/22, sectors of University management have now met with the unions represented. Whether or not the unions’ demands have been met, remains to be seen.