If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
Options
Essential support for under 25s
Essential support for under 25s
Take a look around and enjoy reading the discussions. If you'd like to join in, it's really easy to register and then you'll be able to post. If you'd like to learn what this place is all about, head here.
Comments
Striking, in this case, is a last resort. Do you really think that they haven't tried talking and discussing and negotiating with all the powers that be? Of course they have. They have been for a very long time.
Protests do nothing. Action does. Create as much disruption as possible so that action is taken. Just like any strike.
And this isn't easy on most of the lecturers. From speaking to one of mine yesterday, who incidentally was trying to assess my presentation and couldn't tell me if I passed or not, this goes completely against the grain but something needs to happen.
Good luck to 'em.
You're taking a fairly naive approach IMHO.
What is the point in strikes if I dont benifit ;<
I wasn't affected last Tuesday as I was on placement. But you could be affected in the long term if they withold your marks
This is the real problem, the AUT whinge on about how they have always supported the NUS and the NUS are currently supporting this strike. However the marking strike is screwing over current students.
I think we can all agree that they deserve better pay but at the same time they complain about being over worked (Average class sizes from 9 to 21 in 30 years); but also want 23% over three years - they can't complain about being over worked if they want that level of increase as the money wouldn't be left to increase the workforce to lower workloads.
The issue is being debated at Student Union Councils and the vast majority are reaching the decision to lobby the NUS to oppose the strike.
At Leicester we discussed it last week and and the aims of the proposal were to support the claim for increased pay, to support one-day strikes but condemn the marking strike. A representative from AUT attended the discussion of an ammendment to change itto supporting the marking strike. When the ammendment was defeated they disappeared quietly - not caring what happened to the rest of the proposal.
Oh diddums.
Students should be supporting this strike, as the teaching salary directly affects them. Keep paying crap, and every decent brain will leave the system for good. Many already have, with foreign universities filled with British talent.
Though I can't say I'm surprised. Students in this country are almost totally self-obsessed selfish little fuckwits, who give a toss about nobody but themselves. That they cannot even stop thinking about their precious marks for one fucking minute illustrates this perfectly, and every student who votes to oppose the lecturers strike should be totally and utterly ashamed of themselves.
My lecturers were on strike during my final year, and I fully supported them then. I still do fully support them. Every other student should do the same.
You are totally right. University staff get paid a pittance. I can only take teaching as an example as it is my field but they are struggling to get new lecturers in this area as they don't get paid as much as experienced teachers. I find it quite shocking that those who are teaching teachers to teach are being paid less than what I will get in about 7 years time. Ridiculous.
Sadly, again, I agree. As is shown in this thread *sigh*
I fully support my lecturers. If it carries on it will affect me in quite a big way as I am about to qualify and currently jobhunting. However, all prospective employees of mine will know the situation and if I don't have my "I am a teacher" certificate then they should be fairly sympathetic. If they aren't, then they will lose out on a perfectly good teacher.
The thing about this strike though, is that everyone is in the same boat.
I do hope the lecturers get what they deserve.
students are helped by the lecturers to learn, so should at least be a little sympathetic to the cause that will earn the lecturers more money
I'm sorry mate but really you should shut your mouth, you know sod all about the situation.
Yes VC's get paid quite a lot, same as high end civil servants, thats because they've got a massive budget, huge number of staff and a massive level of responsibity.
Lecturers on the other hand get paid piss all, half or even a 1/4 of what they could get in other countries. This is the only (hopefully) effective way to cause a change because lots of voters will realise that their off spring wont get final marks and the government will be forced into a change.
25-35k a year isn't piss all.
So after at least 7 years in unpaid training you think £25k is a reasonable wage to get?
Take the PhD students doing chemistry at my uni for example. They get £12,000 tax free sponsership plus the opportunity to work part-time as lab demonstrators and markers for £11 an hour, the first £4,500 of earnings being tax free (as the sponsership part doesn't count as earnings).
For those who lecture in Education, most of them took a pay cut in order to teach us how to become teachers. They are earning less than their peers. It's a bit backward.
It is for reasons like this there are fewer and fewer people leaving their professions and then becoming lecturers. Financially, it probably isn't worth it for the majority of them.
I know that people get "paid" for PhDs, but for most it's after at least 5 years of debt, and barely covers their living costs. I don't know anyone who get's as much as that, and I don't know many PhD students who have all that much time to earn the extra.
Isn't this kind of superfluous? It doesn't really alter the fact that most people will have had to do a full 7 or 8 years of qualfying in debt, where the majority of that will have been unpaid where most people who progress to a PhD don't get paid anything worth mentioning, and if they go into work in their area of interest have to take a MASSIVE step down in wage to be a university lecturer.
This is true with some sciences, but it certainly does not happen in virtually all the other subjects.
I'm not saying they shouldn't be trying to get a wage increase but it isn't "they earn piss poor" or something as ridiculous as "they earn a half or quarter what they earn in other countries" so they shouldn't be affecting some of the students like they may do.
I think it is ridiculous that they earn less than what the people they are training will earn a couple of years after they graduate.
I fully support the lecturers.
They could all 'try their luck in the private sector' then where exactly would we be?
They do earn piss all in real terms, £25k isnt exactly loads to support a family is it.
And yes, they do earn a half to a quarter of what they could earn in other countries, that's why loads and loads of our really good professors have left.
more like around 70-80%. why do loads and loads of really good professors come here?
A good professor in the US can easily earn $100,000 thats even at £1-$2 double what they get here, and living expenses will be lower.
Professors come here because at the moment we still have decent universities, we have the reputation - though we wont for all that much longer.
Though having said that in some small fields researchers come here because they cant do the research elsewhere, stem cell stuff for example.
Wow, they get to earn £12k and do overtime for £11 an hour? And the first £4,500 is tax-free as it is for everyone else in the country!
Whoop-de-doo. They're raking it in.
Lecturers are paid poorly for the work they do and the stature they have. That's a simple fact. A chemistry lecturer will earn £30,000, that's nothing. A train driver earns £40,000.