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AUT and Natfhe Strikes in Higher Education
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Any of you affected by them?
Last Tuesday lecturers and other university teachers who are members of these trade unions were on strike over pay. This in itself wasn't too much of a bad thing (we got to skip lectures for the day :thumb: )
But now at UCL they are refusing to mark coursework and assessments until the issues are resolved. I found out today that the mark for my dissertation presentation that I did last week has been withheld as part of the strike action. If things don't get resolved then they are threatening to not mark the summer exam papers and hence graduations will be disrupted/ final results withheld etc.
It is very frustrating to be caught up in the middle of this one.
Last Tuesday lecturers and other university teachers who are members of these trade unions were on strike over pay. This in itself wasn't too much of a bad thing (we got to skip lectures for the day :thumb: )
But now at UCL they are refusing to mark coursework and assessments until the issues are resolved. I found out today that the mark for my dissertation presentation that I did last week has been withheld as part of the strike action. If things don't get resolved then they are threatening to not mark the summer exam papers and hence graduations will be disrupted/ final results withheld etc.
It is very frustrating to be caught up in the middle of this one.
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Comments
I assume their thinking is that the University will cave, or at least meet them part of the way to their demands, before the situation with regards to your work becomes critical. Therefore there won't be any need for your student life to continue to be interrupted.
I'm sure they went on strike when I was at university, and it didn't affect much for anyone (despite their fears).
I agree completely.
I wasn't affected as I was on placement. However, a lot of my faculty was effected.
I do support the strike though. We had an EGM on Monday, I went and heard what people had to say and I understand why they are doing it.
personally i think it's stupid, the only people they're affecting are the students.
Read the following:
Why are AUT & NATFHE taking action?
Our salaries have stagnated. Tony Blair himself has said that they have shown 'practically no increase in real terms over two decades.' AUT and NATFHE have asked the university employers to improve salaries so that they compare to those of other public sector professionals. Members in both unions agreed to take action by overwhelming majorities.
Do the employers have the money?
Between now and 2008, UK universities will receive an extra £3.4billion in funding, amounting to a 25% increase. The University of Leeds expects its turnover to increase from £350 million to £500 million over the next 3 years. Universities promised the government that at least a third of the extra funding would go into improving salaries. This promise hasn’t been kept. And remember this is not just about paying current staff: our ability to recruit the best and brightest new staff is hampered by this refusal to improve salaries.
Exactly why I support the action. The lack of wage increase in real terms translates as a 40% decrease from 20 years ago, apparently.
Even if they mark the work late it means that we can't act on there feedback to improve the weaknesses in the rest of our coursework (as we will have done all of it before any of the marks are released).
I'm stressed enough as it is, I just want to know if I'm doing okay or not academically. For all I know I could have already failed my degree (if I failed the presentation) and everything else I'm doing could be a complete waste of time.
Who you should be blaming is the VC of your university, and the Senate.
The average VC now earns more than the Prime Minister, for fuck's sakes, and yet they plead poverty.
How about taking a wage cut you overpaid, underworked, lazy bureaucratic cunts?
EDIT: Found it, read it and weep. Just a shame none of them are named here...
but there are better ways of getting your point across than by striking, surely.
what i meant was them striking isn't going to affect the people who they want to get their point across too.
No.
When I was at Durham three years ago the lecturers did a work-to-rule because of their abject pay compared to the grotesque salary and perks enjoyed by the VC Sir kenneth Calman (being responsible for the BSE debacle being his claim to fame). They threatened to go on strike, and they were given promises that were not fulfilled in order to prevent this.
It's great to see that three years on the lecturers have been listened to, and are now being paid a salary which is correct for their stature.
Oh.
lecturers get treated like complete shit concerning their pay, and you want to sack them all?
you cant be negligent in relation to striking
he's a right knobend
It's actual lecturers, but not just them, the lab technicians, research assistants and adminstrative staff who aren't being paid what they are owed and what they have been promised.
You stuck up son-of-a-bitch you're not even at uni yet.
For the original question. I had one lecture tuesday, it was a nice break, but I am concerned that a two hour electronics slot was cancelled because we will have to make that up somewhere.
In Education, the lecturers and tutors are getting paid less to teach new teachers than if they were actually in schools themselves. It's fairly naff.
Unfortunately, in any case like this, you need to use someone to get heard. In this case, it is the students. It should be resolved by June, when it will affect really affect people. In the meantime, we need to hope that action is taken.
But if you speak to a lecturer they are extremely sorry that it has come to this state of affairs and are extremely sympathetic to them. However, there is always a pawn in a situation like this. In this case, the students are the obvious ones. As it happens, this strike probably won't affect many students. All they are doing is holding back marks and the only time this will make much difference is in June when the exam board sits.
And if you sack every single striking lecturer then you would be hindering the students even more so as there would be very few left to teach the students.
Why should lecturers not get a decent pay? What do you propose should happen instead? How do you think they should get their voice across? Lecturers have rights too.