Views from the picket line: the December 1st-3rd industrial action

58 universities, including UCL, faced 3 days of strike action by staff over the ‘Four Fights’ and pensions disputes. Speaking to UCL staff on the picket line, they discussed why these disputes had reached this critical point and how the student body was responding to the industrial action.

A University and College Union demonstration outside the Bloomsbury campus main entrance.

The strike action was documented in collaboration with the UCL Photo Society. All photos were taken by Tam Withey.

On 1 December, UCL staff joined 53 staff from other universities, striking on the picket lines outside their universities until 3 December over what’s commonly called the ‘Four Fights’ dispute: worsening pay and conditions, equality, workload, and casualisation. This round of industrial action is a continuation of strike action of recent years. Further industrial action and disruption for students could occur early next term.

Nationwide, around 50,000 staff members had a mandate to take strike action over the ‘Four Fights’ and pensions disputes. In both issues, 58 universities chose to strike between 1-3 December.

The ‘Four Fights’ strike action is one of two ongoing disputes by University and College Union (UCU), which represents university staff at UCL and other UK higher education institutions. The second dispute focuses on proposed changes to the pensions scheme of university staff.

UCL staff who voted in the ‘Four Fights’ ballot voted 73.3% in favour of strike action and 87.4% in favour of action short of striking with a turnout of 50.1%. Support for strike action and turnout were consistent with the wider UCU ballot with 70.1% of all voting UCU staff choosing strike action.

Despite the overwhelming majority of voting staff in favour of strike action, the turnout for the ‘Four Fights’ ballot narrowly reached the legally required threshold of 50% turnout for strike action. UCL staff turnout for the ballot over changes to the pension scheme closed at 49.4%, therefore UCL failed to reach the threshold to strike over this dispute. Nationwide turnout for the pensions dispute stood at 53%.

Compared to 2020, when 74 universities went out on strike over similar issues, only 58 universities took part in strike action over pensions or ‘Four Fights’ disputes this December.

Given the narrow majority turnout of 50.6% and 70% of UCU members in favour of strike action, less than half of all UCU members actually voted in favour of strike action.

Whilst this could be considered a low turnout for strike action, UCU members expressed the difficulty of postal voting in a pandemic and the short voting window. The large majority of returned ballots in favour of striking, despite these difficulties, suggests a “clear mandate” for industrial action.

Striking staff at UCL

UCU members out on the UCL picket line outside Malet Place.

Outside building entrances around the Bloomsbury campus, UCL staff handed out pamphlets to students, hoping to highlight the problems faced by staff and to dissuade some students wanting to cross the picket line. With mixed results, students engaged with staff on the picket line, learning why the current problems had to be addressed through strike action.

University staff out on the picket lines had different reasons for striking. Many of the experiences that led them to strike over the ‘Four Fights’ dispute were shared, but also varied depending on how much time they had spent in the university sector.

Younger staff such as post-graduate teaching assistants (PGTAs) were striking over issues such as short-term contracts with UCL. PGTAs said short-term contracts were not providing them with enough job security – a particular problem in London with higher living costs than the rest of Great Britain. They argue this problem makes teaching at universities less accessible to PGTAs of all economic backgrounds when this shouldn’t be a barrier to teaching at universities.

Banners and striking staff outside SSEES.

Staff who had been at UCL for longer had seen their real terms pay decrease. Between 2009 and 2019, higher education pay fell by 17.6% relative to inflation. Going further back than 2009, many staff said they had seen their real terms pay gradually decreasing. There is currently a 16% gender pay gap amongst university staff.

The pay increase offered by the University and College Employers Association was a pay rise of 1.5%, which is below the current rate of inflation. UCU is demanding a pay increase of £2,500 for all staff, which would benefit the lowest paid staff most.

A survey of staff by UCU showed that 78% of staff had faced increased workloads since the pandemic began. Staff on the picket line said the ‘doubling up’ of teaching in-person and online had led to increased and unmanageable workloads.

They also fear that the ‘marketisation’ of universities is not healthy in the long term for the higher education sector. Striking staff argue that the heavy reliance of funding from tuition fees promotes a bad university funding model and increased competition between universities to attract new students. At Goldsmith’s, UoL, 52 staff are facing compulsory redundancies to tackle “significant financial challenges”. The redundancies are aimed at mostly English and History and administrative staff.

If changes are not made to problems arising from the ‘Four Fights’ dispute, pensions dispute and ‘marketisation’ of universities, staff fear that the university sector in the long term will suffer, becoming less appealing to students and staff looking to have a career in the higher education sector.

Staff taking industrial action understood that students may be frustrated by the latest wave of strikes. They urged students to direct their frustration in a positive manner at university management and vice-chancellors, who are the people who can make the changes necessary for staff. The National Union of Students president Larissa Kennedy emphasised the need for students to be frustrated: “Staff working conditions are student learning conditions and we stand shoulder to shoulder with our educators in fighting for a more just education system.”

The UCU march

On Friday 3 December, the final day of strike action, UCL staff gathered at Tavistock Square from 12:30pm near the main Bloomsbury campus to display a united front to university management and other groups opposed to strike action: rallying the call for the much-needed improvements to their working conditions as part of the ‘Four Fights’ dispute. John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, was one of the speakers at the rally.

The UCU march from Tavistock Square towards London’s financial district.

Alongside staff, fellow students joined staff in the march towards London’s financial district. Political groups offering their support included groups such as: Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Worker and Socialist Students. University unions marching in solidarity included staff from: Imperial College, Goldsmith’s, Queen Mary and King’s College, London. Although, regardless of the united front presented by the march and for all the groups offering their support of strike action, the voice of support from the UCL Students’ Union was most notably absent.

The UCL Students’ Union decision not to support strike action

The decision on 11 November by UCL Students’ Union not to support industrial action took student and staff supporters of UCU by surprise. Traditionally, the SU and UCU have stood shoulder to shoulder in support for their respective issues, including previous industrial action. The decision also goes against the National Union of Students (NUS) stance, which supports strike action.

The vote taken by the Union Executive, which sets out the policy for the UCL Students’ Union and is made up of democratically elected sabbatical officers, voted by 5 votes in favour, 2 against, with 1 abstained vote to not support strike action.

Whilst the UCL Students’ Union have said they support the aims of UCU in their disputes, a UCL SU spokesperson said they could “not support strike action as a method of resolving the dispute between university staff and employers. We can’t support action that will make university life harder for students this academic year”.

The SU has also said they have not received any policy proposals to support strike action.

Now that the traditional argument made by UCU supporters that the SU, and by extension the student body, supported strike action no longer applied, some supporters of UCU and striking staff naturally questioned whether the SU really spoke on behalf of the student body when making this decision.

Out on the picket lines, students showed their support for staff by standing outside UCL buildings. On the gates outside Malet Place entrance, students had pinned a banner reading ‘Students Support The Strike’. Similar banners made by students and staff alike were adorned upon other entrances.

Research undertaken by NUS showed 73% of students supported strike action by staff.

On the opening day of strike action, a meeting was held by students in support of strike action and staff who felt their voices hadn’t been heard by the Union Executive.

As part of the fallout of the SUs decision to not support strike action, a petition by students hoping to trigger a referendum on the policy decision was submitted to the SU. To trigger a referendum on the issue of industrial action, a petition must be signed by at least 0.5% of UCL’s student population.

At the time of writing, the SU has received a petition meeting the threshold of signatures and has said “We’ll hopefully meet with the petitioners as soon as possible to discuss next steps.”

It remains to be seen if there will be students as passionate about the SU’s more nuanced policy of support for UCU’s disputes compared to the students who have submitted the petition against the decision not to support industrial action as a means of resolving the current disputes.

Given the difficult decision not to support strike action and fallout from this, UCL SU is not the only Students’ Union to adopt this policy. Student’s unions at King’s College, London and Leeds have also said they cannot support strike action. Whilst they support UCU in their disputes as well, the unprecedented impact to student life and students caused by the coronavirus pandemic over the past 2 years has led them to the decision not to support strike action, as they have to prioritise the students they represent.

Supporters of the strikes at UCL have argued that the wider vote held by King’s College, London Students’ Union to decide their stance on industrial action would have been a better way of shaping SU policy at UCL on one of the most significant debates on campus.

With future strike action threatened by UCU nationwide, at UCL, our Students’ Union has said their current position remains the same as the position held in the most recent strike action.

Future strike action

Building on the momentum of the 1-3 December strike action, UCU staff at 42 universities are being balloted again for the two disputes over ‘Four Fights’ and pensions. The 42 universities, including UCL, undertaking a new ballot failed to reach the thresholds to strike in either dispute this December.

Nicola Dandrige, the head of the Office for Students, which is the higher education regulator in England, has said “Universities are subject to consumer protection law, and they should consider how they will make up for any disruption caused by industrial action.” This “might include rescheduling any teaching which is missed, delivering course topics in a different way or considering whether partial refunds of tuition fees are appropriate. Students should not be disadvantaged academically because of any disruption.”.

If the ballots are successful, up to 100 universities could face disruption next term.

The further impact on student teaching will be a test for student support, given the disruption of the past two years. However, striking staff fear the consequences of this strike action failing at this critical point. This failure could be far more disastrous for the future of the university sector.

Tam Withey: https://instagram.com/tam___w

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