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Canterbury University Lecturers On Strike Again Today

1: Canterbury Christ Church lecturers’ picketing the front gates of Old Sessions House today. 2. captioned: Roses are red, violets are blue UCEA “we can’t!” We say “we’re due.” 3: Dennis Nigbur captioned: “We love our jobs. Now show us some love with fairer work, fairer pay, and fairer pensions.” UCU Twitter.

Canterbury Christ Church University lecturers were out on strike in full force again today, in dispute over working conditions, cuts in pay, and loss of pensions.

At the beginning of February, they joined hundreds of thousands of workers across the country in a day of industrial action that involved train drivers, civil servants, bus drivers, the NHS, schools, and up to 150 universities, in the biggest strike to hit the UK in over a decade. 

Canterbury University lecturers join a national day of industrial strike action, February 1 2023

Professor Rama Thirunamachandran, Vice-Chancellor, and Principal of Christ Church said that while he “respects colleagues’ right” to strike, the employer’s trade union UCEA had made a “strong offer” with a scaled pay increase.

“I recognize that colleagues will not wish to unduly impact on the student experience or on their fellow peers,” he said. “However, this latest industrial action is of significant concern, especially given the strong offer made.” 

The University and College Union (UCU) tweeted in January that the average pay packet for Vice Chancellors has risen to ‘£315,000, 7.7x more than the average member of staff.’  

In contrast, lecturers presently earn from £26,090 to £39,347, according to the UCU, with many having to reapply for their jobs every year. 

Picketing the front gates of Canterbury Christ Church University, Dennis Nigbur a senior psychology lecturer from Sturry, said: “We are striking for better working conditions, for a fair pay offer that makes up for the cost-of-living crisis and inflation.”  

He said pensions had been cut drastically, with university staff increasingly on insecure temporary contracts. “If our working conditions are good, student learning conditions are good.” 

Canterbury Christ Church Lecturers’ picketing the front gates of the university. Far-right, Dennis Nigbur, middle, Amanda Diserholt. Image JP.

Amanda Diserholt, a research lecturer that relocated from Sweden, said: “Everyone is going through the cost-of-living crisis, and pay adjustments have been below inflation for over a decade, with insane workloads.” 

The University and College Union (UCU) said lecturers stand to lose 35% of their guaranteed retirement fund, and those just starting will lose more. 

UCU General Secretary, Jo Grady, said that university Vice-Chancellors could use the sector’s “vast wealth of £44 bn in reserves, and £42 bn in yearly income,” to settle the dispute rather than force staff back to the picket line. 

UCU has confirmed it will re-ballot 70,000 members to allow industrial action to continue.  

Rejecting the 5% pay award, the UCU said, it is “not enough,” and urged the vice-chancellors to “come out of hiding.”  

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said:

“Staff are striking because they are sick of being denied a decent pay rise, secure employment, and proper pensions. And students are standing with us because they know that staff working conditions are their learning conditions.”

UCU’s higher education committee (HEC), voted mid-January on a re-ballot as the last ballot taken in October 2022 has a legal mandate of just six months for industrial action, which ends on Friday 21 April 2023.

The re-ballot closes on 31 March to continue the strikes and will contain two ballot papers for the ‘pay and working conditions dispute,’ and for the ‘USS pensions dispute,’ or for both.

The ballot will ask two questions:

  1. Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of strike action?
  2. Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of action short of strike action (which for this purpose is defined to include overtime and call-out bans)?

UCU Summary

  • 146 institutions are being balloted in total
  • 139 out of 146 are being balloted for the pay and working conditions dispute
  • 65 out of 146 are being balloted for the USS pensions dispute (for the most part, these are the so-called ‘pre-92 universities’)
  • 60 out of 146 are being balloted for both the pay and working conditions dispute and the USS pensions dispute.

Results of the #ucuRISING ballots over USS, and pay & conditions which closed at 5pm on 21 October 2022

  • Are you prepared to strike 81.14% Pay and Conditions (En)
  • Ban on call out and overtime 88.75% Pay and Conditions (En)
  • USS Pensions 84.88% prepared to strike (En)
  • USS Pensions 90.14% ban on call out and overtime (En)

The UCU is looking for a ‘meaningful’ pay rise, rejecting the initial offer of 3% and the latest 5% which they say is below inflation. Their demand is for a raise which reflects the cost of living crisis, the end of insecure contracts, cuts to pensions, and a restoration of benefits.

A student interviewed on how COVID-19 and strikes have impacted

Vice-Chancellor Thirunamachandran said: “Our students have suffered much prior to arriving and throughout their time at university due to covid, as well as being impacted by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.”

He went on to say that the university is committed to continuing normal operations, and will continue to ensure that they will meet all “contractual, professional and moral commitments” to “our students and stakeholders.”

16 further strikes are planned across February and March, affecting 2.5 million students. 

The next strike days are:

  • 15 and 16 February
  • 21, 22 and 23 February
  • 27 and 28 February
  • 1 and 2 March
  • 16 and 17 March
  • 20, 21 and 22 March

Everyone here seems to have some weird secret or other” – Iris Murdoch


By JP

@creatingpages

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