In the simplest terms, a
strike is when a group of workers refuse to work. This usually happens because the workers are unhappy with some aspect of their job: pay, working conditions, concerns about safety, etc., and the problem can't be resolved by negotiating with their employer. Strikes can be very local, or very large - a general strike, for instance, happens when workers in a whole city or even country refuse to work. Strikes are a way of pressuring employers to listen to their employees' grievances and to negotiate with them.
Many of the employment rights we enjoy today have come about because of strike action. The legal requirement to pay men and women equally for the same work, the eight-hour work day, and increases in wages have all been direct results of strikes. You can read more about some of these campaigns on the
Independent and at
Striking Women.
Trade unions are bodies that represent workers in a given field or at a particular employer. Most staff at UCL are represented by one of four unions: the University and College Union (
UCU), which represents academic staff and librarians - this is the union whose strike action we are concentrating on;
Unison, which represents administrative staff and other public service workers;
Unite, which represents technical staff; and the
IWGB which represents security guards, cleaners, porters and Sodexo workers (these workers are not technically employed by UCL, and are engaged in their own industrial action to change that situation). Additionally, students at UCL are represented both by the National Union of Students (
NUS) and the
Students' Union, UCL.
Unions represent the interests of their members, which will vary from union to union and from workplace to workplace. For instance, the Students' Union, UCL recently organised a very successful
rent strike, where they pushed for better living conditions and increases to rent bursaries, among other grievances. IWGB workers at UCL are currently pushing to be 'insourced', or made formal employees of UCL, in order to improve benefits like sick leave, parental leave and pensions. UCU members at UCL, which includes many of your lecturers and library staff, are striking over five main issues: detrimental changes to their pensions, increased casualisation, falling pay, the gender and ethnicity gap and unsafe workloads.
Strikes can take many forms, including work-to-rule (where workers work to the letter of their contracts), sit-down strikes (where workers occupy their place of work without actually working), and walk-outs (where workers walk out of their place of work and refuse to return). More information can be found on
Wikipedia.
This strike will involve both a picket line and, later, work-to-rule. A
picket line is a form of protest where striking workers gather outside of their place of work, often holding signs and chanting or singing songs. This form of protest raises awareness of the dispute outside of the place of work. A picket line is also a symbolic barrier, which can serve to discourage other people from entering the place of work ('crossing the picket line'). One way to support striking workers is to refuse to cross their picket line. UCU members intend to picket all UCL entrances during the strike. They won't prevent you from entering if you choose to do so, but they will appreciate your support in choosing not to cross the picket line.
