Back to reality + ASOS

After eight days of strike action, UCU members and supporters were back to work today. It was a day of mixed feelings.

 Firstly, we are still high on yesterday's joint action with IWGB, culminating in a march and rally:

(From @LionelOpenshaw)

Sometimes you just need to get your chant on!

Our hearts are also still glowing from all the support we saw from our students during the strike. You joined us at Strike School, you donated food and hot drinks to picketers, and you came to chat with us on the picket lines. We can't thank you enough!

We're also heartened that the universities are making some (barely perceptible) moves towards listening to us. They have agreed to talk about some of the issues, and we hope that these talks will be fruitful.

The bad news is that no measurable progress has been made towards ending casualisation, pay inequality, unsustainable workloads, and falling pay, and UUK seems to be moving ahead with their plans to increase our pension costs, with the likely result of putting the whole scheme at risk.

This means that our fight is not over. Now that the strike action is over, UCU are asking their members to engage in ASOS - no, not that ASOS! We mean Action Short of a Strike. A large component of ASOS is working to rule, also known as working to contract. This means following our contracts to the letter, but not undertaking any additional duties that fall outside our contracts. This might include not working for more hours than we are being paid for (the average lecturer works around 20 unpaid hours a week), not attending meetings where our attendance is voluntary, and not covering for colleagues who are absent or were on strike. UCU's guidance on what ASOS means for university staff can be found here. (It's worth pointing out that the questions discussed at that link give an indication of how vague and ill-defined many of our contracts are.)

During ASOS, we will continue to teach, research, complete marking, set assignments, and answer emails. But all of these tasks might take a bit longer, because we will only be doing them while we're being paid for them. Some universities, including UCL, have threatened to withhold 100% of pay for staff taking part in ASOS, which is a tacit acknowledgment that it is impossible for us to do our jobs to a satisfactory standard in the time we're being paid for.

It is also possible that further strike action will take place this academic year. This has not been decided on, and it very much depends on the actions of the employers in response to the issues we have raised. We will keep you updated here with any details as they emerge.

We will continue updating the blog from time to time, but less frequently than we did during the strike. If you have any issues you would like us to cover - any questions you'd like us to answer, any themes you'd like us to discuss, or any stories you'd like to share - please email them to us, or leave a comment.

See you in class!

Case study: Outsourcing (IWGB)

We asked strikers to tell us their personal experiences of the themes of the strike. Below, we share the story of one of our colleagues in IWGB, which represents the cleaners, security guards and porters at UCL. You can read about their dispute with UCL management in this post, and by using the tag 'iwgb'. UCU members stand together with our colleagues in IWGB - come to our joint rally today at 10:30 am on Gower Street!

I feel marginalised, disregarded, mistreated and unimportant

Sadly, my experiences of outsourcing at UCL are negative to say the least. I’ve been working at UCL for 5 and a half years and have never received occupational sick pay, no parental leave and receive low pay. I feel marginalised, disregarded, mistreated and unimportant by the management of this university. The fact that they can’t treat me equally with the same rights and respect as directly employed staff (and refuse to truly acknowledge my appalling working conditions) shows just how unworthy they think I am. When I’m late for a few minutes my pay is deducted, however when they have no break relief officers I’m expected to be patient. It has happened on several occasions when I was late for 2 or 3 minutes to work and they deducted from my pay at the end of the month. And it has happened several times when no break relief officer came for my lunch break and I worked a full 12-hour shift without a single break. However, I was told to understand and be patient when I complained! When my wife gave birth in late 2017, I needed to take 2 weeks off to help with the new-born and the time when I most needed money, that’s when I received my lowest pay. I was paid an amount that was really, laughable. £240 for two weeks!! Yet, despite such awful conditions, UCL, which is one of the richest universities around and a global institution continues to happily tolerate this type of treatment, to which I refer as ‘cooperate slavery.’

UCU + IWGB

Why are we posting so early today? Because we're just so excited! Today, UCU and IWGB are striking together, with the aim of ending outsourcing, casualisation and inequality at UCL. You can read more about IWGB's campaign using the tag 'iwgb' and at the IWGB website.

We're also up with the lark as a reminder of the hours that many colleagues in IWGB have to keep. Have you ever seen cleaners working at Chandler House? If not, that's because they're in before the building opens and after the building closes, and usually not when students are around. On the other hand, you probably don't see too many different faces on the front desk. That's because our front desk staff work long shifts with few breaks. UCL couldn't exist without these workers, and they're fighting to have that fact recognised.

It's also the last day of UCU's current strike action, so we're excited to get back to our normal lives tomorrow. We've had a wonderful time on the pickets (really!), but we're looking forward to getting back to doing what we love - research, teaching and supporting the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

And so, to go out with a bang, IWGB and UCU are holding a joint rally today at 10:30 am at the Gower Street entrance. Bring your drums, your placards, and your dancing shoes, and join us in calling for real change at UCL and across the country. Stand together with your lecturers, security guards, cleaners and others to ask Provost Michael Arthur to start listening. The university united will never be defeated!

ANNOUNCEMENT
Weds 4Dec - Demo: Pay, Equality, Pensions, & End Outsourcing
Meet: UCL Main Gates, Gower Street, 10.30am
March to UUK offices@UCL_UCU & @iwgbucl Both on strike: ALL OUT!

JOIN US! LET'S MAKE LAST STRIKE DAY REALLY BIG ! pic.twitter.com/OxWDqAeAtV

— UCL-UCU (@UCL_UCU) December 2, 2019

Thank you, students!

We're three days in to the strike and we are simply overwhelmed with your support.

Students across UCL are supporting striking UCU workers, as evidenced by this open letter from Laws students, this mass rally, and this interview on Sky News.

But we think Chandler House students are the best. You've been bringing us coffee and baked goods. You've come down to the picket line to have a chat with us. You've been attending our Strike School events in numbers. You've been emailing the Provost. And you've been absolute stars in choosing not to cross the picket line.

We really appreciate each show of support. It's what keeps our hearts warm on the cold, wet picket line!

And there is even more good news: your support is making a real difference. After just two days of action, UCEA (the body that represents UL universities) agreed to consult with their members regarding casualisation, pay gaps and unsustainable workloads. Unfortunately, they are still unwilling to discuss our 20% real-terms fall in pay over the last decade. There's also no word from UUK (the body governing our pension scheme) that they intend to listen to us. That just means we need to shout louder!

Momentum is growing in this dispute, and our spirits are high. There are five more days of action, including teach-outs across UCL, the march for Planet, Pay & Pensions, and a day of joint strike action with our colleagues in IWGB on the 4th of December.

We are so excited to stand together with UCL's security, portering and cleaning staff in their fight to be brought in-house. Unlike us staid UCU staff, we've been warned that IWGB members know how to party! Here they are teaching us a lesson this morning:

Solidarity with @CHonStrike!@iwgbucl cleaners have your back!

Outsourced members and UCU academic and support staff are ready to strike together on 4th December!👊✊

Join us! pic.twitter.com/pD8YpQi8jt

— UCL-End Outsourcing!✊ (@iwgbucl) November 27, 2019

Make sure you come out on the 4th to support all striking staff, and get ready to make some noise!

Finally, we know student budgets are more stretched than ever, but if you possibly can we'd like to ask you to donate to UCU's fighting fund, and (especially) to IWGB's fighting fund. Fighting funds support striking workers, including by providing them with some strike pay, as strikers would otherwise be completely without pay for the time they are on strike (and possibly while participating in action short of a strike as well).

Thank you once again for all of your support!

And we're off!

We were hoping it wouldn't come to this, but here we go. UCU at UCL and 59 other universities across the country are now officially on strike. You can read more about what this means for you, and how to support us elsewhere on the blog.

If you have to cross the picket line between now and the end of the day on Dec. 4th, make sure you give your lecturers a wave and tell them you're supporting them.

If you won't be crossing the picket line, you are welcome to join picketing staff members outside of Chandler House between 8 am and 12 pm every day. We also hope to see you at our Strike School - make sure you bring a phone or tablet with 3/4G (or a laptop with the material already downloaded), so you can access talk slides and other materials! The first talk's slides are already up.

To keep up to date with strike news and stories, check the blog regularly, keep an eye on your UCL email, and follow us on Twitter (@CHonStrike).

Two more reminders: 1) don't forget to register to vote if you're eligible - you have one day left, and 2) keep emailing UCL Provost Michael Arthur to let him know that you support striking workers.

Finally, we know it's not very British to talk about money, but if you want to donate to a good cause, you can donate to UCU's fighting fund, and/or to IWGB's fighting fund. Fighting funds support striking workers, including by providing them with some strike pay, as strikers would otherwise be completely without pay for the time they are on strike (and possibly while participating in action short of a strike as well).

News roundup: IWGB strike

With the news that IWGB workers at UCL will hold another day of strike action on the 4th of December (the last day of the current UCU strike action), we present a roundup of how the first day went. We look forward to standing together with our colleagues in security, cleaning and portering on the 4th!

The Independent (read the full article for a shocking description of Sodexo's attempt to scan their workers' fingerprints to monitor their working time - yes, this was proposed at UCL!)

iNews

The Tab

Reminder: Support our colleagues in IWGB!

A friendly reminder of the strike action taking place today by members of the IWGB at UCL, which includes security staff, cleaners, porters and Sodexo staff.

You can read more about their dispute here, and check out the Twitter page of the UCL branch for more ideas about how to support them.

A related dispute: Support our security guards, porters and cleaners!

IWGB, the union that represents UCL's security guards, porters and cleaners, is also involved in industrial action. These positions have been outsourced at UCL, which means that although these workers work on campus, they don't formally work for UCL. Many of our security guards, porters and cleaners, who are predominantly from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, work on zero hours contracts and so have very little job security and low benefits. They are campaigning for insourcing, to be treated like all other workers at UCL and to receive the same types of contracts and benefits.

IWGB at UCL intends to strike on Tuesday 19th November. You can find out more about their campaign here.