Strike School 2 - Week 2

Here is the programme for the second week of the strike school.

It is linked from the top of the page and here, but you will need to check back frequently as this an evolving programme. If you are unsure where a particular event is taking place, you can always come to the picket in front of Chandler House before 12:00 and we will know where to go.

Please share this information widely and check back regularly for updates.

• Monday, March 09 2020: 12:30 at The Place (London School of Contemporary Dance, 17 Duke's Road, WC1H 9PY). Kriszta Szendrői will talk about "On the nature of pervasive change: the story of Hasidic Yiddish." (Bring your own lunch.) The slides are here.
• Tuesday, March 10 2020: 12:30 at The Place (London School of Contemporary Dance, 17 Duke's Road, WC1H 9PY). Tim Pritchard will give us some insights into "Telling the truth to deceive."  (Bring your own lunch.) 
• Wednesday, March 11 2020: 12:30 upstairs at the Lamb. John Harris will talk about "Roots and routes: the linguistic legacy of colonialism in Atlantic contact Englishes."
• Thursday, March 12 2020:  12:30 upstairs at the Lamb. Tommy Liu will present on "Language laws: Why the restaurant name 'KFC' and the 'Stop' sign are illegal in Quebec."
• Friday, March 13 2020: Our Future Not For Sale: March for education and the earth. Assemble from 12 at Malet Street. March on Parliament at 1.

Here is the pretty flier! 

Strike School 2 - Week 1

We now have something like a programme for the first week of the strike school.

It is linked from the top of the page and here, but you will need to check back frequently as this an evolving programme. As you can see, we still don't know what will happen on Wednesday or where most of the events of the week will take place. You can always come to the picket in front of Chandler House before 12:00 and we will know where to go.

Please share this information widely and check back regularly for updates.

• Monday, March 02 2020: 12:30 upstairs at the Lamb.  Richard Breheny will give a talk on Pragmatics and Political Discourse. Please bring a 3G/4G enabled device since we will most likely not be able to project slides and you will have to view them on your own device. 
• Tuesday, March 03 2020: 12:30 upstairs at the Lamb. Andrea Santi will talk about "Gender Proportions Across Academic Levels (Leaky Pipeline): Consequences and What Can be Done?"  
• Thursday, March 05 2020: 12:30 at The Place (London School of Contemporary Dance, 17 Duke's Road, WC1H 9PY) Hans van de Koot will give a talk called "(Mind) the copula gap: Or why Black English Vernacular is as ‘normal’ as the next language" Please bring your own lunch to this event, as you won't be able to buy food or drink at the venue. 

The university we want to work at

One thing we've been struck by over the last week is just how much fun we're having on the picket line. Sure, it's cold and wet. Yes, it's difficult when students (and occasionally staff) walk by without acknowledging us. But for the last week we have experienced the kind of university we want to work at.

We've spent our week engaging with students one-on-one, hearing about their personal experiences, their interests, their plans for the future. We've had hours to chat with colleagues about something other than how stressed and busy we all are. We've taught at our Strike School, not because we have to but because we're genuinely passionate about our research and we enjoy sharing that passion with others. What's more, we haven't had to worry about the endless admin that's now associated with teaching - taking registers on behalf of the UKBA, preparing assessments over a year in advance, worrying about how our teaching evaluations will affect future job applications... We've been listening to colleagues give talks on subjects that they're equally passionate about, and listening to our students discuss these topics intelligently and with genuine academic curiosity. We've forged new bonds with colleagues and students across the university, and experienced true collegiality, support and solidarity with the whole academic community.

This is why we decided to go into academia! So thank you all for helping to create this unique space, this vision of what universities should be, if only for these eight days. With your support, we're hoping to turn the tides of commercialisation in academia. Keep supporting the strike, keep emailing the Provost, and help make real progress in our fight for change.

Students and staff enjoy Lily Kahn's talk on the Linguistic Landscape of Greenlandic

Week 2 of Strike School

We are pleased to announce the schedule for Week 2 of Strike School. We had fantastic turn-out last week, and heard some very interesting talks covering the theme of Language and Oppression from a number of angles. This week looks just as exciting, with two talks and a joint trip to the British Museum. All events start at 12:30. We look forward to seeing you there!

• Monday: 12:30 pm in the basement of the Harrison, Lily Kahn will present a talk on The Linguistic Landscape of Greenlandic.
• Tuesday: 12:30 pm in the basement of the Harrison, Sonya Yampolskaya will present a talk on The Suppression of Hebrew in the USSR.
• Wednesday: 12:30 pm, meet outside the Montague Place entrance to the British Museum for an LGBTQ object trail. The trail will take about an hour to complete and will be followed by discussion in the cafe.

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!

Teach-outs aplenty

We are happy to announce that the schedule for Week 1 of our Strike School is now available on the Strike School page.

But what do you do if you've got an itch for learning that the Strike School won't scratch? Fear not, our colleagues at the Institute of Education over on Bedford Way have a full programme of morning activities you can attend in addition to the Chandler House Strike School!

Not only that, but you can follow @UCL_UCU on Twitter as they report on all teach-outs around the university.

PICKET LINE TEACH- OUTS AND ACTIVITIES

More actions and events will be added so do please come along and support the strike

ALL WELCOME! –

20 Bedford Way (CONCOURSE)

Monday 25th November

10:00 Pensions, neoliberalism and the future of the university

John Yandell (IOE)

10:30 Chilean Protests 2019: "It's not 30 pesos it's 30 years".

Felipe Acuña and the Chilean students’ society

11.00 Transformations in South African Universities; Lessons for our Strike

Elaine Unterhalter (IOE)

Tuesday 26th November

10:00 Dogs Against neo-liberalism (back by popular demand)

Morris (with Adam Unwin)

10.30 Temporalities of education and why we all need to slow down

Cathy Elliott, UCL

11:00 Education and Social Conflict in Hong Kong

Bob Adamson (The Education University of Hong Kong)

Wednesday 27th November

10:00-12.00 Intergenerational solidarity - Protest songs from three generations

Rebecca O’Connell (IOE)

Retired members and students are especially welcome to join the picket on the IOE concourse from 10am-12pm on Weds 27 November to demonstrate and celebrate intergenerational solidarity through collectively singing protest songs from three generations. Song book and backing track provided.

10.30 Intergenerational Solidarity and Intergenerational Justice

Judith Suissa (IOE)

Thursday 28th November

10.00 Insecurity, Precarious Employment and Casualisation

Bella Malins (UCL UCU anti-casualisation officer)

11:00 What can we learn about global education from historical and global policy studies of the OECD?

Christian Ydesen (Aalborg University, Denmark)

Friday 29th November

#ClimateStrike: Planet, Pay and Pensions - March and Rally

Come and join us on the concourse for banner and placard making

Monday 2nd December

10:00 Pay and Pay-Gaps in Universities

Alex Bryson (IOE)

11.00 Students and Global Protest Movements

Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou (IOE)

Tuesday 3rd December

10.00 Forum Theatre

Theo Bryer (IOE), Chris Routh (IOE) and others t.b.c

11.00 Marx walking tour - details to follow

Sandy Leaton Gray (IOE) Mary Richardson (IOE) and Arthur Chapman (IOE)

Come and join us for the anti-Trump demo and activities in support of migrants and refugees

Wednesday 4th December

10.00 Poetry (and other) Readings

Do you have a favourite poem or piece of literature related to our strike themes? Come and share it!


Solidarity with outsourced workers – support the IWGB strike