I hope you are keeping well and having an enjoyable Semester 2. I am getting in touch to follow up on a previous message to you concerning Industrial Action. It now seems that the planned national strike will go ahead from Monday 14th, and I wanted to explain a bit about what that will look like and what we are doing to help and support.
Some of us will have seen Industrial Action before, but not everyone, so here is the broad outline of what is likely to happen.
So what’s happening?
You can find out about the context of the industrial action here: https://www.ucu.org.uk/hedisputes and here: https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/22jan18/ . Essentially there are two elements to the current national dispute, one around staff pensions and one around the ‘Four Fights’ (workloads, pay, security and equality). Members of UCU, the University and Colleges Union, are undertaking strike action for 10 days:
- from Monday 14th February to Tuesday 22nd February inclusive;
- from Monday 28th February to Wednesday 2nd March inclusive.
Lecturers may also be participating in Action Short of a Strike, which includes working to contracted hours.
Under current legislation, lecturers who intend to strike are not obliged to indicate this in advance of taking action, so this makes it impossible to say which classes will be disrupted and which won’t.
Some lecturers may inform students in advance, however, and you can ask individual lecturers about classes due to take place on those days. Please note, however, that colleagues taking Industrial Action are not legally obliged to state their position, and some may not yet have reached a decision about participation in the strike. They may also decide to take action on some but not all of the strike days.
What does a strike look like ?
1. Possible disruption to teaching: if a lecturer is on strike, it means they will not be teaching, running office hours or answering emails on the days they are striking. Some will let you know in advance but others might not. If you are not sure, please do come to your timetabled classes and swipe in as normal. Please do not worry that your attendance record will be negatively affected by the strike as any cancelled sessions will be recorded as approved absences.
2. The picket line: members have arranged a picket line which will run from 8am to 11am each morning of the strike action. This is where members congregate in person to make their views known. Please be reassured that as students you are of course expected to and welcome to cross the picket lines and that there will be no attempt to obstruct you or put you under pressure in any way.
What are we doing to help?
We’d like to thank your student reps for their time and input so we can understand what we can best do to support you all at this time. The student rep contact details can be also found on the Fine Art Community Board.
Updates/ Drop-in Sessions:
We will be keeping you up to date on a regular basis to make sure you know what is happening.
Please join us to an extended Breakfast Club, Wed 16 Feb, 9-11 AM, Fine Art Café.
For regular updates and events please check also the Fine Art Community Board .
There is also a form which the University has provided for general questions too: https://forms.ncl.ac.uk/view.php?id=1311805 .
And it is worth keeping an eye on: https://enquire.ncl.ac.uk/en/academic-support-for-current-students#industrial-action-2022 . Please also remember that if you would like to access well-being support at this time, we have a fantastic dedicated SACS Well-Being Officer, Katie Corps, as well as additional well-being workshops and Student Progress Drop-in Sessions. Please see here for more details and links to book into central sessions: Industrial Action – Student Services – Newcastle University (ncl.ac.uk).
Christian (Christian.Mieves@newcastle.ac.uk)