We are now preparing for the first wave of strike days in this academic year. Next week we will be on strike on the 24-25th and the 30th of November.

We know there are mixed feelings about the calling of a few days of strikes towards the end of this term. Many of us think that only sustained strike action and a marking boycott will give us the leverage we need to win this dispute. The current situation is better than what the leadership of the UCU tried to get through: halting the action to rebuild, while the employers continue their offensive. Three days of strikes alone are not going to bring the university grinding to a halt. However, it does provide us, as rank-and-file members, the opportunity to rebuild the networks within and between branches that we will need in this dispute.

As part of this, we are relaunching The University Worker as a bulletin to share updates about how the strike is going, as well as a place for debates about the strategy going forward. We will publish an issue for each strike day.

We also want to invite submissions (on the form below) in advance of the strikes for members to share what plans they have - as well as what they would want to do. This form can also be used to report on the strike days as they happen.

One idea that we have is to try and take leverage seriously this time. As well as picketing, we want to find other ways to collectively put pressure on the decision makers in this dispute. Alistair Jarvis is the pro vice chancellor of the University of London and the chair of UUK. He has been a senior manager at UUK since 2013 - almost the length of this dispute. He lives and works in London, making him a key decision maker that we can pressure during the strikes. Do you have any ideas of how we could do this? Or other tactics for escalation? Let us know below!
Please share your ideas and join the WhatsApp announcement group for The University Worker by scanning the QR code below or clicking here:

Please complete the form below (or share the direct link here: https://airtable.com/shrMN70sXRvU6XNq1)