Queen's University Staff and Students Join National Strike Action
Flavia Gouveia
Staff and students at Queen’s University Belfast joined national strike action this week. Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities across the UK are taking part in strike action over cuts to pay, working conditions and pensions.
Speaking at the picket line outside the iconic Queen’s University gates, the president of the UCU branch at Queen’s, Professor Sean O’Connell, said “we are here as a last resort, we have tried everything else”. He added, “our salaries are down 25 per cent since 2008 and our pensions were cut this year by 35 per cent”.
Politics student, James Murphy, who was at the picket line said “we are out here supporting our lecturers and teaching staff because at the end of the day they are the ones providing our education not [university] management”. James added, “they are striking for all of us, to bring us the best education they possibly can”.
James urged students attending lectures during strike days “not to cross the picket line and do not use any university facilities. Show support for your teaching staff and lecturers, because they are who matter most to us on campus.”
“A lot of us PhD students are also teaching assistants, and we have joined the UCU because we care about the university, about our students, about the future of the industry. We want there to be jobs here for us when we finish training.”
PhD student Ciara McAllister, who was at the picket line on Wednesday, spoke of how working conditions are affecting casualised teaching staff. She said “a lot of us PhD students are also teaching assistants, and we have joined the UCU because we care about the university, about our students, about the future of the industry. We want there to be jobs here for us when we finish training.”
“So many of us are paying to get this qualification, and are paying fees to the university because we want to be an academic. We are training for three or four years to go into a profession that is crumbling. We see it, we see it as students and we see it as staff, how the marketisation of education is destroying morale and destroying jobs and destroying education.”
Disputes over pay and working conditions at universities across the UK have been ongoing for five years, with strike action taking place every year since 2018. Speaking about this ongoing strike action Ciara said,, “this strike is really important and it is different”. She added, “we now have 150 universities in the UK going on strike and we know that sends a really really clear message, that individual Vice-Chancellors won’t be able to turn a blind eye to all of us”.
Asked why students should support the strikes, Ciara added, “students understand that our working conditions are their learning conditions”. She added, “the university is the people working in it, it’s the students and the staff.”
“Staff teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions, and we must fight together for a fairer, healthier education system for everyone who works and studies.”
Speaking about the strikes, NUS-USI President Chloe Ferguson, said "staff teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions, and we must fight together for a fairer, healthier education system for everyone who works and studies”.
“The struggles we face as students are inextricably linked to the reasons that staff are striking. High rents, astronomical international student fees, and cuts to maintenance support have happened for the same reasons that staff are suffering under huge workloads - the failed marketisation of the sector which has put profit above staff and student well-being.”
Commenting on the strikes, a spokesperson for Queen’s said "We appreciate that the decision to engage in industrial action is not taken lightly and that staff do not wish to disrupt the education of our students, as they are our first priority. This is primarily a national dispute that the University cannot resolve unilaterally. Queen’s will continue to use its influence to shape and inform the national debate and remains committed to working in partnership with all trade unions at a local level. We will be taking all necessary steps to minimise the impact of industrial action on the quality of services and support provided to our students and other stakeholders."
Two days of planned strike action took place this week on November 24 and 25. A further day is planned for next Wednesday, November 30.
Flavia Gouveia is The Scoop’s Science and Environment editor and is studying for a Journalism MA at Ulster University.