UCU Strikes: students and lecturers must work together to demand better from our Universities
Joshua Murray
There has been much dismay expressed over the recent decision by the Ulster University Students’ Union to oppose the right of our lecturers to go on strike.
Among the student population, this is an understandable sentiment. We have lost close to 18 months of teaching due to the pandemic, and the strikes in late 2019.
Students, however, need to follow the lead of our lecturers and campaign with them for our own justice. Our lecturers have legitimate reasons to go on strike; namely a vast reduction in their pensions, and a 20% in real terms cut to their pay since 2009.
We have lived through a pandemic where our placement heroes haven’t been properly paid, been forced to pay tuition fees in spite of next to no face-to-face classes, and many students have spent time locked down in their accommodation with no chance to leave.
The answer here is for a united strike where our students’ unions work together with UCU to fight for a just set of joint demands for both students and staff alike.
Imagine the message this form of joint action would send to the multi-million-pound institutions at Queen’s and Ulster.
They survive on the backs of our payments and actions: it’s time for them to give something back to the people who keep them in business, whether they’re students or staff.
This needs to be done democratically, through student referendums at both Queen’s and Ulster.
Give no space to the establishment to quell the legitimacy of this kind of action. The Students’ Unions need to sell this to the students they represent.
Don’t simply support or oppose our lecturers, work with them as a united force and send an even stronger message to these universities and our government.
Joshua Murray is an MA Journalism student at Ulster University