'We really want to just be teaching': why lecturers went on strike, in their words
A.J. Camacho
A picket line formed in front of the Lanyon Building through the first three days of December as lecturers and support staff went on strike through the University and College Union (UCU).
Faculty at Queen’s, accompanied by many students and other staff, were protesting for a variety of grievances, including shortage of staff, increased employment insecurity and pension pay. Some Ulster University staff went on strike too.
Professors contended their actions and the subsequent halting of teaching was regrettably necessary. HAPP lecturer in European Politics Viviane Gravey said the strike “isn’t something we want. We really want to just be teaching and to have decent working conditions”.
“We still have so many issues around gender pay gap, disability pay gap, racial pay gap,” said Dr Gravey. “And of course now we have these massive cuts to our pensions.”
On Friday, the relatively small area where the picket line stood was densely packed. At times, people sang, enjoyed cookies and coffee that students and staff alike brought, or competed for a bottle of champagne by guessing how many shirts a professor was wearing (it was 24).
Teachers previously went on strike for eight days in the autumn of 2019 and two weeks in February 2020
Queen’s came under fire in May 2017 when a Higher Education Statistics Agency report found female professors earned only 85p for every £1 their male counterparts earned. And a Times Higher Education analysis found that Queen’s’ 15 per cent gender pay gap was worse than any of the 23 other Russell Group universities.
QUB has in the past acknowledged the gender pay gap, but argued that it is closing, and that outside factors like the field of teaching contribute. That’s from a 2020 report, which also found staff from minority ethnic backgrounds earned more than those from white backgrounds and concluded “no significant basic or total salary disability equal pay gaps”.
The UCU has claimed university staff were being asked to accept cuts of up to 35 per cent to their pensions on top of real-terms declines in pay.
Rebecca Bamford, a senior lecturer in philosophy in the School of HAPP, compared the current situation with her recent experience teaching in America. “It’s a problem everywhere,” Dr Bamford said, “Here, because it’s a more unified system, it is actually possible that things could change and that we can change policy.”
Teachers previously went on strike for eight days in the autumn of 2019 and two weeks in February 2020.
When considering whether Students’ Union should support the strike, many opponents argued students were too exhausted after over a year of remote learning and wanted to keep classes going. Despite the criticism, students voted in a referendum overwhelmingly to support the strike and turned to the picket line at high rates.
Dr Gravey, who had participated in four strikes since 2016, was “really surprised” by the student turnout and appreciative of the biscuits and cookies they brought. “We’ve never seen that many students on the picket,” she said.
Faculty have gone on strike before and seen little-to-none of their demands met. This time around, expectations remain low. Dr Bamford said she hoped the strikes would move vice chancellors across the UK to meet and negotiate in earnest. “But until that happens, it’s difficult to see much of a way forward.”
Dr Gravey concurred, adding: “Currently, vice chancellors are trying to gaslight us into thinking everything’s fine and, if it’s not, it’s because staff have to make more efforts.”
But to the people on the picket last Friday, it was about making an effort for themselves and their colleagues. “It’s about the kind of university we want,” Dr Gravey said.
A.J. Camacho is a reporter for The Scoop and an international student at Queen’s University Belfast