The UCU, Lectures, students and academic staff came together again in front of Knights Park demanding their voices to be heard by the bosses.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the second week of strikes in February over the four fights regarding pay equality and excessive workloads.
“We want to be listened to and we want the university to come up with some compromises. This also affects students and their future and that is what we care about.
80 per cent of students are supporting us, so we see ourselves a bit on the same side,” said a lecturer who preferred to remain anonymous.
As disruptions of lessons take place once again due to the strikes, students, especially the international ones are affected the most having to deal with the high fees.
Critical and Historical Studies Senior Lecturer, Maggie Gray said: “I think all students, but international students given the obscene amount of fees they pay, should be angry about disruption to their education due to strike action.
But that anger needs to be directed at those responsible, the employers who have pushed us to this point, who decline to negotiate with us to address our long-standing concerns, who seemingly don’t care that we are sick with stress, struggling to get by, and treated unequally, and who refuse to commit to any meaningful action over these issues.”
Some part-time lecturers had to still come into class, like Journalism lecturer Maria Ahmed, who said that due to her being part-time she would not be able to miss the few lectures she has, but she supports the cause of the UCU.
The UCU started striking for the four fights in 2019, with some negotiations happening in 2020 with the UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association) but for the union there was still distance from satisfying staff demands.
“The situation has been getting worse every year to the point where it is completely unsustainable.
The future of UK higher education is under threat,” said Maggie Gray.
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