Students dismayed as further strikes affect contact hours

Students express anger as more strikes set for this term

Heslington Hall, University of York

University of York, UK: Strike action planned for this month has angered students who will miss contact hours, yet again.

Members of the University and College Union are set to strike on January 23rd from 11.00am until 13.00pm, then on January 28th from 14.00pm until 16.00pm and lastly on February 10th from 09.00am to 11.00am.

The strike is in response to the 1% pay rise that has been offered to university staff with unions claiming that pay has dropped, in real terms, by 13% in the last five years.

Sophie Gadd, a third year History and Politics student, tweeted; “I feel against it cos [sic] I’ll be missing a weeks worth of seminars” and “maybe I should claim my £100 back for the missed hours?”.

James Pascoe, a second year History student, commented; “I am having two 2-hour seminars cancelled due to the strikes, and I’ve now missed 6 contact hours due to this. Considering I only get 6 hours a week on my history course, I think it’s quite bad.”

However, David Duncan, the University Registrar, emphasised that the “disruption will be minimal” and said;

“Our main concern is the interests of students and other stakeholders.  With this in mind, our position remains that all sides should return to the negotiating table and try to reach an agreement.  However, it seems highly unlikely that the Employers’ Association will move from its current offer.”

“In the meantime, this University has made a unilateral decision to raise salaries of the lowest paid staff by more than the national pay offer, and to back-date this to August 2013.”

“Locally, we have faced very little disruption – about 5% of staff supported the first day fof industrial action, and about 3% the second day.  We expect the support for the proposed two-hour stoppages will be even lower and that disruption will be minimal.”

Some students support the strikes, with the Socialist Society and allies standing with the staff at the picket lines during the strikes last term. The University of York Green Party’s Press and Publicity officer, Josiah Mortimer, was one such person and commented;

“Lecturers are absolutely right to take action again in the face of management refusing to budge. They’ve faced years of real-terms pay cuts, increased job insecurity and attacks on conditions. Students need to get behind them, join the picket lines on the day and realise that only by sticking together can we tackle the broader attacks to education that are being imposed.”

If progress is not made, the Union has threatened to urge its members to boycott exam marking.