next »

[ExPat in UK]

Did anyone see the Guardian story that

"Pay talks threatened after it emerged that vice-chancellors and principals enjoyed pay rises of up to 35% over the last three years, while lecturers received just 9%."

So... who is thinking about looking into becoming a vice-chancellor? *smile*

On a serious note, are folks at your institution seriously talking industrial action?

[Hell Yes]

See my name....

In the same way we took action over the framework agreement a couple of years ago, and got some movement from the employers.

Personally I do not think strikes make much difference but refusing to mark assignments tends to focus VCs' minds, especially as graduation looms.

[%sig%]

[Lucy]

Well we got our ballot papers ...

Did you see the full page ad that UCEA has taken out in the Times Higher?  I don't think they'd do that if they weren't feeling rattled.

[Lucy]

Actually I think the previous strike action did make a difference, and we should have kept it up for longer.

[expat]

I already voted yes to a strike. I'm at the beginning of my career so I feel like the outcome of this dispute is going to determine what the next 25 or 30 years of my life will be like.

However, saying that, I'm in a research position that requires that I work remotely (ie, in another institution that is not a university). I think I probably shouldn't go in in support of my colleagues (if there is a full out strike), but no one from my institution would ever know if I was in or not.

What would anyone else in my position do? Stay at home (and work of course) or go into my office and work since going into my office doesn't involve crossing or even going anywhere near a picket line?

By the way, can I just moan about the tube workers' recent demands: 35 hour work week and 52 days holiday?!? And I think they already make more money than I do. . .

[sidey]

Tube workers made WAY more money than you do.

This issue is going to be a huge one this year in the UK, and it is one of the reasons that I left UK academia.  There seems to be an impression (wishful thinking?) amongst many academics that the new fees structure will somehow allow universities to 'fix' the historical erosion of academic salaries.  This won't happen, in my opinion, as the vast bulk of the money is going to go straight into the sinkhole that is the budget deficits that most universities have endured for the past decade (at least) - a situation made worse by over-reliance upon foreign student fees, which have collapsed dramatically in recent years.

This is going to cause a huge amount of resentment and frustration amongst the academic community, many of whom spent their time telling me, as a junior lecturer struggling to survive on 24k, that things would improve dramatically after the fee increases.  I didn't believe them then (hence I fled overseas), and I still don't.  I looked at the career path, and, aside from early promotion - a rare thing in a field with plentiful good candidates such as my own - I was left thinking "wow, in five years time I'll be on 30k...."  Not appealing.

I really feel for my colleagues still in the UK (the junior ones at least), and don't envy the students who will be caught up in the coming action.

[science expat]

I have mixed feelings about this early call for industrial action. It does seem as if the employers have a valid point about the unions balloting for action extremely early. And the 20% increase is more than 1/3 of the new fees. This may be a negotiating point but it doesn't seem to me to be a particulaly smart one.

I'm not in the union and am unsure as to what I'll do in the (likely) event of industrial action. I'll probably stay home on strike days but continue my assessment as normal. Will have to see...

[Hell yes]

I _think_ the 20% is more than 1/3 of the fees because it includes the expected normal increases for public sector workers (tho could be wrong on that).

I know what you mean abt the union jumping the gun but I susepect they thought a) they needed to shock the employers from the start (given how long the framework negotiation/implementation is dragging on I can see their point) and b) they needed to be able to go directly to industrial action without missing the 'window' of 3rd student assessments (which is the biggest lever in my opinion).

[%sig%]

[Man from Man]

He say yes to strike action.

After taking my daughter to another elementary school friend birthday party in a house worth twice mine inhabited by parents younger than me.

And its funny how disproportionately many of the kids in the after-schoolday-care facility are children of faculty. Ha Ha.

[%sig%]

[Another view]

I think that what makes me angry about the pay situation is that under the terms of our contract we cannot do part time consulting work, and the application of IP is murky.