The UK’s University Strikes Are in Lockdown
Since last year, the UK has seen sustained and powerful industrial action across its higher-education sector, with the latest strike wave only interrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the crisis sure to be exploited by the Tory government, universities and colleges are more under threat than ever, and union strength has never been more vital.
Passenger on the London Underground wears a surgical mask during the coronavirus pandemic in London on March 12, 2020 in London, England.Ming Yeung / Getty
In the United Kingdom, the COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with the most sustained period of industrial action in the higher-education sector in history. Between November 2019 and March 2020, members of the University and College Union (UCU) undertook twenty-two days of strike action. They raised a comprehensive set of demands against a university model that increasingly relies on low pay, casualization, unmanageable workloads, and racial and gender discrimination, and does not guarantee security in retirement. Their set of demands are articulated around the “Four Fights” against casualization, unequal and declining pay, rising workloads, and the dispute over pensions that had already provoked a fourteen-day strike in 2018.
The strike showed the strength of our grassroots movement, and put some employers on the defensive. In the face of this strength, our employers have fought back, echoing the Tory government’s hostility to industrial action. More disappointingly, moderate forces within our own union have sought to dilute our demands. During negotiations, UCU’s general secretary, Jo Grady, sent conflicting messages to members and discussed her willingness to reach a deal. This caused concern among some members of the negotiating team, who feared that by signalling compromise, she was risking lowering the bar of our demands, and encouraging the employers to offer even less. The resulting impression was that our union desperately wanted a deal.
Missed Opportunities
As COVID-19 took root in the United Kingdom, the UCU lacked any independent initiative on how to respond in colleges and universities, a strategic lack that did our union damage. When the second part of our strike started in mid-February, COVID-19 was already an international health emergency. On March 9, at the beginning of the last full week of strike action, there were more than 300 confirmed cases in the United Kingdom. Despite activists’ concerns and the evidence from Asia on the effectiveness of social distancing, union guidelines simply invited us to follow government advice, which at the time constituted washing your hands while singing “Happy Birthday” twice.
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