Edinburgh University strikes: speaking to staff on the picket lines

Members of the University and College Union Edinburgh (UCU) are taking part in three days of strike action from the 17th to 19th of November.

These strike days follow six previous days of strike action which took place in June and September of this year.

A strikes are taking place each morning from 9am-12pm, with students, members of staff and the public being encouraged to “turn up and introduce” themselves, joining the union to “make this strike as visible and powerful as possible.”

There are twelve picket lines across campus including outside the Main Library, Old College and King’s buildings.

A rally will be held outside Scottish Parliament on Wednesday (19th of November) from 1pm until 2pm.

One member of staff who was picketing outside the main libary told The Tab Edinburgh: “Come down on Wednesday to show support for your colleagues and university staff.”

The staff picketing on campus have been handing out leaflets which read: “Senior management at Edinburgh University plan devastating cuts.

“Edinburgh’s senior management is pushing ahead with £140 million in cuts – the biggest ever made by a Scottish university – despite not being in deficit and holding over £3 billion in reserves.

“Staff numbers have already been dramatically reduced and management refused to rule out mass redundancies. Staff are on strike because we care about the quality of students’ education and support systems, which are at risk from proposed cuts.”

The leaflet also says: “Management’s cuts would mean:

• Up to 1,800 staff could lose their jobs.
• Courses and degree programmes will close.
• Students will face larger class sizes and fewer contact hours, and will also have significantly reduced access to readily available vital support services, including accomodation, finance or mental health support.

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• Staff on casualised contracts, such as tutors and demonstrators, and in professional services – i.e. course administrators, library and IT – have already lost their jobs and livelihoods, with remaining colleagues facing unsustainable workloads.”

It went on to read: “Industrial action is always a last resort. This action is still entirely avoidable, should management choose to engage.

“UCU Edinburgh has offered repeatedly to enter negotiation, yet management has consistently refused to do so. Nonetheless, we continue to hope they will work with us to end this unnecessary dispute as soon as possible, protecting our jobs and your student experience and services.”

The Tab Edinburgh spoke to some members of the UCU striking outside the Main Library this morning. One staff member, who works for the EFI (Edinburgh Futures Institute) said:

“We know there is no deficit. People who have worked for the university for a long time feel underappreciated. Threats of involuntary redundancies make us worry and feel unsafe in our positions.

“The restructuring and threatened closures of departments like the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) makes us worry. It doesn’t make our workload any less, we still have the same amount of work to do and fewer staff members to do it.

“We are worried about other potential infrastructural changes and secrets being kept by the university. Many things the university is doing are not being passed on to staff or students.

“As soon as they [the university] say they are restructuring, people will leave out of fear and take their redundancy package. It is forcing people out and resulting in more pressure being put on remaining staff.”

The UCU Edinburgh has also confirmed that “future action could also see a marking and assessment boycott which would see members refuse to take part in marking and assessment duties, including work such as exam invigilation and the processing of marks, and would be an escalation of this dispute.”

Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, told The Tab Edinburgh: “We respect colleagues’ right to take part in industrial action and will do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum.

“Taking decisive action now is the responsible approach to prevent far greater challenges in the future.

“Engaging openly and listening to our community remains our priority. We are regularly sharing updates on how we are identifying ways to reduce outgoings to sustainable levels, while continuing to deliver world-leading research and exceptional teaching.

“We have been transparent about the savings needed to secure our financial footing. These challenges are not unique to Edinburgh as institutions across the country are facing similar pressures.”