News
Support for UCU strike
On Tuesday 22nd March and Thursday 24th March UCU, the University & Colleges Union who represents lecturers is set to strike at UEA.
Unions do not take strike action without good reason and in this case they are doing so as part of a national strike to defend the incomes and pensions of university staff. This helps to ensure the most qualified people are attracted to work at UEA and other universities.
As a democratic organisation the Union of UEA Students has policy which supports any actions taken by staff unions in the defense of educational standards. Therefore the Union of UEA Students supports the UEA staff in their efforts to protect their livelihoods and professional rewards. For full details of polices the Union has please visit ueastudent.com
To this end the Union will be joining the UCU picket line and encourages any student who believes in higher education to join their lecturers in solidarity either through joining the picket line or by not crossing it.
The Union wants to clarify that UCU represents staff who are involved the learning & teaching at UEA. This strike is designed to stop all of these activities for the days it is in action. Any engagement with learning and teaching of the University will be considered crossing the picket line.
The Union is currently speaking with the University regarding whether or not students will be punished for not engaging with learning and teaching over this period of strike action.
If you've got any questions on this issue, please don't hesitate to contact Tom Dolton, Communications Officer, on [email protected].
******* UPDATE ********
The University recently told the Union the following...
"The University will not take special steps to mitigate any detrimental impact on students who choose not to cross picket lines. We will expect students to adhere to any assessment deadlines and where the teaching events are taking place as normal, we would urge that students participate in them. If students are disadvantaged directly by the absence of striking staff we will do our best to mitigate any adverse consequences for their studies."
The Union wants to make it clear that handing in of coursework is not a breach of the strike, since this will not be involving any of the learning and teaching staff. However, the Union will seek to support any students who do not cross the picket line and will continue to speak to the University to alter their stance on this issue.