Pickets outside Law & Politics

Referring to Wednesday as “hump day” is a fairly modern tradition in American English. The term represents the idea that a week can be visualized as a mound or hill that a person climbs, with Wednesday typically being the middle or peak of the week. more… [external link]

Wednesday in the US and Canada¹ is traditionally known in 9-5 office parlance as ‘hump day’. This is our only full week of striking in this set of actions, and now we’re over the hump. We felt what was, for many, confusion and despair on Monday night, followed by the collective resolve of Tuesday morning and the sunny, buoyant high of our political lobby. Continue reading →

Today was an important day – probably the most crucial day of our strike action so far. As probably all of you know, UCU and UUK reached a proposed agreement that went out yesterday evening. Response on Twitter was strong and consistent, but many of us were worried and confused. Was this really the deal we took such unprecedented action over? And what were the implications for us, our students, our employers, and the public by rejecting such a deal? Continue reading →

Welcome back for a full five days of picketing. What can we say? We’re sad to be out here but glad to be out with so many great people, fighting to protect the university we want and the values that it stands for. We were really heartened to hear at today’s mid-morning rally that Physics has grown from a picket of one to a gathering of 16 outside. JOMEC reports two new UCU members on the line today plus four members making their debut at a picket. Staff have not been scared away by the length of this strike and its costliness; in fact, it has demonstrated our commitment and inspired numbers to grow.

“Backbeat, the word is on the street that the USS numbers are wrong…”

Today’s rally was also a chance to show our creativity. Various members have been adapting song lyrics to suit our purposes, and we’re happy to showcase that talent. Nicky Priaulx and Steve Davies gave their treatment to “Wonderwall”, and as an added bonus, they came to the rally prepared with photocopies, so everyone can join in. Carina Girvan from SocSci gave us a version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, penning a plaintive tune to Colin to keep his hands off our pensions. And Michael Munnik somehow managed to play a disco classic on the ukulele, getting the crowd to sing out that “It’s like thunder, lightning – the way you treat us is frightening!” Plenty of messages to those making the decisions that are keeping us out on the street.

“I’m beggin’ of you, please don’t take our pension…”

Following the rally, many staff and students met in the Bingo Hall at Cathays Community Centre for an open meeting – a chance to check in with each other, update on where we are and what strategies we need to win this struggle. We have plans for further engagement with students, asking each other for concrete ways to reach out and also dealing with the clashes that may come for many of us when we’re asked to reschedule work we’ve missed on strike days. This will be a challenge for many in the next few weeks, so keep in touch with each other and with UCU reps: we’re here to support each other when things get difficult! We also took the opportunity to update members on our joint statement from last week with the Vice-Chancellor and reiterate our campaign goals. Here’s what we still want, to ensure best protection for staff and for students. (Full statement is here.)

Teach-outs took place at Cathays Methodist Church, on the theme of Crime and Justice. This included a look at the fascinating work of the Cardiff University Innocence Project (you can find out more about their work in this great, slightly dated article in the Guardian).

“It’s no secret about it – we’re experts at this stuff, so see to it that we retire with enough…”

Tomorrow is a great opportunity to present our case to the political powers here in Wales. We’ve organised a lobby at the Senedd at noon. Cardiff UCU has laid out for a coach to take some of us down to the Bay after the rally at Main Building. Hop on or make your own way down. We want a good, strong showing, and you can meet your AM and talk with them directly about why this is important. We’ve gotten great support already from politicians, but this takes things up a notch.

Our main aim is to build on that impressive political support and encourage the Welsh Labour government to intervene with Universities UK and back the UCU’s objective: to keep our direct benefit pensions. If you haven’t already told us you’re coming, sign up here. If interest is high, we can put on a second coach, so click now and join us at the Senedd tomorrow. Don’t worry about limits on who can come into the building – it’s also really important that we get a contingent outside, bringing our usual energetic rally to a very public and powerful place. AMs will come out to address us, and we’re getting a strong indication that a contingent will be able to meet directly with the Education Minister to discuss our case.

We will be back in central Cardiff in time for the teach-outs, again at Cathays Methodist Church. Tomorrow’s theme is everybody’s favourite – neoliberalism! If you aren’t getting enough active political chat, here’s your chance for some good discussion.

Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team

Well, folks, we’ve come to the end of Week Three. We wish we didn’t have to be out here still, and we hope for goodness at the national level in talks between UCU and UUK. Locally, though, we’ve seen a lot of progress with a joint statement released today between our local UCU strike committee and university management. In it, “the Vice-Chancellor and Cardiff UCU have agreed to call on both UCU and UUK to work with USS to challenge the Pension Regulator to accept an academically robust, new and independent actuarial valuation.” Furthermore, “the Vice-Chancellor reiterated his support for working towards a solution that works for employee and employer alike.” You can read the whole thing here.

That’s not enough to pull us off the picket lines, but it certainly gives us something to talk about with our colleagues when we’re back in the office tomorrow (barring any freak snowstorms…) We are the union, and it is our strength and resolve that has gotten us as far as we are.

Fab rally

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – today was also great because of the mighty rally (thanks Jonathan Ablitt for the mind-bending panoramic photo). It’s been our custom to gather outside the gates of Main Building at 11 o’clock, but today, we put on extra numbers and were joined by students, unionists from other sectors, and a healthy clutch of politicians. We had drums, dogs, and determination, and we marched down Park Place, past the museum and City Hall, then up past Registry (where some of us got a few thumbs-up from the window!) and into Alexandra Gardens. It was inspiring to see so many of us out there, smiling, marching, and making noise. The police figure there were 600, and since police numbers work the opposite of UUK pension maths, we can be certain we had a thousand out.

We had rousing speeches, including a fiery, bilingual, and on-point address from Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price. We had strong women from politics and union activity speaking to us here on International Women’s Day, including Labour MPs Anna McMorrin and Carolyn Harris, Beth Webster from the Royal College of Nursing, and Claudia Boes linking our struggle to the International Women’s Day Strike held this afternoon. Finally, Adam Johannes gave a passionate speech that put our struggle in the wider context. What will people say about those academics who stood up in 2018? How will we be remembered? I hope they will say more than, “Well, they sure did protect their pensions.”

More political pressure

So let’s keep the heat on. Though we have a positive statement from university management, we will continue to press them on retaining the defined benefits and removing the threat of deducted wages for action short of a strike. Though the vice-chancellor seemed unaware of any such threats during his Question Time appearance on Monday, Cardiff University still sits on the Academic Boycott list for excessive punitive action on non-strike days. We’d also like a commitment from the university *not* to deduct our pay, given the opaque conditions through which Cardiff’s reply to UUK on the valuation risk was made. And we will continue to press for clarity on that decision making process, to protect us in the future.

We’d like to be back to work next week, but that requires a resolution that satisfies our demands. Until that happens, we keep pushing. Cardiff UCU members met this afternoon with Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth. He is fully supportive of our cause and says he’s keen to meet the V-C to advocate for us.

We have organised a lobby at the National Assembly for Tuesday 13 March. Between 1 and 2, we will be hosted by Julie Morgan and Jenny Rathbone, and we need a great and diverse turnout. Let us know you want to come down, and then let your own representative AM know you’ll be there. The more people we have and from more constituencies, the more effective this lobby will be. Cardiff UCU will put on transport to get us down there, so register your interest now!

Share the word

Meanwhile, we’re back to work tomorrow. Keep strong, keep motivated, and keep talking to your colleagues about the positive spirit we’ve experienced on the lines and the positive results we’ve secured – locally and nationally. UCU membership has been climbing: we’ve had 300 new joins since February. Everybody’s affected by the success or failure of the pension scheme; we improve the changes of success if everybody takes the burden of risk and the decision to fight – to down tools, get to the picket lines, and press for the pension we need.

Inca the Dog looks determined: match her determination. Unless you hear otherwise, we’ll see everyone Monday for Day Ten of the strike.

Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team