During October 2019, the University and College Union held a
double national ballot on proposed changes to the university pension scheme and on worsening pay, terms and conditions for university staff. Reading UCU comfortably
exceeded the legislative 50% threshold on voting
turn out and members backed strike action overwhelmingly (72% on the pension issue and 68% on pay, terms and conditions). In Oxford, 74% of balloted members supported strike action on worsening pay, terms and conditions. Across sixty institutions, more than 40,000 UCU members took industrial action.
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| John Gillman (far left) supports the protest at Whiteknights, Reading |
UCU members walked out of their workplaces on 25 November for eight
consecutive working days of strike action. In Reading, there were vibrant, creative picket lines based at London
Road, Earley Gate, Pepper Lane and Shinfield Road
entrances to the University of Reading. At Oxford University, pickets formed throughout the city, including on the High Street and at the Saïd Business School.
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| John Oversby (5th left) supports the Shinfield Road picket, Reading |
As with last years' pensions dispute, Reading Trades Union Council delegates showed their solidarity with the UCU strikers. John Gillman (Unite) and John Oversby (UCU retired member) supported the University of Reading action, while John Partington (TSSA) fraternised with strikers in Oxford.
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| John Partington support's the picket at Saïd Business School, Oxford |
Following student solidarity with the UCU dispute in Reading, a final-year undergraduate, Dorian McHale, has been suspended and banned from campus pending a serious misconduct investigation while Oliver Kent, a postgraduate student, has also been banned. While Oliver had completed his studies (his graduation ceremony was scheduled for 12 December), Dorian's studies at the university are now in jeopardy.
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| Letter sent to Dorian McHale (coutesy of thetab.com) |
A group of nine students attempted to occupy the International Capital Market Association building at Reading University on 1 December in support not only of the UCU strikes but also divestment from fossil fuels and the arms industry.
In the face of heavy-handed security, which led to two students suffering bruising to their legs, the university claims their security personnel were assaulted. The protesters claim that, at one point, they were “pushed back by a picked-up table and chased by security”.
Reading Trades Union Council sends solidarity to the suspended students, seeing the university's actions as an attack on the most vulnerable in the dispute. The university leadership and all of Universities UK need to sit down and negotiate satisfactory deals with UCU rather than bully students in a cheap attempt to discredit legitimate strike action.
