As we come to the end of ten days of strike action, members may well be wondering where to next.

In the dispute over the USS pensions scheme, it has been both infuriating and depressing to see how UUK have consistently failed to engage with UCU proposals and forced through cuts based on the flawed 2020 pandemic evaluation of the scheme – even more so since our Principal sits on the board of UUK and thus is part of its decision-making process.

We wrote to the Principal on 23rd February asking him for a copy of RHUL's submission to the USS consultation on UCU's proposals, and to offer the possibility of issuing a joint statement in line with those issues by Birkbeck and KCL. We have had no substantive response.

In the Four Fights dispute, we understand that students are being told that our SMT are supporting and encouraging the establishment of working groups locally around these issues. Sadly, this is a case of managerial smoke and mirrors. Long-term readers of the blog will recall that there is a pattern of SMT establishing working groups which then fail to meet, or meet once without any subsequent action, or never meet with members of the SMT who are empowered to take action. We do have joint working groups that function well, such as the group focused on employment policies – but that makes the failure for other working groups to have similar success even more grating.

Similarly, our SMT have neglected the Joint Negotiating Committee, the venue through which the union and the SMT are meant to have meaningful discussion and reach agreement. Until the JNC is taken seriously and respected as a venue for proper negotiation involving our Principal, rather than a series of bland Powerpoint presentations, we will not make meaningful local progress on these issues – and until SMT pressure UCEA to engage in negotiation with UCU, we won't see any progress on the national level either.

We counselled against despair in Monday's blog post on workloads; organising is an appropriate response rather than giving up. Let us share with you an excerpt from one of many messages of local support from our marvelous students, sent to the SMT:

"I am writing to inform you that I will not be attending any classes between Monday 28th-Wednesday 2nd. While it is uncertain whether my classes will be going ahead or not, as UCU members are not legally required to inform anyone of their status as a member nor of their decision to take strike action to cause maximum disruption, I do not feel comfortable crossing the UCU picket line if they are still going ahead. I am aware that this will be counted as an absence and that classes will not be rearranged. I am making this decision in solidarity with those that are taking strike action and because I strongly support the issues that are UCU members are striking over both as part of the Four Fights dispute and the USS Pensions scheme.

I am thoroughly disappointed that further industrial action was necessary after the disruption last semester, especially on top of the impact the pandemic has had over the past two years. My disappointment lies not with the staff taking this action, nor UCU for taking this line of action. Staff are willing to sacrifice pay to exercise their right to strike, and industrial action is always chosen as a last resort when productive negotiations with employers fall through.

The current working conditions of staff are unacceptable and ultimately harmful on student learning conditions. Meaningful action from employers is necessary to resolve these disputes so I am urging you to work constructively with UCU and do everything in your power to end this disruption."

At the time of writing, we are awaiting the outcome of last Friday's meeting of UCU's Higher Education Committee; last week we passed three motions which were passed on to that meeting, as did many other branches. We assume that, given the intransigence of the employers, we will see an increase in action as a result of that meeting.

However, even without formal UCU action, colleagues are already beginning to consider what duties they might begin to give up as part of action short of a strike (ASoS). External examining is one obvious candidate for a job which does not form part of our core contracts and is remunerated extremely poorly; the resignation of one Royal Holloway external has already attracted considerable attention. While UCU have not nationally called for externals to resign, perhaps the current action might prompt colleagues holding those roles both within and without the College to consider their positions as we continue to withdraw our goodwill from a system that has made it clear it does not value us.

Posted on behalf of the RHUL UCU Branch Committee.

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