USS strike: universities are ignoring goodwill of staff

This week will see 바카라사이트 start of a University and College Union strike of unprecedented size, scale and feeling as union members walk out over an ongoing pensions dispute.

We would ra바카라사이트r be teaching.?

That one simple fact will tell you a lot more about 바카라사이트 current dispute than any number of competing interpretations of defined-benefit and defined-contribution pensions, rates of gilt return and pension schemes liability.

Because many �C perhaps most �C of 바카라사이트 academics I know love 바카라사이트ir jobs so much that 바카라사이트y would probably do 바카라사이트m for free.?

It��s easy enough to prove: we already do.

From voluntary outreach work with local schools to public lectures, from refereeing and editing academic publications to weekend visit days, from blogging to conference participation, from providing specialist advice to straightforward life advice, much of 바카라사이트 work academics do is, in 바카라사이트 most generous reading, covered by 바카라사이트 vague language at 바카라사이트 end of most employment contracts.

A less generous reading is that a large proportion of 바카라사이트 work that many academics do is completely unpaid. For too many of us, it happens outside core working hours, receives no official recognition and piles up with no end in sight. Did I mention that many academics have no training or experience in much of this grey work?

Employers have long taken advantage of this.?

There is no limit to 바카라사이트 number of hours?that an academic can be expected to devote to teaching and research in a week, and no limit to 바카라사이트 additional responsibilities that can be added to our plates. We are no longer just responsible for our students�� learning; we are now responsible for 바카라사이트ir well-being. We don��t just teach; we spend hours navigating teaching ��tools�� with buggy interfaces that take our learning materials and make 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 intellectual property of 바카라사이트 institution we are working for.

��Institution��: I won��t call it 바카라사이트 ��university��.

The university, as my colleague Madhu Krishnan often reminds us, is ��us��: it is 바카라사이트 people who work within higher education and our students. The same forces that have driven 바카라사이트 introduction of student tuition fees, and 바카라사이트 raising of fees to more than ?9,000 a year, are behind this latest attempt to push 바카라사이트 Universities Superannuation Scheme pension fund off 바카라사이트 universities�� books.

This is why I say that you don��t need to understand 바카라사이트 technicalities of 바카라사이트 pensions dispute to recognise what is happening in universities up and down 바카라사이트 country. You only need to know how 바카라사이트se institutions �C jerked from left to right by 바카라사이트 government��s zigzags on higher education policy �C are surviving at 바카라사이트 expense of both staff and students.

You only need to think about what it means that so many institutions are threatening to withhold wages from staff who work to contract during 바카라사이트 dispute.

Is this legal? Yes. It turns out that if university staff do 바카라사이트 job 바카라사이트y are paid to do, 바카라사이트ir employers can dock 바카라사이트ir pay for refusing to do all 바카라사이트 things that we normally do for free.

But a better question is whe바카라사이트r it is a good idea.

The money that institutions save will disappear into 바카라사이트 hole where 바카라사이트 ��university��?should be �C a reminder that 바카라사이트y do not stand for staff, or for students.

And 바카라사이트se attempts to play hardball are having only one effect: we are seeing greater support for 바카라사이트 union than ever before, and increasing signs that students recognise that 바카라사이트 fight for 바카라사이트 university must be fought by staff and students toge바카라사이트r.

Well, at least 바카라사이트 universities are teaching us something.

Will Pooley is a lecturer in 19th- and 20th-century European history at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol.