Goldsmiths staff and faculty gathered at select entrances of the university on Monday morning to mark the beginning of an eight working-day strike. University and College Union (UCU) members are striking for a number of reasons, but primarily over pensions, casualization, and workload.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will be striking until 4 December, not only at Goldsmiths, but at 60 universities across the country. Of those Goldsmiths staff that took part in the strike ballot, 86 percent voted to strike to defend pensions, with another 85 percent voting to strike over pay and equalities, the highest percentages of any university now on strike.
On the picket line
Members of the Goldsmiths branch of the union (GUCU) posted themselves at a number of campus entrances on Monday morning to establish a soft picket line, offering flyers to anyone who might enter the university.
GUCU President Marian Carty spoke to the crowd outside the Richard Hoggart Building (RHB) and offered the microphone to anyone interested in speaking: “We all know why we’re here. We’re here because we want to see public education, not private profit.”
The Goldsmiths Labour Society have endorsed UCU’s strike
Not all present on the picket line were staff or faculty. Many students stood with UCU that morning, including Jovan Nepaul, who spoke on behalf of the Goldsmiths’ Labour Society: “It’s time that students do come together and show their solidarity with [university] workers.”
The Warden visits the picket line
Goldsmiths Warden Frances Corner visited UCU’s picket line in the morning briefly and spoke with union leaders.
In an email to students on November 15, Warden Frances Corner outlined the university’s financial situation, saying that the university’s deficit meant it “cannot afford to meet the union’s demands over pensions and pay.” The email also urged the UCU executive to “respond positively to requests to restart national negotiations with a view to preventing the action from going ahead.”
Many union members objected to the Warden’s claims: in a statement three days later, GUCU executive denied that it was the UCU that was responsible for an end of negotiations, but rather Goldsmiths’ Senior Management Team (SMT). The statement also condemned “punitive measures” SMT had taken following the strike’s announcement, particularly the “docking [of] all strike pay – including that of Associate Lecturers – in one month […] despite the agreement in 2018 to spread deductions over four months.”
Agenda of UCU-organized events during the first day of the strike
Carty touched on this on the picket line: “It’s really quite sad that SMT has taken a harder line than in the previous strike, but we must remember that we did negotiate those terms, this institution […] depends on our goodwill, they depend on our free labor, and I think we need to start thinking about withdrawing our free labor from now on.”
GUCU Vice-President Des Freedman spoke on the university’s financial situation: “We’re here because of the systematic decline in pay and conditions in a sector which is not exactly bankrupt whatever they tell you. This is a sector with many billions of pounds over the last ten years in surpluses and where does that money come from? […] It comes from students paying fees.”
Supporting the faculty
Some union members and students offered refreshments to those who were striking at a table near the entrance of RHB. Amongst them was Christopher Bond, a student at Goldsmiths. When asked how he felt about the Warden’s email to students, he felt it reflected poorly on the university, which was “going straight to the students with disinformation.”
Christopher, Andy, and Karolina offer refreshments to all those on the picket line
“A deficit can’t really be an excuse for a university with a Warden who earns a £232,000 salary,” said Bond.
Sitting with Bond were fellow students Andy Williams and Karolina Dworska, who agreed with Bond, and expressed concerns as to where their fees are going. Dworska felt like the email divided students and staff into thinking their concerns were separate.