Lecturers and academic staff in most of the UK’s universities and colleges will be joining other public sector workers on strike on 10 May against attacks on pensions.
Despite over a year of negotiations, the government refused to make any substantive shifts on a pensions deal that would see lecturers working into their late 60s, taking home less money for their work and facing poverty when they retire.
Work by Socialist Students this week helped convince the National Union of Students (NUS) to continue its paper position of supporting lecturers in their fight. But, as the “national” walkout on 14 March showed, the NUS leadership are not serious about backing up their words with action. It falls to ordinary students to show our support for our lecturers.
To safeguard education for future generations and to minimise disruption to it now, we students have a duty to stand with our lecturers and to make the 10 May strike effective.
If there’s strike action at your college or university, don’t go in – instead, join your lecturers on the picket line.
Meanwhile, negotiations on university lecturers’ pay remain inconclusive, with employers still offering lecturers a real-terms pay cut of 3%. The failure of the employers to make up for three years of pay cuts could lead to a new round of strikes in the autumn of 2012.
