Niven Day, Liverpool Socialist Party
The Socialist Party and Socialist Students supported the pickets of Unite and University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Liverpool (UOL) on 19 June.
Unite and UCU workers were on strike over issues relating to hybrid working. The university has imposed an extra day to the hybrid working option, expecting staff to be on campus for 60% of their working week, without any negotiations with the unions. Unite has stated that this will have a negative impact on “employee’s work-life balance, personal well-being, family-friendly working, and the principle of flexibility that hybrid working arrangements was intended to support”. One of the speakers at the picket said that, as an autistic person, the mandatory extra day in the office would put a mental strain on her.
The other issue that faces workers is the lack of office space. Following Covid, office spaces had been repurposed into meeting areas and storage facilities, leaving a shortage of space. This means that staff would have to work in unsuitable locations, with the management going as far as recommending that meetings could take place in pubs or cafes. Unite and UCU members have discussed this with the UOL management, but feel they have shown a disdain for the workers who keep the whole show running.
Under this Labour government, UOL workers have already received voluntary redundancy notices, and more cuts to jobs and services in universities nationally are expected. We need to fight against all of these cuts, and fight for a fully nationalised education system, where trade union rights are recognised.
