James, Sheffield Hallam Socialist Students
27 May marked the start of 18 days of strike action led by the University and College Union (UCU) at Sheffield Hallam University. As a student of the university, it would be easy to overlook the reasons why and just ask the question “will this affect my education?”. Talking to lecturers on the picket it was clear they are fighting for more than job safety, they are literally fighting for the future of their institution.
Coming on top of over a thousand job losses in the last few years, the restructuring of key departments such as the school of English and the school of medicine has left staff wondering if voluntary redundancies will become compulsory and, for those who remain, this will mean increased workload pressure.
Approximately 88% of UCU members who voted supported strike action, with a turnout of 73%, showing that it’s not only the departments in the firing line that are fighting back to defend themselves. Alongside the restructuring of certain departments, aggressive cuts to the staffing budget university-wide are beyond what is financially necessary, suggesting this is a money-making exercise for the executive board. We are already seeing buildings being sold off with no visible reinvestment into students or staffing.
Lecturers on the picket line told me their concern was that ‘selling’ the staff to a subsidiary company to take them out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and create a two-tier workforce would erode teaching conditions and effectively make it harder for them. On the picket they were asking how my assignments are going and to contact them if I needed help.
Now is the time to support them, by demanding no cuts to staff costs and no compulsory redundancies. The students stand with the UCU.
