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From The Socialist newspaper, 31 October 2018
Welsh college staff set to strike on pay and workload
College lecturers in Wales have voted by an overwhelming majority to strike, busting the undemocratic Tory strike threshold. The employers, Colegau Cymru, refuse to recognise the all-Wales ballot. They demand the union divide up the dispute college by college, despite Colegau Cymru negotiating for all colleges collectively.
UCU strike, 25.5.16, Cardiff, photo Dave Reid (Click to enlarge)
We've witnessed ten years of barbaric educational vandalism by the Tories. 91% of University and College Union (UCU) members voted for an improved pay offer on a 52% turnout. 54% voted in the workload ballot, 90% backing strike action.
Intensifying workload, job cuts, and a decade of real-terms pay reductions (approximately 20%) are lowering staff morale. Some of our members even seek charity support as they face financial difficulties.
The Education Support Partnership claimed requests for grants were up 40%. Our 7.5% pay claim goes some way to recompensing these losses.
A UCU Wales survey showed members are working 50, 60 and 70-hour weeks, but getting paid for 37. Lecturers are literally working two days for free.
UCU Coleg y Cymoedd members hope that Colegau Cymru agree to the workers' demands.
Clare Gibbs, UCU Coleg y Cymoedd (personal capacity)
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
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In The Socialist 31 October 2018:
What we think
Crisis Tory Budget brings no relief from austerity
News
Only a socialist alternative can end austerity
Philip Green scandal - bring him down like BHS
60% of wildlife wiped out - urgent action needed to save planet
Workplace news
Glasgow's equal pay uprising shows power of working class
CWU conference: Sharpen up our act? Yes. But weaken our democracy? No
Welsh college staff set to strike on pay and workload
UCU: General secretary censured but anti-union laws frustrate strike ballot
Driving London's buses - a laser in the eye and a boot up the bum!
PCS Left Unity election: ballot opens
National Gallery reps endorse Chris Baugh
Precarious workers march against gig economy
Peterloo massacre
International socialist news and analysis
Bolsonaro - a threat to workers and all oppressed people
Parliamentary coup in Sri Lanka
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Call to arms by Southampton council unions
Campaign building to save Scarborough and district hospitals
The Socialist sales successes in Leeds
Opinion
'Lucas Plan' film tells story of workers who set out alternative to job losses
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