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so, here to talk about two things this week
the first is the campaign we're running for better paying
conditions for Post Grad teaching assistants across the University
and the second is the fair pay campaign
for all staff in UCL and universities across the country
and the upcoming strike action that's happening around that.
First of all, Postgrad Teaching Assistants and Postgrad's who teach
have been on the sharp end of exploitation in our universities for quite a long
time
We're on low pay paid if we're paid at all and often we're not paid for all our hours meaning that were not paid for hours meaning that
when you work it out in real terms we're often earning even less than
minimum wage
At UCL in number of departments people are starting to stand up for their rights
and we're seeing some wins already, for instance in Epidemiology
TA's weren't being paid at all they've now won wages for every single person
working and in History of Art they've
persuaded their department to enter discussions on matching their pay
better to the hours they're actually working.
So this week we're gonna have a meeting. We're gonna hear from some of these campaigns
that have won
and how other departments can do the same thing.
And we're gonna talk about setting up the UCL-wide campaign to
complement all these local efforts, so if that's something you're interested in getting
involved in
come along to the Medawar Watson Lecture Theatre
at 6:30 this Wednesday.
But it's not just teaching assistant who are on the sharp end of pay issues
It's all staff actually in our university and universities across the country
they're fighting pay cuts...
sorry... further pay cuts... on top of a 13% that's already been
slashed. This is one of the worst cut's in pay in any profession since the Second World
War in this country.
There's also a sexist 14% gender gap between the pay of men and women working in
universities
and thousands of workers across the country in education still not
receiving
even a basic living wage. We know that university bosses can afford
this
the sector has been running significant surpluses and awarding senior managers
much larger pay rises
than the other staff that make our education happen and this is a matter
for students as well,
not just because some of us are TA's facing these pay cuts directly but
because our education suffers
when staff are stressed, demoralised, over-stretched or even
pushed to consider leaving the profession. Now, staff have been trying to negotiate over this
but their bosses just won't listen, which has led to this ongoing campaign
including the strikes we saw last term.
Staff have announced more strikes coming up. On the 6th February all day,
and some staff will be out 9 to 11 o'clock 10th February
as well
The aim of these strikes is to shut down the university. The message is
to senior managers, 'We are the community that makes the university work and until we are all treated fairly
you can't expect the university to keep functioning as normal'. So if you support
the Fair Pay Campaign, the best thing you can do is not undermine the strike
don't go in, don't cross the picket lines.
If you can come along to the picket line
support the staff and help them hand out information. Obviously if you're a Teaching Assistant
yourself
please if you haven't already join the UCU take part in the strike
and definitely don't cover for colleagues who are out. It's important we don't
allow divides
to be placed between ourselves and the staff who make our education happen.
if we work together we really can win a fairer, better university for all of us.