On Tuesday 16th November, University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Leeds announced their intention to strike from the 1st-3rd December and in the spring term (confirmed dates above), and to continue with action short of strike (ASOS) until May 2022.
As the student executive team we have one priority; protecting and supporting the students of Leeds University. It’s what we are elected to do; what we are passionate about and what we are always thinking of as leaders of your students’ union. We will always put our students’ interests first and have considered this when deciding how we view the planned strike action by UCU.
The right to strike is a universal democratic right that we defend. We support, without question, the right to fair pay, decent working conditions, a secure retirement and contract terms and conditions that reflect the work of teaching staff. We believe that happy supported staff will be better able to teach and support our students.
Many of our members are also teaching staff, which is why we have actively promoted the concerns of our postgraduate research members to the University, whilst also discussing undergraduate and postgraduate taught member concerns with UCU. We will continue to do this.
We have met with and listened to the arguments, concerns and positions taken by UCU & the University. Sadly, the problems being discussed are not new ones and have been going on for years. We understand that teaching staff want to reopen negotiations and move forward with strike action. We also recognise the Fairer Future for All pledges announced by the University, which look to address some of the issues, and we will be holding the University to account to make sure it delivers on its promises.
The challenge we face as student leaders is that we don’t believe this current strike action is in the best interest of students, and our focus has to be what’s in the best interest of our members. In light of the past two years of COVID disruption, previous strike action and ongoing variations to teaching because of COVID concern, strikes right now will inevitably lead to added stress, lost learning and delayed teaching. Those most affected by the strikes will be our marginalised students, specifically our disabled, international and working class students. This added burden on our members is something that we want to avoid at all costs.
From the discussions we’ve held, and the information provided to us, these proposed strikes are in support of the national campaign and not about specific issues with Leeds University. We have to focus on our student experience and can’t support a national campaign at the expense of our members. We know that students are exhausted, experiencing increased mental health problems and wanting as little disruption to this year of study as possible, rather than spend another year disrupted by strike action. This decision has been made without student input or consultation.
We call on both sides to return to negotiations through their national bodies so we can all do what we do best, supporting students to have the best educational experience possible.
We recognise that Leeds students are going to have a wide range of responses to this action; we are working to update our website with guidance around strike action, and Help and Support will continue to operate to help students through this difficult time.
LUU Student Executive
For questions, concerns and other enquiries please contact via email at helpandsupport@luu.leeds.ac.uk or find more information here.
We as the Student Exec are more than happy for you to contact us with specific enquiries at studentofficers@luu.org.uk.
Aysha Burton (Union Affairs and Communications)
Meg Hodgkinson (Education)
Nicole Jimenez (International and Postgraduate)
Beth Eaton (Wellbeing)
Natasha Fowler-Ekar (Equality and Liberation)
