University staff plan strike action for 31 October

What about people who want to pay their front-line staff less, work them harder, introduce zero-hours contracts, reduce benefits all while charging students full wack and take home large bonuses for doing so in a university... are these people not also selfish?

Aren't rapists just as despicable as serial killers? Then maybe we should rape the murderers! If you rape murderers, it's morally ok.

If you don't like your job, you look for a new one. God forbid you only make £40,000+ a year, it'd be like living in Africa.

er... okay...



Pretty hard when the entire sector is doing the same thing. Given the time spent in education and **** paid temporary work as a contract researcher, most academics don't hit £40,000 until well into their 30's, hardly mindblowing. No it's not the ****test job in the world, but most jobs don't require you to be a leading expert in something, now do they?

It's not exactly news that there isn't 'much' money in education. If pay was a concern they shouldn't have been professors.

No. There are plenty of other jobs which haven't seen any pay rise at all (indeed at my old company, the only pay rises anyone could achieve for about four years from 2008-2012 was via promotion). I generally don't support strikes, and university staff are pretty well paid across the board for what they do, and are vastly overpaid in some areas (very basic admin work for £18k+, mickey mouse 'student experience officer' jobs for £25k, etc).

Won't affect me as I'm neither working or studying on the 31st. Indeed, I'm sure many students will welcome the opportunity to get their halloween costumes sorted.

I think it shows total disrespect for their paying students tbh. At the end of the day, our fees fund their salaries, so I can see why they think if we're paying more, they should be earning more, but that doesn't mean they should take it out on us.

If that's seriously their complaint then a lot of people need to grow up and stop feeling so entitled. Those temporary research jobs should be exciting and enjoyable, if people are whining about the wages then they've entered the wrong profession and don't deserve a thing.

I think it shows total disrespect for their paying students tbh. At the end of the day, our fees fund their salaries, so I can see why they think if we're paying more, they should be earning more, but that doesn't mean they should take it out on us.

Why does that mean they shouldn't be allowed to strike to improve their pay? It is really you and your co-workers who got it wrong. I don't deny that university administration is bloated, over-funded and over-paid, but workers should feel that they can collectivise to make the most of their rather low bargaining position.

Saying unionised public sector workers should not strike because they "don't have it as bad as we do" is simply targeting the weak and supporting the strong, and all private sector workers seem to do it. They have Stockholm syndrome: they are complicit in their own abuse.

So hang on. These are people who we know generally aren't motivated primarily by money.

In your last three posts:

- Calling workers entitled/selfish for standing up to bosses
- Saying "but think of the poor Africans!" and now, the crowning glory,
- A bit of "Arbeit macht frei"

Tory bingo anyone?

Stop right there.

You're entering bad territory on two counts. Saying "WE" when you mean "I", then saying you "KNOW" what you "GUESS".



I regularly mock this Super-Conservative arse-rape coalition. My education/career is the exact opposite of the typical Conservative/politician. No private colleges, no Eton, just volunteering, retail, normal schools and free dinners.

If I was to play the same anti-logic, opinion-invalidating keyboard warrior game you're playing:

In your last post you label someone a supporter of a particular party because it disagrees with your opinion and/or they say/do something you perceive as following the philosophy or policy of that party.

Xenophobic, simple-minded Republican, anyone?

We, as in myself and the person I quoted who quite rightly pointed out lecturers knew that it wasn't a comparatively high-paying job. And using logic, you can reach a legitimate knowledgeable conclusion that their primary motivation isn't money when an alternate career open to them could have resulting in them earning more money.

I get it. You're a teacher or professor who didn't achieve his/her dreams, so you're telling yourself that all professors/teachers are teaching by choice.

I reckon you should stop all these guessing games and assumptions and just take what I say at face value

These are people who we know generally aren't motivated primarily by money.

lecturers knew that it wasn't a comparatively high-paying job. their primary motivation isn't money when an alternate career open to them could have resulting in them earning more money.

I think we just appreciated economic reality, which is something few striking workers do. Workers can ask for what they want. but if it's not economically viable, they're not getting it. Coal miners striking themselves out of jobs for example, or those up at Grangemouth who would rather their plant close down than accept a pay freeze for two years.

If (as was the case for me) the company was losing money and was pretty much a few percent from closing, I'd rather keep the job and the company going than decide it's my 'right' to bankrupt them by demanding pay rises they can't afford. Happily, when it got back on its feet, everyone got above-average pay rises, which was nice.