When you
join a Union, it is a little like joining an army with really bad discipline.
You pay your dues to join and in return you give up some of your voice to the
leaders of the union. They negotiate with your employer, sometimes consulting
you, give you a vote toward strike action, and set out a strategy.
Therein
lies the rub. The problem with organised labour is not that they are no longer
needed or relevant – quite the opposite. The problem of organised labour is
incompetence. Their hearts are in the right place but if they were a real army
no one would go into battle.
Where am I
going with this?
I am on
strike today. The decision to observe the strike was not so simple. I agree
with the Union’s key positions. They are still trying to claw back the loss of
earnings to inflation. Since 2009, they reckon we have lost 14.5% to inflation
and are asking for around 5% pay rise. I say around 5% because I can’t find the
actual value at the moment without logging into my work email. When they were
asking us to vote I had to ask what the union positions were. I also can’t seem
to find this in the news. I support the position, but the communication is
appalling. We have been offered 1.1%.
The Union
is also campaigning for gender equality in pay and to oppose the casualisation
of contracts. I agree with these as well. A pay gap of 12.6% between men and
women is still not good enough and 75,000 staff on “atypical” contracts is
getting close to the point where “atypical” becomes “typical”. I understand
both numbers are nuanced and the issues complex, but neither is good for universities
or their students.
The problem is I do not think the Union capable of getting any of this.
It is not
that they are not powerful enough. It is not that these are not worthy causes.
It is that they are strategically stupid. That stupidity is undermining their
support (at least from me). That stupidity will be costly in terms of morale,
members’ money, and labour relations.
Here is
why. Academic staff have only one real weapon. Employers really don’t care
about the odd strike day here and there. It costs them nothing. They lose
nothing. Universities are an enterprise that runs almost completely to a yearly
cycle. The income comes mostly once a year and staff at universities get things
done. If I go out sick for a day, my work does not go away. I have to do it
when I return. Same is true with strikes. It all gets done in the end one way
or another. I will still do the work I did not do when I return. It is close to
impossible to escape. Academic work is like that.
There is
only one Achilles heel: the end of year when we mark exams and collate and turn
in our results. It is also where a campaign with limited discipline can be very
effective.
... and all
the ducks were in a row. The ballot closed beginning of May. The results were
in and the Union announced a marking boycott, except they plan to consider it
for a non-strategic time. Rather, they opted for a 2 day strike (today and
tomorrow), followed by a discretionary strike day, followed by another in
August on a day no one will care about, followed by insanity, a marking boycott
to be considered for autumn term.
I nearly
decided to not observe the strike. I agree with what it wants to accomplish but
there are lots of things I would like to do in life but can’t. I have limited
appetite for lost causes. Participation in a campaign I think will be long,
costly, and, almost certainly, doomed to failure is not something I find
compelling.
Then
everything fell into place after an email from an unexpected source. It was a
bit of humanity on the part of my University that announced it would be
donating out lost wages to the student benevolent fund. I can live with that. I
doubt it was intended to convince people to strike. But it seemed respectful
somehow, acknowledging the disagreement while making clear no matter the
outcome and cost, something good will come of it.
