Unions, strikes and unintended consequences.

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.