Staff working conditions are our learning conditions

Time and time again, students find themselves in a position where they have to fight for their education. As a student body, our education has been severely disrupted due to Covid and previous strikes, yet, it seems that lessons have not been learnt by senior management and students remain not a priority.

Marketised education is failing our students and staff, and this is why we are where we are today.

Now, we say enough is enough. We are sick and tired of staff feeling undervalued, overworked and underpaid. We are sick and tired of being ignored and as students, we refuse to allow senior managers to pit students and staff against one another.

Staff are striking against unfair conditions including: insecure contracts, unpaid hours, low pay, minority wage gaps, cuts to pensions and more. Their working conditions are our learning conditions and we must stand together.

Our fights are inherently linked and we cannot support free education and a truly student-centred and democratised education, without supporting the rights of staff. This is the same marketised system that forced students into food banks and saw staff pay, fall by 20% in real terms over the last 12 years.

There remains huge pay disparities between senior management and frontline staff. The situation is unsustainable for staff, and ultimately, that affects the support students receive, the quality of your learning and the wider student experience.

For these reasons, we, as your elected student officers, will be supporting the UCU strikes, Unison strikes and the Student strikes called by the National Union of Students (NUS)

UCU strike dates:

Week 1: 14th-18th February

Week 2: 21st-22nd February

Week 3: 28th February-2nd March

NUS student strike date:

2nd March

Unison strike dates:

Week 1: 21st-22nd February

Week 2: 28th February, 1st-2nd March

Whilst the industrial action can cause frustration amongst students, there are ways in which you can have your questions answered and make up for missed learning.

You can contact the university by emailing industrialaction-students@city.ac.uk with any of your complaints, queries or questions. You can also contact our Advice Service if you feel that you are being impacted by the strikes and they will support you with taking the next steps. In doing so, your query or complaint will be effectively dealt with, once the strikes come to an end.

More information on how students may be impacted can be found here. If you’d like to find out why UCU is striking, click here.

As an SU, we know that students are our priority and our decisions are motivated only by wanting the best outcomes for students.

We will continue to lobby Senior Management and the Schools to put measures in place to minimise the impact on your education.