FOR BOLSHEVISM- AUCPB- CLASS STRUGGLE UK APRIL 1 ON

UCU

Lecturers' on strike


More than 100,000 lecturers struck last week. It was the biggest strike yet under David Cameron’s government—and it showed two things.
First, the strike won huge support, particularly among students. And second, lecturers want to keep fighting—and want to strike with other workers.
The action, on Thursday of last week, hit colleges and universities across Britain and Northern Ireland. The UCU union members are fighting attacks on their pension schemes, lack of protection over jobs and derisory below-inflation pay offers.
It had a big impact. Lots of classes were cancelled and few crossed picket lines. In lots of places, more pickets were out than during previous strikes.
Martyn Moss, a UCU regional official, said the strike at Liverpool Hope University was “the most solid in history. Not a single university lecturer went into work”.
Tom Hickey, a UCU executive member in Brighton, described the action as “the most successful strike in the history of the University of Brighton”.
Students occupied the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), in central London, the night before the strike to show support for their lecturers. Many Unison union members refused to cross the picket lines.
At Birkbeck College, students were giving free tea, coffee and sandwiches to the pickets.
Richard Bowyer, a sessional lecturer in its law department, was one of many part-time lecturers on the picket lines.
Together
Sessional lecturers made a big sacrifice to join the strike. “My teaching is on Wednesdays and Thursdays so by striking I’m losing half my pay this week,” Richard said. He added, “I’d like to see people in different unions come out together.”
Naomi Bain, branch chair of Unison at Birkbeck, said that lots of Unison members had gained confidence by joining UCU picket lines.
Lots of people joined the UCU during the strike. Laura Miles, a lecturer at Bradford College, said, “Just on our picket line we gave out eight applications to join UCU, with two people joining.”
At Dundee University, some 40 people joined the union in the run-up to the strike.
Trade unionists from other unions also visited picket lines to show their support.
“We’ve had visits from the GMB union and the local trades council,” said James Eaden at Chesterfield College.
Paul Blackledge, branch secretary of the UCU at Leeds Metropolitan University, said council workers had stopped to show their support for strikers.
At the Institute of Education in London, eight members of the NUT national executive committee joined the picket line.
They talked about the need for workers to strike together. “It’s great that the UCU has taken the lead,” added Ann Lemon, another NUT executive member. “Now we need to follow them.”
Lecturers can stop the attack on education. The strikes can also be the start of a bigger revolt against the Tory assault on public services and the welfare state.
The UCU must escalate the action. And other workers must demand that their union leaders start strike ballots so that they can join the fight too

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National Union Of Teachers – (NUT)
30 March - Wednesday - London
Tower Hamlets – East London
Teachers and council workers struck across Tower Hamlets, east London on Wednesday 30 March. They are fighting 500 job cuts that will hit everything from social services to schools and youth workers.
Schools across the borough came to a standstill.
Unison and NUT union members formed joint picket lines. Coordinated action between the two unions shut many of the schools as teachers and support staff refused to cross picket lines.
Teachers in Camden, north London, are also on strike today.
Over 30 Unison members picketed the Phoenix School in Tower Hamlets. They blew whistles and held up signs for drivers to honk in support. Bus drivers, cyclists and lorry drivers showed their solidarity. The noise was deafening.
Mohammed, a learning support worker, said, “It feels great to be here today, this is about us all being together. There are people here who might not have jobs tomorrow.”
Bin workers refused to cross the picket line at the nearby Central Foundation Girls School. Passers-by came to chat to the pickets and show solidarity.
“It wasn’t easy but we managed to build this strike at the base of the union. Local activists fought for the ballots. If this can happen in Tower Hamlets it can happen anywhere.”
Workers in Unison and the National Union of Teachers also picketed the Professional Development Centre in Mile End.
“Schools will be shocked when next year comes and services that used to exist simply won’t be there anymore.”
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Camden
Hundreds of striking teachers recently marched through Camden in north London. National Union of teachers (NUT) members at 44 schools, children’s centres and other workplaces took strike action together against £20 million of cuts in jobs and services.
The strike was well supported. Cars and lorries hooted their horns in solidarity as strikers and their supporters gathered to march to a rally at the NUT’s London headquarters.
A big group of pickets massed outside South Camden Community School. Olayinka Williams, a humanities teacher there, said the cuts would have a “massive impact”.
“Students won’t have the personal connections they’ve been used to anymore.”
Another striker said the cuts would hit special educational needs and English as an additional language services. “I don’t see why there’s such a rush to repay the deficit,” she added.
Trade unionists from the RMT, PCS, UCU and Unite unions came to show their support with the strikers. Dave Williams was with a group from Unite’s national executive that visited the pickets.
Lots of people talked about how inspired they felt after Saturday’s TUC demonstration. Steve Hedley, an RMT organiser, said the march showed that “the mood is there for a general strike”.
“If we had a general strike we could bring down the government. I think there’s more chance of a general strike than there has been for years. It’s the hypocrisy that gets to people.
“The bankers are still getting huge bonuses while we’ve got cuts.”
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Tower Hamlets march and rally
Some 1,500 striking council workers and teachers marched united through Tower Hamlets in east London today.
The strikers are members of the Unison and teachers’ unions, whose branch banners led the march. There were also banners from schools across the borough, many of them handmade.
The march set off from Bethnal Green, through the rich and poor parts of the borough that sit so close together, on their way to a rally in Whitechapel in East London.
As the strikers passed council estates, people leaned out of their windows clapping and cheering.
But as they marched past Barclays bank, they chanted, “Barclays bank pays no tax, Tower Hamlets gets the axe” and “1, 2, 3, 4, cut the rich, not the poor”.
“I think it’s disgusting,” said Lynette Emery, a special needs teacher. “Our school budget has been cut by £20,000—that means our kids have lost their daily living skills outings, outings in the community. We can’t do them any more.
“The Barclays bankers’ bonuses this year are more than has been spent on education in this borough in a century. If we took their money there’d be no need for cuts.”
After the march it was standing room only as strikers and supporters crammed into the rally. In a show of unity it was held in the London Muslim Centre.
“It’s a simple message—together we are much stronger,” John McLoughlin, Tower Hamlets Unison branch secretary, told the crowd.
“We have set a marker that the future is bringing our unions together to strike together.” Unison deputy general secretary Keith Sonnet also spoke.
“You are an absolute inspiration,” said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union. “We want this fight everywhere.” He pointed to the possibility of joint action over pensions.
“The PCS is already in discussions with the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and UCU at least to plan now for a joint strike that, if members vote for it, will see us have close on a million people on strike before the summer,” he said. “My appeal to every other public sector union is this—it should be all of us.”
He got a standing ovation—and the crowd chanted “general strike, general strike”.
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