Goldsmith’s College staff, members of the University and College Union (UCU) took strike action between Monday 9th and Friday 14th March. The strike was called to address the sustainability of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and rising costs for members, and on universities’ failure to make significant improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads. The hashtag is #UCUStrikesback
In addition, Goldsmith’s UCU have said: “We are currently in dispute with management in relation to a programme of cuts, centralisation and redundancies, “Evolving Goldsmiths”, that has been introduced without meaningful consultation. We are currently preparing for a local ballot for industrial action aimed at suspending the programme and encouraging discussions with staff and students on the future of our institution.”
“There has to be a real community link between @GoldsmithsUoL and its environment & to reflect the diversity of our area” – “we need to stand together to fight inequality.” Thanks to Local Lewisham councillor @cllralanhall #UCUstrikesback #UCUstrikes pic.twitter.com/bqi4mTyOsq
— Goldsmiths UCU (@GoldsmithsUCU) March 10, 2020
Over 70 Professors have founded a Professors’ Forum at Goldsmiths on March 5th, 2020. Their founding statement says: “We established the Forum specifically in response to the complete lack of consultation with staff over the introduction of the Evolving Goldsmiths restructure plan. We are opposed to a mode of governance that does not recognise and include the diverse experiences of all staff in responding to current challenges.” The full document is here
Today I joined the @UCUGoldsmiths picket line. 11 days on strike!
I thanked the strikers for their inspiring example of how to fight back.
Like so many others, they are facing the casualisation, poor pay and bad treatment which marketisation brings. #ucustrikesback pic.twitter.com/NPUWZrTIVW
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) March 10, 2020
The national UCU has warned that they will ballot members after this wave of strikes if the dispute is not resolved. This is to ensure their branches could take action until the end of the academic year. Strike mandates are only legally valid for six months, this means those branches who walked out in November would need to secure a fresh mandate to be able to continue to take action after April 2020.
Thank you to @GoldsmithsUCU members for standing up and being counted. Education is a right, not a privilege. In appreciation and #Insolidarity #UCUstrikesback pic.twitter.com/i3MnRhLAbx
— Alan Hall 💙 (@alan_ha11) March 13, 2020