UCU members are taking action over falling pay, the gender and ethnic pay gap and poor working conditions. 58 Universities opted to strike via a democratic vote and University of Leeds members lined up in front of the Parkinson building to make their voice heard.
Tim Goodall , Union Rep and Employability Officer at the University of Leeds first got involved with the UCU in 2015 as he could not believe how straining the work load had got within Universities and Goodall’s involvement with the trade union allows him to voice this through striking.
Goodall explained, “I love working at University, I love working with students but the conditions are so hard for us. We do not have enough time to prepare as much as we would like to. For example, for things like lectures, so we cannot give the quality education that we would like to give because we just have so much to do.”
At the end of the three-day strike, Union members hope that their campaigning has not gone unnoticed as they demand for effective change. The UCU actively encourages its members to strike when they deem it necessary action, with the University of Leeds members striking for the first time since winter 2019.
Goodall suggested he is optimistic about the outcome of the strikes, outlining what he views as the ideal solution.
He added: “I hope that the national bodies and the vice chancellors will actually sit down and negotiate with us and that we get some national frameworks for just agreeing that all universities will stick to certain standards on thinks like actualisation and on the equality pay gaps as well.”
