In Belfast, students have said that, despite their disrupted learning, they support university staff in striking. More than 70,000 university staff at 150 universities began strike action on the 24th of November,

The National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) president Chloe Ferguson said that: ‘Students stand in solidarity with the university staff across the UK who are taking strike action this week. Staff teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions.’ 

‘Staff teaching conditions are students’ learning conditions.’ 

Ms. Ferguson made the point that ‘High rents, astronomical international student fees and cuts to maintenance support have happened for the same reasons that staff are suffering under huge workloads —the failed marketisation of the sector, which has put profit above staff and student well-being.’

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said ‘University staff are taking the biggest strike action in the history of higher education,’ and argued that ‘Students are standing with staff because they know this can’t go on. And they know that a sector which generates tens of billions of pounds each year from tuition fees can afford to treat its staff fairly.’

The UCU website offers statistics regarding their reasons for striking. Roughly one-third of all academic staff are on fixed-term contracts. This increases to close to half for teaching-only academics (44%) and more than two-thirds (68%) of research-only staff. They argue that casual contracts make it harder for university staff to challenge their working conditions for fear of being seen to ‘rock the boat’ and thereby risking their job. In 2019 they surveyed casualised staff in higher education. They found that 71% of the 3,802 respondents said that their mental health had been impacted by working on insecure contracts and 43% said it had been detrimental to their physical well-being.

The 3% pay rise that has been offered is below inflation which is at 12.6%, as recorded in September. Additionally, the UCU says that the cuts to pensions which happened between 2011 and 2019 would make a typical member of staff £240,000 worse off. 

To establish whether University of Birmingham’s students were similarly supportive to those in Belfast, Redbrick put out a poll on Fab and Fresh. This revealed that of the 74 students who responded 94% were in support of striking staff.

Of the 74 students who responded 94% were in support of striking staff

Redbrick reached out to Birmingham University and they responded that:

‘This action is part of a national dispute covering pay and pensions. Both are issues where the University cannot act independently to bring about a resolution as they are subject to national negotiation.

 ‘We recognise the financial challenges that staff are facing and have already awarded additional cost of living payments or pay uplifts for all staff.

‘Our priority is to minimise the impact of any industrial action on our students. While we expect that the vast majority of timetabled student sessions will continue as normal during the strike action, we have been working to ensure that there are plans in place to mitigate the impact of disruption on students. We expect that the University will continue to operate normally during this period.’

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