I’m at a university that missed the threshold for the #UCUstrike on pensions, pay, precarity and inequality, which starts today. So I started a list of other ways to extend some solidarity.

1. Donate to the @ucu strike fund, especially if your branch didn’t make the threshold and/or you hold a senior and secure position with many benefits already accrued.

You can do that here: https://www.ucu.org.uk/fightingfund 

#UCUstrike #UCUStrikesBack

2. Remind people, especially if precarious or first-time strikers, of support available:

Up to £75 a day from the second day of striking on if you earn less than £30k

Up to £50 a day from the third day of striking on if you earn over £30k

#UCUstrike https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/10333/Strike-fund-support

Though some people apparently don’t realise it, days on strike are days without pay, and in my experience strike funds are often not claimed in full. Sacrifice for the cause is good, but so is getting paid before Christmas. Precarious and early career folk take note.

3. Find out if there are separate solidarity funds for your branch or nearby, and consider a donation to that. These funds are used, e.g. to support workers who lose pay but aren’t in @ucu, for example zero-hours catering staff who might miss shifts due to the #UCUstrike.

4. Call out the worst management tactics. Employers are entitled to withhold pay from strikers, but those clawing back full pay for partial or to-contract performance or threatening students who won’t cross picket lines deserve to be scorned.

5. If your branch is not on strike, obviously don’t cross actual pickets elsewhere, but also observe the ‘digital picket’ and don’t tweet as if it was business as usual in UK HE. Especially don’t do unpaid promotional work for universities by celebrating league table scores etc.

6. Amplify voices explaining the strike and its stakes. Trading stories of overwork with other academics on Twitter is maybe not the best way to do that. Explain the situation to non-academic friends, convince more students, lobby decision-makers. #UCUStrikesBack

7. Remind yourself and others that this is not just a ‘lecturer’ strike, but affects all kinds of folk who work in universities, where the culture of precarity and inequality also affects people not even eligible to join @ucu.

8. Recognise how colleagues face additional burdens, like the hostile environment and the non-EU visa regime, which you may not experience, and which can impact their ability or willingness to participate. Try to support them, not chide them.

All of this goes double if you are objectively privileged, e.g. a Professor or academic celebrity, and even if you *feel* like you are on the margins, can’t go eight days without doing public engagement, actually quite like your abc, &c. #UCUStrikesBack #UCUstrike

*quite like your VC