At my institution I worked casually and on fixed short term contracts over a period of 4 years before getting a permanent contract last year for... 1 day a week. I have to scrape together other workshop teaching/supervisions/marking etc and I’m a nanny 2 days a week... #UCUstrike

Being a fractional member of staff for me also means taking casualised work and tbh it’s all very bad!! The classes I run would just be 10000% better if I could commit more time to them... #UCUstrike

One way of proving your worth at my institution is to be doing regular work out of contract over several years so you can then appeal to management that the work should be part of your contract... #UCUstrike

Like ‘look I’ve been running this course for 3 years now on a casual basis so can I maybe get bumped up to maybe 2 whole days a week in my contract now maybe pls pls!’ ... #UCUstrike

Which I think is a weird way of doing things?? Hire people to teach the classes you need taught?? Brb googling student fees because I bet it’s more than what I earn... #UCUstrike

Also they just hired a new 6 figure salaried director of estates meanwhile I can’t get a regular 2 full days of work???... #UCUstrike

Ok so rUK fees are £9250 per year which is around what I make to teach!! Hehe! It’s £18480 per year for international students!! #UCUstrike

(This semester I’ve been teaching 25 year 2s and supervising 15 year 4s in my contract and obv Scottish students aren’t paying fees but still there’s a massssssssive cohort of rUK and international students loads of whom I’ve been teaching off contract) #UCUstrike

Anyway to conclude I am on strike because of all the the above and will be picketing tomorrow (not today because I feel ill probably due to job precarity/ maybe due to sneezy babies at the nanny job I do due to job precarity) #UCUstrike

Also I need a good fractional contract/ not adding up pun for a placard all ideas welcome #UCUstrike

(Also also I come from a v privileged background! I didn’t work through undergrad or masters! I’m very very lucky! The job precarity is bad for me as someone with a safety net but 10000000% worse for those without/ impossible to do at all!) #UCUstrike

So yes striking for me and all those in way more precariously casualised positions and the fact that this whole set up is a massively exclusionary one #UCUstrike