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I am on strike, picketing in person and on the #DigitalPicketLine (no work tweets) #UCUstrike. We are striking about pensions and work conditions, especially precarity and pay gaps. I got my first permanent job at age 46 - here& #39;s my story (thread): 1/n
I did my career the wrong way round: a masters, then 3 years as a research assistant, during which I had my first child. Both University and funder denied responsibility for maternity pay, but I joined the Union (then AUT) and eventually got an ex gracia payment. 2/n
When oldest child was 1 I started PhD, 2nd was born half way thro& #39;, and 3rd the week after submitting. No maternity pay for those, not even statutory. My PhD grant did not cover the child-care (let alone other things) and Uni nursery was not open to children of students. 3/n
For the next 15 years I worked on short term research grant contracts, mostly paid 50% FTE, but sometimes as low as 10% to make the contract stretch out, and hourly paid teaching. 4/n
To be fair this was largely my choice: I only wanted to work part time. But one important source of gender pay gaps is women choosing & #39;family friendly& #39; routes with low progression. My permanent appointment was to the lowest rung possible despite considerable experience. 5/n
Throughout this, my partner had a good job. I would not have had the luxury of working on short term research contracts if I had been the main wage earner. I was lucky. 6/n
This route was not easy, but I chose it. Virtually all young academics are now forced into many years of fixed term research contracts, or exploitative 9-month teaching-replacement contracts, or hourly paid work which does not cover preparation or marking. 7/n
I am striking to preserve my pension, because my pay has stagnated, and because of the many iniquities associated with the marketisation of education. But I am also striking to end the normalisation of precarity and the exploitation of younger academics. 8/8
