Most mornings this week I've been w colleagues on #UCUstrikes picket lines. I'm proud that many @bhamlaw profs & readers have also been there. We are not leaving it to our junior and less well paid colleagues to take a stand for a better, more equal and more secure university. >

I want to talk about why I am on strike. There is a financial case re pensions, but in truthI have a v good pension & excellent pay. Inequality in UKHE is what motivates mek. IMO bare figures on pay gaps and casualisation rates compared to unis' profit margins shd motivate anyone

I am concerned by how unis' systems of reward, promotion & progression turn us from colleagues into competitors, ramping up expectations in ways that undermine meaningful collegiality. I am striking b/c I am acutely aware of the role I played for years in shoring up those systems

During my PhD I taught 10 hpw & wrote a textbook as well as peer reviewed pubs. I had a v supportive partner & no dependents. In my 1st permanent lectureship I worked 5am-7pm 5 days a week, 5-10am Sat & Sun. I published a lot. I spent €€€ going to conferences. I built networks

At 31 I became a Prof  @DurhamLawSchool. I got a big grant, published & travelled a lot. I was on campus at 5:30am - 7pm. I saw PhD students coming in @ 6am. I failed to see I was modelling awful patterns of overwork & distorting expectations of academic success.

My partner was endlessly supportive, but there is only so much any family can take. It took a life breakdown, sabbatical, change of institution, & recommitment to myself to change my patterns of overwork and my expectations of what commitment and ambition look like.

Striking with my colleagues is part of my attempt to remedy the damage I did to myself, my family, & junior colleagues before I understood that by working less and better I have become a better colleague, friend, partner, sister and daughter, and a much better scholar.

I hope that by standing together in #UCUstrikes we can reimagine and rebuild universities where we protect against the this kind of overwork, and where collegiality means real and loving support for one another rather than being a gaslight for systemic overwork.