On the #DigitalPicketLine today because I am, quite simply, knackered. So, a thread on getting through the #UCUstrikes in one piece, energy, #solidarity, academic life and the challenges of joining the strike at all. #UCUStrikesBack @qmul_ucu @USSbriefs @ucu 1/12

I am lucky enough to be on a f/t, permanent contract and work with colleagues I adore in an institution I am proud to be a part of. I blummen love what I do, and I want to do it all the time. Sure, I see that we are taking on more and more students, but not more and more staff.

But everyone goes over and above, right? And they do. There are parallels to be drawn with our amazing #NHS colleagues, after all, we are training doctors here. But what are we modelling for them when we try to do more and more with less and less? And let that be our new normal?

And because we have internalised the message that we are lucky to have jobs in academia at all, we don’t stand up together to protest. Until a strike like this one comes along. Being on strike together is an excellent opportunity to find our collective courage. But...

It takes courage and energy to get out of the door and on to the #picketline and when work is overwhelming, & you’re busy feeling all lucky and grateful for it that courage can be hard to find. So, to colleagues who haven’t come out to join us this time, I’d like to say this:

How about just one day? Just join us for one day. Come to the picket line for one hour and see how you feel. Talk to your colleagues, your comrades, about the difficulties of stepping away from the work you love, and the responsibility you feel to students. We know. We share it.

We also know you are tired, you are frustrated, you don’t see change happening and you don’t know that your voice is counted. It is. You count. Stand up with us so that your students, who you value and who you work hard to develop, can see how it is done.

We teach our medical students to look after themselves because we know the challenges of the job they are going into. It’s time for us to follow our own advice. Know that for all the upbeat strike videos you see on here, there are just as many colleagues at home, exhausted.

At home, recuperating, and also worrying about not being at work, about mounting workloads, shrinking salaries, inequality and insecure pensions. So rest, then, catch up on sleep and then come and find us. There is a place on the picket line waiting for you.

And on the picket line, when you come along for just one day, just one hour, you will find #solidarity, singing, coffee, laughter, dancing, people who feel as you do. There is comfort and there is #courage there. In some cases there is @SolidarityShark!

Sometimes the physical picket line simply isn’t accessible so we are lucky enough to have the #DigitalPicketLine
Striking can feel like a lonely and scary business, I find it wretched not to be able to do my work. But we must fight #inequality precarity #USS

If you’re not a UCU member, join. If you are, join us. Together we are strong. We are fighting on, as we said we would. Love and #Solidarity to you. @ucu #USSStrikesBack #ussstrike