University lecturers have said the response from students to 10 days of strikes starting on Monday over pay, pensions and working conditions has been “overwhelming”.
Students at 68 institutions will see their lecturers walk out in disputes over “beyond disgraceful” pay, conditions and pensions, the University and College Union (UCU) has said.
Striking lecturers have reported being buoyed by the support from students, with some undergraduates bringing cakes and biscuits to the picket line.
University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady said that the “response from students has been overwhelming and I want to thank every single one of them for standing with us”.
Henry Stead, a Latin lecturer at St Andrews University, said that student support was “hugely important” for staff, adding that students had brought cakes and biscuits to the picket to boost morale.
“None of us want to be out on strike,” he told the PA news agency.
“We hate how these issues are impacting our students. So, it’s great to know that they understand and even better, that they are standing with us.”
“They were bringing us biscuits and cakes – they were organised,” he added.
“They know exactly what’s going on and are behaving like politically engaged citizens. It’s so nice to see. If the student support wasn’t there, I think many colleagues would find it really hard.”
Some Classics students at St Andrews appeared holding placards that read “Honk, haec, hic” – a play on words of “hic, haec, hoc” from Latin rote learning.
St Andrews Classics picket. #USSstrikes #OneOfUsAllOfUs @ucustandrews: Student support has been amazing today. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/o50cU1d7XP
— Henry Stead (@henrystead) February 14, 2022
Dr Stead’s sign read “Perdidistis omnia”, which he said is from “the Roman poem by Catullus – it means ‘You have ruined everything'”.
Last week, student campaign group QMUL Solidarity from Queen Mary University of London described the university’s response to the strike as “shocking” and accused the university of spreading “misinformation” in its emails to students about the strike.
They added that they supported the strike, as did “the majority of our cohort”.
London School of Economics student Len Metson wrote on social media: “Students have already faced unprecedented disruption and strikes only increase this.
“However, it has always been my teachers and lectures who have gone far beyond their contractual obligations to support me so I think it is only right that we stand with them now.”
UCEA, which is representing employers in the dispute, said that the strike so far had had “little impact” on Monday.
Raj Jethwa, UCEA’s chief executive, said there had been “low levels of disruption” but that it was “disappointing” that UCU was continuing “to encourage what is, albeit a small minority of its members, to take strike action once again”.
He added: “It does, of course, take time for these large organisations to find out exactly how many scheduled classes have not taken place on a given day”, and said that some universities cannot provide details at this time, while others had no teaching scheduled.
“We are disappointed that UCU is encouraging its members to target students who have endured so many recent disruptions,” he said.
