Lucy Boyle reports from the picket line and rally

University of Bristol staff in Unison were out on strike during a postgraduate open day on the 11^th March. They were one of nine branches participating in a national strike over pay. It is a response to a 1.4% pay ‘increase’ which in real terms reflects a decrease of 3.4%, despite the university’s 68 million profit surplus. Picket lines disrupted campus tours and faculty talks of visiting prospective students.

Nathan the co branch secretary discussed the strategy during the lunchtime rally attended by all the striking workers. He remarked that there was no desire to see the university’s recruitment levels go down: ‘We (decided) we would target the open day if it came to it, if (leaders) wouldn’t sit down and negotiate… Shame on the university for forcing our hand.’

Kit, a representative from the University’s UCU branch suggested that the strikers are in a strong position because of these tactics, as well as the fact that many striking workers are in roles which directly affect management rather than just students.

Abbi, a Unison member who was part of tuition fee protests in 2010, reflected on her personal situation:

‘I’m tired of being underpaid. I’m tired of standing outside in the cold when I should be…doing my job for fair pay so that I can keep the lights on… and I know I’m not the only one.’

David, a Unison member, remarked on the cynicism he feels, calling to mind previous excuses the university made for being unable to pay fair wages: ‘When they told us years ago there was no money…we kind of believed them. But then they opened a 500-million-pound campus in Temple Quarter and now another…in Mumbai. There’s clearly money for investment in the university but not in us’.

He complained how ‘tone deaf’ he felt the vice chancellor was when she told employees she empathised with the cost-of-living crisis as she could no longer have a sofa in her office. He suggested that the management do not listen to their employees, leaning on good faith because they know the staff care and often go ‘above and beyond’ without the resources to do their jobs properly.

Harry is a representative of the campus’ Unite branch. He reflected on how many employees work in spaces with no heating, leaks and mould, yet are expected to deliver world class education ‘with less than mediocrity in return’. He noted how staff are being made redundant and critical vacancies go unfilled, stressing that these structures are ‘imposed without a shred of democracy.’

He argued that the university’s death by a thousand cuts echoes across the country, reflecting the state of public services despite soaring salaries for elites: ‘While we fight for fair pay, university leaders lobby to lift tuition fee caps to even more unaffordable levels’.

Tom from the Unison regional office and former staff member went further, stating that the whole of Bristol is being defunded from the university to the council to the NHS. He also highlighted how many of the university’s leaders are provided accommodation, while the rest of the staff struggle to pay Bristol landlords’ exorbitant rents. Tom went on to express great pride in the union, stating that in the last three days of action, 330 people were out on strike:  ‘That’s more people out on strike than you had members four years ago.’

Student activist Rainbow emphasised how both exploitation and the arms trade make up the nucleus of the university’s finances. She argued that a better funding model was needed, one which does not extract from and exploit the global south: ‘The same system oppressing people in Palestine is the same one creating austerity at home. 85 million tied up in the weapons industry. We students want our tuition fees to go towards paying our staff fairly, not killing civilians.’ Union member Abbi seethed at how when management were asked whether the Mumbai campus would mean more work for staff, they responded that they would hire people in Mumbai and simply pay them less.

Harry, a representative from Unite, rallied the crowd: ‘Enough with cuts, enough with excuses, enough with inequality, we are the university and we’re not going anywhere’. The message at Bristol University rang clear and true today. A tale as old as time, yet never more relevant: ‘One struggle, one fight, workers of the world unite.’