Your say / University of Bristol
‘Today I strike because enough is enough’
Today I strike.
Today I strike against a university system designed to pay us less every year whilst getting our students in deeper debt.
Today I strike against having my pension cut by 40 per cent based on a dishonest valuation done in the deepest darkest pandemic although the pension fund is actually fine.
is needed now More than ever
Today I strike against a decade of real terms pay cuts with a measly three per cent offer this year during soaring inflation.
Today I strike for my tens of thousands of precariously employed colleagues around the country, unable to get a mortgage or even rental contract because of their insecure conditions.
Today I strike for employers giving me more and more work to do, more students to teach and care for, but no more time to do it.
Today I strike against university bosses who threaten to take away 100 per cent of my pay for doing a marking boycott, when marking is seven per cent of my job.
Today I strike for every worker who’s told they have to accept worse conditions, lower pay and rubbished pensions as costs soar and those at the top get wealthier and wealthier.
Today I strike because our union makes us stronger.
Today I strike because enough is enough.
Oscar Berglund is a lecturer at the University of Bristol and a member of the UCU. Three days of strike action are taking place at universities across the UK over attacks on pay, working conditions and pensions.
Main photo: Dr Margot Tudor
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