Staff strike in pay dispute
Oxford University staff have joined with protesters across the country this week to voice their opposition to new pay proposals.
Lectures were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday as AUT members - of which there are over 600 in the University - spent the days instead at picket lines around the city.
A rally held at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday attracted a crowd of over a hundred, including supporters from the Oxford University Labour Club and the OUSU Finance and Funding campaign group.
Duncan Weldon of OULC told The OxStu that its members are firmly behind the campaign, saying: "It is important that academics and students stand together to oppose the privatisation of Higher Education." Emma Norris, Co-Chair of the F&F campaign, believes that the issue of staff conditions "should not be separated from that of students."
Although unsure of the exact numbers of academics involved with the strike action, Terry Hoad, Honorary Secretary of the Oxford AUT branch and a Fellow of St Peter's, told The OxStu that the response from both members and students had been "very positive". With picket lines set up outside Examination Schools, in the University science area and outside the main University offices in Wellington Sqaure, Hoad believes that the striking staff are sending out a clear message of disatisfaction.
Tuesday's meeting featured talks by several leading AUT figures, and aimed to "reinforce the collective determination" of the strikers, who include not only University lecturers but also a number of other academic staff.
Peter Burnett, who works in the Bodlean Library, believes that the new pay structure will be "even worse for library staff" than for the majority of academics.
Martin Oldfield is Professor of Engineering Science in the University, and is concerned that, whilst his pay will not be significantly affected, that of his younger colleagues will. "Already, fewer students are going on to be academics," he laments, and fears that the continued downhill trend in pay could see the number fall still further.
26th Feb 2004