Goldsmiths UCU
Industrial Action
January 2021
Presentation for Students
Are the Rumours True?
�As students you may have heard rumours about staff taking Industrial Action at Goldsmiths.
That is because Goldsmiths staff members in the UCU (University College Union) have recently balloted our membership and voted to take action in opposition to the ‘cost saving’ measures introduced by Goldsmiths Management last summer.
These measures cut many staff, a disproportionate number of whom were women and from global majority backgrounds, many of them also the lowest paid, and the most precarious academic workers. This happened in the midst of the pandemic. Goldsmiths Management intend to to cut more jobs, increasing workloads and decreasing the quality of student experience.
Currently, we are not on strike. Classes will run as usual. Our Industrial Action will take the form of Actions Short of a Strike and an Assessment Boycott, which we’ll explain in a moment.
Industrial Action is a process through which workers withdraw their labour to put pressure on their management when other attempts at negotiation have not been successful.
Actions may include what is termed ASOS - actions short of strike, such as working to contract and withholding grades (often called a Marking or Assessment Boycott), or going on strike.
The threat of Industrial Action is used to create leverage and for workers to be taken seriously by their employers, who otherwise often disregard their concerns. This has been the case with Goldsmiths Management who opened a process of negotiations - after over a year of staff efforts to engage in meaningful dialogue to no avail.
Before workers can use the threat of such actions to push negotiations in their favour they must ballot all of their members and reach a 50% threshold of people who vote and who vote YES. We achieved this in December.
What is Industrial Action?
Unlike last year’s strike action, this action has been decided by staff at Goldsmiths and not by staff from across the UK.
Our aim is to take actions that cause less immediate disruption for students and put more pressure on Goldsmiths Management.
For this reason we are focusing our action on an Assessment Boycott - where staff withhold formal, written feedback and grades.
We will also take further Actions Short of a Strike (ASOS), which may include the withdrawal of voluntary or “good will” labour, e.g. ceasing to work the excessive extra hours that many of us do routinely in order to create a supportive environment for students.
What Actions Will You Take?
What does this mean practically?
Will there be another strike?
From the 4th January staff taking part in the action will be unable to give formal, written feedback or marks through channels like the VLE. You will still have classes, tutorials and contact with your lecturers as you did in the Autumn Term.
We are aware that students are going through a great deal right now and will of course continue to do what we can to support you outside of this action. We are keen to work with you on student campaigns and to strategise with you to ensure that the effects of our action register fully with management.
If the key demands are not met, or an agreement is not reached, we will then consider taking strike action. This would be our last resort. Without the threat of a strike we will not realise the maximum leverage with Goldsmiths Management so it is on the list of possible actions, though not our starting-point. We must work together to apply maximum pressure in the hope that it does not come to that.
Why are Goldsmiths taking action?
Goldsmiths lost over 300 workers last summer due to Goldsmiths Management’s decision to discontinue the temporary contracts of lecturers in many departments. This not only made our valued colleagues - and a disproportionate number of them from global majority backgrounds - unemployed at a time of limited opportunity due to the pandemic, it decreased the hours we are collectively able to dedicate to teaching and supporting students. We know that many of our students were very negatively affected by losing important tutors.
Now Goldsmiths is planning an expensive restructure that includes Departmental mergers, cancellation of courses and modules and further reductions in staff numbers. We are fighting to avoid this and futher interruption to your studies after all that you have already been through in this last year.
They say that they are doing this to reduce the financial deficit, but even their own business consultants from KPMG have told them that they should consider less risky ways of bridging the deficit, such as selling property, cancelling expensive building projects, and reducing other non-staff costs.
We know that what SMT are calling the “Recovery Plan” will deeply affect student experience in the short and long term.
‘Why don’t you try speaking to the Management?’
We have tried to negotiate with our Senior Management Team (SMT) for over a year. Last spring, through actions by staff and students we were successful in halting ‘Evolving Goldsmiths’ but, over the summer, when many of us were providing emergency extra support to students and attempting to adapt teaching to online, or falling ill, they introduced a very similar plan to Evolving Goldsmiths under a different name (“Recovery Planning”) and have indicated that they will lay off more staff.
Until we threatened Industrial Action, SMT had failed to engage in meaningful dialogue with us and other groups who oppose SMT’s re-structure, including the Professors Forum, the Students’ Union and Collective Change - a group of representatives from all departments focused on making alternative plans.
We are now in active negotiation in search of a resolution.
What are your demands?
Our demands include:
A commitment to no compulsory redundancies and prioritising of all other routes for addressing Goldsmiths’ deficit;�
A reversal and mitigation of the staff cost measures introduced to date, and a halt on implementing further measures designed to reduce staff numbers.
Examples of the above would include:
FAQ
Will I still receive my grades?
Formal grades and feedback will be received only once the action has ended.
When will the Action Short of a Strike and Assessment Boycott end?
The action will end sooner and impact students less if the Senior Management Team meet GUCU’s demands on stopping the staffing cuts. The responsibility lies with SMT to meet our demands and stop any further industrial action.
Will I still be able to graduate?
This action does not aim to affect graduation, but this may be a knock-on effect of not receiving grades if no resolution is reached.
Can I get a refund on my tuition fees?
This should be taken up with the college management through their complaints process. The SU has advice on this: https://www.goldsmithssu.org/advice/academic/ and there are also national campaigns around tuition refunds.
How will this impact my degree?
There will be no intentional change to teaching schedules, but staff will be working to contract which may cause a delay in responses during this action. This is to highlight the current understaffing issues.
How will I be supported during this time?
GUCU and the SU are working closely together with student representatives to ensure clear communication and support at this time. Staff-student assemblies will be open for everyone to attend. You can find regular updates through the GUCU social media accounts and through your department rep. If you need further support, please get in touch with your personal tutors who will be there for you. Student groups are also working to support both staff and students at this time, which we are proud to work together on. More details of student actions including a letter template.
What can students do?
Departmental staff-student assemblies
UCU and the SU will be hosting staff-student assemblies that are open to all departments. Students and staff are encouraged to set up staff-student assemblies in their own departments to discuss the implications of the action and how we can mutually support one another in response.
Complain!
Taking your complaint to management is one way to be heard. There are email templates for emailing the Senior Management Team, and there are student-created letters and tweets.
Support student campaigns
This is a short list of some of the student campaigns currently active at Goldsmiths, which also respond to the poor management of the university by senior management. UCU is in solidarity with each of these campaigns, as we share many of their aims:
Get organised!
Support can come in many forms, and these are just some suggestions. Being vocal on social media, speaking with your classmates, as well as planning and engaging in different forms of protest will all help us protect our community and livelihoods.