AUT Strike

talksalot81

aurora_borealis wrote:

I'm wondering if my PhD marking is affected. I submitted two months ago but nothing yet

The staff I deal with are not sticking strictly to not working with post grads. Dont forget that it is the post grads who do much of the research, so it doesnt pay to mess us about! So Im sure it will all be ok

talksalot81

I have posted before on this matter. I am finishing up my PhD in a physics department and alot of the views expressed are totally inapplicable to those in my department.

People are going on about what a lecturer does all the time. Well this is so much more than most people realise (even post-grads who often are not fully in the loop). Lecturing takes a small time, there is marking time, there is administration time, there is examination setting time and there is time helping out students (beyond scheduled time). That is the tip of the iceberg! So here i start a list.

1) Outreach time - you dont think students are attracted all on their own do you!?
2) School administration - schools do not administrate themselves and dedicated administrators simply cannot do it (since they know nothing of the academic issues)
3) A BIGGY - funding. The money available in the UK for research decreases all the time and the success rate in our area is about 1 in 6. A proposal is not a one day job, you can talk of weeks of an individuals time by the time meetings/discussions/background and writing are done. You cant just not write proposals else you will get the sack and without active funding, you just have to keep writing and this could pretty much take be a full time job all on its own.
4) Research - you have to do it, co-ordinate your students, in our case we have sizeable machines which we have to service and operate ourselves, you have to analyse results, do background reading to try and interpret them, collaborate with others to better understand, then write it up, get it published, go to conferences to get the work seen and to keep up the image. Beyond this there is again more administration as, again, the academics are the only ones who can do it.

The academics I know and work with will work 50 plus hours a week on average and will be available to work pretty much any hours necessary and potentially will travel all around the world on the cheapest fares and in the cheapest accomodation. They do work which a tiny fraction of the population could even contemplate and without them, the population would have no way to maintain research level development.

All you people out there who go on to make 50k/75k/100k after a university education, just remember you owe at least part of that to an academic who will highly likely never earn that much. If you care to use the 'market value' arguement, well this strike is showing it. The market value is being forced up because we need academics and they are pretty much the hardest set of individual to replace.

linzibean

So if they really want people to listen to their cause, why don't they go on strike from their "proper" side of the job then? The current action is only severly aggravating students and support staff, even those sympathetic to their cause. Although teaching only makes a small part of their workload, without the infrastructure of universities academics would have nowhere near as much scope for research work, and would certainly be in an even less well paid position.

They might just think that us students are a "distraction", but without us there would be a hell of a lot less of the academics about!

Perhaps I'm just feeling aggreived because this strike has lead my tutor to taking over a MONTH to file an important reference, despite numerous polite reminders from both myself and the prospective course provider, leading me to lose out on the opportunity of a place.

I have thoroughly lost patience with this industrial action.

nickinoo

linzibean wrote:

So if they really want people to listen to their cause, why don't they go on strike from their "proper" side of the job then?

This is exactly what my husband (who is a university lecturer) says, the problem is that by refusing to do research this would impact on the lecturers careers & of course they don't want this.

Although we will be glad of the eventual payrise (whatever it may be) just remember that not all lecturers agree with the action or are part of the union (my hubby doesn't).

My hubby worked his backside off for 9 years in education plus 2 years post doc to get this job & he does sometimes wonder why he bothered when he has to deal with all the crap that goes with his job such as admin, dealing with e-mails from students 24/7, students who don't do the work/turn up to meetings etc & then moan about their grades. He often works 7 days a week & is in his office from at least 9-5 everyday & will quite often work on an evening at home as well. Compared to his mates who got jobs in industry he is much worse off.

He is 1 of the good guys (even though I say so myself) & it seems like someone said before the guys at the top end of the payscale do the least work & are the ones taking action.

talksalot81

I dont like the strike either (nor do my supervisors), but what else can be done?

Striking from actually doing the research cannot work (at least not in my field). If you dont do the research, you dont get results, you dont get publications, collaborators will look down on you and most important of all, the chances of getting funding will drop even further. In the short term there would be absolutely no impact upon those who are being persuaded into granting the pay rise! Hence they wouldnt give it.

chocshake

nickinoo wrote:

This is exactly what my husband (who is a university lecturer) says, the problem is that by refusing to do research this would impact on the lecturers careers & of course they don't want this.

What about our careers?!!! it's ok for them to destroy our chances just not their own? that is not a justification, it's the lecturers problem bringing the students into it should have been a last resort.

We have all been working hard too, before uni in part time jobs to be able to afford uni and during uni to get a degree, and now our career prospects are being damaged.

jem16

chocshake wrote:

What about our careers?!!! it's ok for them to destroy our chances just not their own? that is not a justification, it's the lecturers problem bringing the students into it should have been a last resort.

Have to agree on this.

My son has just finished his final exams and has a job lined up on a graduate program starting October. He has been in touch with the firm who have told him that the offer would need to be deferred if he doesn't have his degree.

This could seriously damage his career.

talksalot81

If a student refused to do study, refused to do assignments and refused to do exams, what would happen to them? They would fail and get nothing. That is exactly what stopping research would mean for a researcher.

I dont hear of too many students trying to get what they want with that form of action, why would you expect your academic superiors to do something so stupid?

aurora_borealis_2

aurora_borealis wrote:

I'm wondering if my PhD marking is affected. I submitted two months ago but nothing yet

So.... 10 weeks later and I'm fed up of waiting. I have started a nagging campaign today.

I have learned that it has indeed been held up by industrial action and that I will hear something next week :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I am now TERRIFIED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


.... and p.s. I'm on all sides of this. I'm a student, lecturer, MSc supervisor and researcher. Thank goodness I'm not in the union.

melancholly

aurora_borealis wrote:

So.... 10 weeks later and I'm fed up of waiting. I have started a nagging campaign today.

I have learned that it has indeed been held up by industrial action and that I will hear something next week :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I am now TERRIFIED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


.... and p.s. I'm on all sides of this. I'm a student, lecturer, MSc supervisor and researcher. Thank goodness I'm not in the union.

don't stress too much - some people have very slow external examiners even without strike action. i know one poor poor girl who had her viva reschedules 4 times because the external kept cancelling on the day.... (she subsequently got another one!). i'm really surprised you're being hit by this..... don't let that ruin the feeling of finally submitting!! fingers crossed they sort it out for you asap.