Manning the picket lines for the second time in two years, UK union members spoke of a feeling of unfinished business with employers ¨C and not just about pensions.

At Goldsmiths, University of London, University and College Union branch president Des Freedman said he was ¡°gutted¡± that staff were on strike again.

¡°We worked very hard and made a lot of sacrifices in 2018,¡± said Professor Freedman, professor of media and communication studies at Goldsmiths. ¡°We had hoped that the employers had come to their senses, but our demands haven¡¯t been taken seriously.¡±

This year the pensions dispute was ¡°part of something bigger¡± and the inclusion of the dispute over pay, workload and inequality in the action ¡°speaks to a wider discontent¡±, said Professor Freedman, standing outside Deptford Town Hall as drivers of passing?vehicles?honked to show their support.

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¡°It is asking fundamental questions about what are the priorities in higher education: is it about surpluses and balancing books or is it about ensuring a quality higher education?¡± he said.

Outside Goldsmiths¡¯ main entrance, sociologist Jamie Woodcock, an associate lecturer at Goldsmiths, said that it was a ¡°big personal sacrifice¡± to go on strike while employed on a casual contract.

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¡°We have been pushed into it by the employers and because the future of our workplace is under threat,¡± he said.

¡°I feel like my terms and conditions have only gone down since I¡¯ve worked in universities,?but [the strikes] are also about higher education in general, which has been under attack for many years.¡±

Kiran Grewal, reader in human rights, said that ¡°last year we put in a lot of time and effort on the picket and thought that we¡¯d made some real gains, but we¡¯ve been shown that this was a lot of talk¡±.

¡°The joy that we used to get out of being academics is being eroded. I was a corporate lawyer; I chose to give up that big salary to work in a university because I believed in it, yet now the bureaucracy and the pressures we¡¯re under are the same as [those faced by] a corporate lawyer but without the benefits.¡±

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Across London at UCL¡¯s main entrance, Paul Gilroy, a professor of humanities, said that he was striking because ¡°over the past 35 years of working in higher education¡± he had ¡°seen a ceaseless deterioration of work, morale and the student experience¡±.

¡°I probably would not have picked the pension issue¡­but I do not think the reaction [by Universities UK] to the joint expert panel is a plausible reaction and it needs revisiting,¡± said Professor Gilroy.

Nicola White, a research associate in psychiatry, said that she had joined UCU during last year¡¯s walkout and was striking again because ¡°universities are not listening to the [latest] expert advice.¡±

¡°I just want universities to come back to the table with a reasonable offer,¡± said Dr White, who questioned the methodology used by the Universities Superannuation Scheme. ¡°Everyone understands the pension system needs to change but it shouldn¡¯t be based on faulty risk models.¡±

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Not all staff and students were persuaded, however, by the strikers¡¯ argument that there was no reason to cross a picket line.

¡°I¡¯m an experimental physicist and I have a deadline to meet ¨C [funders] don¡¯t care about whether I¡¯m on strike or not,¡± said one staff member. Meanwhile, a student told a picketer: ¡°We have exams in December ¨C we need to go to class and to the library. Our markers aren¡¯t going to know if we stayed away because of the strike.¡±

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anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com