Breaking the impasse: reflections on university worker organising in the UK

Katy Fox-Hodess; David Harvie; Mariya Ivancheva

doi:10.15173/glj.v14i3.5625

Breaking the impasse: reflections on university worker organising in the UK

Katy Fox-Hodess, David Harvie, Mariya Ivancheva

Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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Abstract

Since 2022, Britain has been in the midst of its largest strike wave in decades, with protracted industrial action across much of the public sector, as well as in industries such as transport. In the twelve months to June 2023, four million working days were lost to labour disputes, a dramatic shift from 2018, when the corresponding figure was just 272 000, the sixth-lowest annual total since records began in 1891. Perhaps surprisingly, however, two-thirds of the working days lost in 2018 were in the education sector, primarily universities (ONS, 2019) – and university strikes have accounted for a significant proportion of the total working days lost in each subsequent year.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	289-293
Number of pages	5
Journal	Global Labour Journal
Volume	14
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.15173/glj.v14i3.5625
Publication status	Published - 30 Sept 2023

Keywords

trade union organising
Higher Education
universities
UK
mobilisations

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.15173/glj.v14i3.5625Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Fox-Hodess-etal-GLJ-2023-reflections-on-university-worker-organising-in-the-UKFinal published version, 180 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

2 Blog Post

A road map for branch activists to organising a successful marking and assessment boycott
Fox-Hodess, K., Harvie, D., Ivancheva, M. & Pendleton, M., 30 Mar 2023
Research output: Non-textual form › Blog Post
Strategic Action Gets the Goods! The Case for Targeted Action and a Summer Marking Boycott to Maximise Our Leverage at the Bargaining Table
Fox-Hodess, K., Harvie, D., Ivancheva, M., Lycouris, S. & Pendleton, M., 5 Jan 2023
Research output: Non-textual form › Blog Post

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Cite this

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Breaking the impasse: reflections on university worker organising in the UK

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Research output

A road map for branch activists to organising a successful marking and assessment boycott

Strategic Action Gets the Goods! The Case for Targeted Action and a Summer Marking Boycott to Maximise Our Leverage at the Bargaining Table

Cite this