• Question: Do you think that maybe the reason why all these strikes happen is because nobody is working together? Eg. you all have the same problems (poor pay...except you guys probably don't actually) why don't you strike together instead of moaning about the group that has striked? Work together!

    Asked by 9eltu to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      OOOOO tough one – I’m not entirely sure where I stand on strikes as a means of getting a message across in the first place – I don’t think I can give you a short and neat answer to this one. I think the strikes happen because people are unhappy and they don’t really know what to do about it, and that the communication between different levels of management isn’t as open and clear as it can be.

      This might be a very naive way of looking at things though. I’ve always tended to work for small businesses where I can (where communication is MUCH better) and I’ve only been employed by a large organisation in a full time capacity for 7 months!

    • Photo: Andrew Thomas

      Andrew Thomas answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Strikes are usually the last option for anyone. We lose pay when we go on strike so its not an easy option that’s taken lightly. The problem is that striking in this country isn’t really organised properly and unlike France, most of the press don’t support the workers who are striking, so it tends to wind people up when their bus or train isn’t running and they have to take the day off work because their kids can’t go to school. When University workers go on strike it doesn’t massively affect anyone apart from students and most of them just like the fact they have a day off lectures. I could go on and on about this because I am quite political. I do agree though that a national strike of all the unions on the same day would be good, with a huge march. The problem is though that the marches tend not to get much coverage on the news unless there is trouble and then it allows politicians to tar all the marchers as troublemakers.

      I’m surprised you think that people who work in universities are well paid though. School teachers are better paid at every stage of their careers now than university lecturers (and we don’t get the holidays or to finish at 3 or 4 pm) and they have to do research as well as teaching.

      I’ll finish off with a quote from Charles Bukowski who said, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.

    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Strikes are a difficult one and there are often individual strikes, because the people they are aimed at (or the strikers are unhappy with) are different depending on the organisation for example. Strikes often are a last resort, because in many jobs the people striking care about what they do and don’t really want to cause disruption to the user, but put pressure on their bosses.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      That is a tough question! We don’t have as many strikes in the U.S. .. but scientists usually don’t strike, I think. But definitely, we should work together instead of moaning to ourselves!

    • Photo: Ashley Cadby

      Ashley Cadby answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Im not sure I have anything to complain about, I don’t think people do science for the money.

Comments