Schrodinger's striking academic

Once again, academics find ourselves in dispute with our employers. And yet again, many of us feel very conflicted about this. I am currently making sense of the alternative "possible worlds" in which I live by thinking of myself as Schrodinger's striking academic.

As long as no-one looks too closely, I am striking and not-striking simultaneously.

It depends on when you look as to whether I am striking or not striking.

Unlike the cat, the transition can go both ways.

I am striking because universities need to manage workloads, promote equality, minimise precarity. We are not cogs in a machine to be worked ever harder: we’re at breaking point.

I am not striking because students aren’t items on a production line. I care about their progress.

I am striking because pay and pensions need to keep up to attract the next generation into a demanding career.

I am not striking because my day-to-day work is not visible to my managers. This may be “industrial action”, but academic inputs and outputs are not tightly coupled.

I am striking because it seems that this is the only way to encourage management to listen.

I am not striking because, based on my employer’s standard working week, I had worked my hours for 2019 by 5^th September. I’m not sure what it means for my employer to withhold pay when I’m working for free anyway.

I am striking because I am standing on picket lines, not crossing picket lines… even if I am then doing a full day’s work from a location off campus.

I am not striking because I have deadlines and there isn’t the slack in the system to catch up later. See note on workloads. No-one else will look after my mental health, so it’s up to me.

I know I am not alone, but that doesn't make the ambiguity any easier. Here's hoping for progress soon...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay