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UCU - Pensions and Pay Disputes

that's utter bollocks. 'the debate has been about fees relating to future earnings'? tosh. fees bear no relation to future earnings. do come back when you have an iota of an inkling of what you're on about.
The justification for making students pay fees was that compared with others their future earnings would be higher.
Whether there is a future relationship between the two in reality is not the issue, it was the justification.
We all benefit from an educated society so it should be free for those it suits, but as we have the situation we have, should students get money back when the service doesn't deliver what they want and need?
 
I heard that given the 9000 pounds a year, on one calculation each student is paying upwards of 100 pounds per lecture or tutorial.
You probably need to reconsider your sources and/or question their mathematical ability. Looking at the timetable of a science course in a (supposed) top tier UK university it would be hard to argue that a student is ‘paying’ much more than £20 per lecture/tutorial - a basic calculation that doesn’t even account for the cost to the establishment of laboratory time, equipment and facilities, which would pull that price down even further (just on full time hours alone your claim makes no sense).
 
The justification for making students pay fees was that compared with others their future earnings would be higher.
Whether there is a future relationship between the two in reality is not the issue, it was the justification.
We all benefit from an educated society so it should be free for those it suits, but as we have the situation we have, should students get money back when the service doesn't deliver what they want and need?
so you're rowing back from your earlier position that 'the debate has been about fees relating to future earnings'. i don't think you know what you mean about this future relationship either, you're all over the shop.
 
You probably need to reconsider your sources and/or question their mathematical ability. Looking at the timetable of a science course in a (supposed) top tier UK university it would be hard to argue that a student is ‘paying’ much more than £20 per lecture/tutorial - a basic calculation that doesn’t even account for the cost to the establishment of laboratory time, equipment and facilities, which would pull that price down even further (just on full time hours alone your claim makes no sense).
My 'claim' was what I had heard. The exact figure is clear!y debatable.
Are you suggesting that a student in their fees are paying for all the other stuff but the contact time with lecturers comes free?
 
Agreed, can we all just ignore the idiot.
I feel like Basil Fawlty, just wanting to get one dig in before the police drag the fraudster off...

Well Philosophical, don't you see yourself as some sort of socialist/trade unionist/opponent of neo-liberalism - as seen on the brexit thread you stunk up? How do you think giving students refunds will affect strikers? Won't management go in harder with regard to docking pay? How will it affect staff more generally in a targets driven consumerist environment? If you start giving refunds for cancelled lectures, don't you then have to start giving them for poor student module evaluations? Doesn't it encourage students who fail to get a 2(I) to make a claim? Who wins/loses from this process?
 
I feel like Basil Fawlty, just wanting to get one dig in before the police drag the fraudster off...

Well Philosophical, don't you see yourself as some sort of socialist/opponent of neo-liberalism - as seen on the brexit thread you stunk up? How do you think giving students refunds will affect strikers? Won't management go in harder with regard to docking pay? How will it affect staff more generally in a targets driven consumerist environment? If you start giving refunds for cancelled lectures, don't you then have to start giving them for poor student module evaluations? Doesn't it encourage students who fail to get a 2(I) to make a claim? Who wins/loses from this process?
tbh what students should do at a time like this is take advantage of the extra reading time to do that bit of research they've been putting off. when i was doing my first degree, history, we were told we should be reading 40 hours a week or so. i don't imagine anyone did that amount of research, but in retrospect i wish i had.
 
I feel like Basil Fawlty, just wanting to get one dig in before the police drag the fraudster off...

Well Philosophical, don't you see yourself as some sort of socialist/trade unionist/opponent of neo-liberalism - as seen on the brexit thread you stunk up? How do you think giving students refunds will affect strikers? Won't management go in harder with regard to docking pay? How will it affect staff more generally in a targets driven consumerist environment? If you start giving refunds for cancelled lectures, don't you then have to start giving them for poor student module evaluations? Doesn't it encourage students who fail to get a 2(I) to make a claim? Who wins/loses from this process?

If you can't accept that my enquiry was about the commercialisation of education, and how in that context it might look to students paying a lot of money and nothing happens in terms of contact time. If the students got refunds it might not mean docking extra pay (can there be a double docking of pay anyway?) but it might put pressure on the authorities to settle with the lecturers?
Otherwise what impact is the strike supposed to have if the authorities believe it makes no difference to the students? They even save money from the already docked pay don't they?
 
wow, rescheduling missed teaching as a priority? apart from the fact for most institutions running at maximum capacity for teaching in the timetable already that's impossible, that really is a fucking kick in the teeth from the union

someone on twitter has said if they agree to this it's the end of UCU and I don't think they're far wrong there
 
wow, rescheduling missed teaching as a priority? apart from the fact for most institutions running at maximum capacity for teaching in the timetable already that's impossible, that really is a fucking kick in the teeth from the union
That bit is very strange, like you say it's barely feasible. And goes against what the union has been saying about re-scheduling lectures.
 
That bit is very strange, like you say it's barely feasible. And goes against what the union has been saying about re-scheduling lectures.
It reads more like face-saving pabulum to me. We are "encouraged" to reschedule missed lectures, but even so, disruption will still only be "minimised".
 
i reckon, based upon the increased membership and healthy levels of picketing that the UCU are in a very strong position. Now isnt the time to accept a poor deal, its the moment to increase the pressure on the employers and government by sticking together and extending the action. This dispute can be a decisive win for the union.
 
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