Settle in, kids. I'm going to talk about professional services in HE.
When the media report on the #UCUStrike they're often framing it as a 'lecturers strike', and ignoring those of us in PS, research, non-teaching roles, and more.
They do it to divide us. They can do one. 1/
When the media report on the #UCUStrike they're often framing it as a 'lecturers strike', and ignoring those of us in PS, research, non-teaching roles, and more.
They do it to divide us. They can do one. 1/
Over half the staff in HE are professional services. We are the IT staff that keep your systems running. We are the administrators that make sure students are on the right courses, we are wellbeing services who look after mental health, we are librarians, we are careers... 2/
We are estates, who keep the power and the plumbing on, security who provide 24/7 cover including first aid to keep students and staff safe.
We are the university. All of us. Academics, professional services, cleaning staff, catering staff, students, specialists, technicians 3/
We are the university. All of us. Academics, professional services, cleaning staff, catering staff, students, specialists, technicians 3/
Professional services are the underappreciated cousin. Not just lecturers are out on strike for fair pay, working conditions, anti-casualisation, pay gaps and pensions.
See us. Hear us. 4/
See us. Hear us. 4/
When budgets are strained in departments, we are the first people hit. 'Reorganisation' often means redundancies or downgrading. Jobs are outsourced, stripped back and centralised, specialist knowledge is lost, and we either have to change job or lose our job. 5/
And if we're doing well, if we're good at our jobs there is nowhere to go. You don't get promoted in a PS job. You are on a set grade. If you want a pay rise, you have to change jobs. The administrator who has been there for 20 years and knows the job inside out has not had... 6/
...a pay rise in 10 years. Even when the job keeps changing, the workload keeps increasing, and more and more we are sandwiched between higher management and academic staff, acting as the buffer zone to enforce policy which we don't agree with. 7/
Professional services staff are more likely to be in open plan offices, to be expected to 'hot-desk'. Which of course means people with disabilities or caring duties don't get a desk because they can't be there at 7.30am to claim a desk. 8/
Our time is policed. Particularly at junior grades, showing up at 7.30 to get said desk isn't compensated because 'your hours are 8-4'. And then our workload increases every single year. A lot of duties suddenly fall under 'any other duties commensurate with this role' 9/
We're called on to produce more and more metrics, measure research output, measure student attainment, measure 'student experience', monitor attendance, monitor lecture capture usage, produce Athena SWAN plans... 10/
And with every metric and report we're asked to write, our time is eaten away from actually HELPING STUDENTS, or SUPPORTING RESEARCH. How can we look after our students as individuals, when student numbers go up and our time is wasted on monitoring? 11/
When we do produce data, we are shouted down. We are treated as second rate staff. Professional services staff's expertise and experience is belittled. Staff surveys constantly show massive amounts of bullying and disrespect. 12/
We are professionals. Let us do our job. Let us use our expertise to make decisions related to our job without the need for an academic to oversee us. Academics, I love you, but just because you have a PhD in Law doesn't mean you know about eg. web design. 13/
We are one university. All of us together. Don't let the media blind you. Respect your PS staff. We know what we're doing. Recognise our struggles in parallel with yours. Casualisation affects us all. Workloads affect us all. The gender pay gap is... 14/
...particularly prevalent in PS staff. There are more women among PS staff than men, and we are in some of the lowest paid jobs in the university. Black and brown women in particular are called on to do extra work, equality reps, marketing, look at how diverse we are! 15/
If you've got this far, well done. I love my colleagues, academics, PS, cleaners, caterers, all of you.
Let's just take a moment to remember that we are ALL struggling in this environment in different ways, and recognise that we need to fight together.
Mic drop. Done 16/16.
Let's just take a moment to remember that we are ALL struggling in this environment in different ways, and recognise that we need to fight together.
Mic drop. Done 16/16.
