Thanks everybody for another successful strike day. This post sums up the day’s activities, and points towards next week’s action, too.
Local pickets:
Pickets outside individual schools were strong, with a good showing that indicates good resolve among members on the second day of the strike.
Some of us felt that we’d handed out the general UCU strike leaflet to everybody, and that a new, local-oriented one was needed. This has now been designed and will be printed ready for members to distribute from Monday.
Main Picket 11am
After staffing the school pickets, we all converged on the Main Building to swap stories, chant, and hear speeches. This will be a general pattern on every strike day now, and is a good way of coming together as a general collective after working in small groups. The Heath Park Campus pickets mananged to proceed without interference from hospital security staff.
University Matters Session and Strike Committee Meeting:
There was a very busy and vibrant banner making, comms, and discussion “University Matters” session at Cathays Community Centre on Cathays Terrace, which is quickly becoming an unofficial strike centre, and was buzzing with activity. There was also a planning session to work on the plans for next week’s Teach Out, and a vibrant and busy strike committee meeting where we mapped out plans for the coming weeks (see below).
Next week’s events:
The strike programme is pasted in below, and, along with daily pickets, we have a few things to focus on and build for next week:
- Monday 26th Feb, meeting “Students and Staff United for Education”(1pm, Cathays Community Centre Bingo Hall).
This will be a key organising event with two foci: firstly, to build the pressure on our VC locally to join the ranks of dissident VCs; and secondly, to help the students and student societies who support us organise into a strike solidarity committee which could represent/organise students (which will give us really useful links and partnership students for comms and campaigning purposes). - Tuesday 27th Feb, Teach Out (1pm, Cathays Community Centre Bingo Hall).
This was being planned today, and the full programme will be available soon. Please come along! - Wednesday 28th February, Rally at the Main Building, 11am
We’re going for another rally, to build on the success of yesterday’s, and will be inviting supportive politicians, students, and trades unionists as well as musicians and bands, as well as trying to get some more media coverage. Please shout about this far and wide.
Make sure you bring a thick coat and double layer your socks: next week promises to be a bit chillier than what we’ve been seeing already. Have a great weekend, and keep your spirits up.
Best,
Cardiff UCU Strike Communications Team
Strike Program Week 2