From: Daniel Todman [d.w.todman@qmul.ac.uk]

Hello fellow historian,

I am writing with a School of History specific update about the upcoming industrial action by the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU). You will have received an email about this from the Principal. The university has also produced some FAQs, which you can see here. 

The strike dates currently announced are 14-18 February, 21-22 February, 28 Feb-2 March.

I know any mention of further disruption will be really worrying for you, so in this email I want to give you some more information and reassurance that I hope will help.

You will I am sure have more questions, so on Wednesday 9^th February 1-1.45 we’ll be holding an open ‘town-hall’ style meeting for all students on Teams. The link to join is here: Click here to join the meeting.

Do come along if you can. If you can’t, and there are questions you’d like help with, do pass them on through your course reps. We won’t record the session, but we will keep notes, write up the key points, and distribute them to everyone via email.

The first thing to say is that this is a miserable situation. This is a national dispute between employers and UCU. It is about pensions, pay and conditions, casualisation and pay equality. These are important but complex issues, which helps explain why the two sides disagree about some points so strongly. I know that – whatever their position on industrial action – staff in the School of History care about you, our students. Those who go on strike will do so with a heavy heart. No one wants you to be caught in the middle of it.

The second is that the exact effect of the strike is hard to predict. Not all staff in the School are members of UCU, not all members of UCU will strike, and not all of those who do will be on strike for the whole time. Those who are going to strike won’t tell the School beforehand, so neither I nor the School Office will know in advance which modules or seminars are affected. Staff have been asked to tell you, if they feel able to, if they are going to strike. Most normally do. It is fine for you to ask your seminar tutors and module organisers about this.

The third point is that there will be more certainty soon. In about twelve days, at the end of the first planned week of industrial action, we’ll have a much better sense of which modules and seminars are being affected. At that time, we’ll be able to start planning how to minimise the impact on each of you. Exactly how we do that will differ between students: with so much module choice there will be variation between you in terms of how you are affected by the strike. Our key principles will be to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and that your degree result is not adversely affected. Above all, we will keep communicating with you – in emails like this, through your course reps, and with more ‘town hall’ meetings.

If you feel you need more help, you can contact the history student support office at history-student-support@qmul.ac.uk. You can reach me by email at history-head@qmul.ac.uk. I will reply to all emails – though it sometimes takes a bit of time. If you want to be kind, you could write to me on Monday rather than over the weekend. Do let me know if you have more questions or things that we can help with.

Best regards

Dan