Back on strike

The whole country is on strike! And so were we. A while ago, the union had put out a ballot. Did we want to strike for the usual things? Wage, pensions, working conditions? I still think I can't complain about my wage. I am worryingly ignorant about my pension. But I do know that I think the working conditions in the university are not ideal. 

I also pondered the union and me. They had supported me when the University had first driven me into RSI, and then tried to make me redundant. Even if I wasn't full of fire for the cause of the strike, surely if I expected them to be there for me, I should be there for them? And as well; I have just spoken out against my line manager about working conditions; surely I would then be willing to speak out against the entire university as well. So after a lot of thinking, I decided to vote in favour of the strike. And many people did. So that strike would happen.

And in November it did. It was after the really hectic period of term, an after I had come down with a cold. I decided to go to the picket line anyway; surely a bit of standing around with a placard is not going to make a cold an awful lot worse.

I did two afternoon shifts in the first week. The first day I spent most of the time talking to a bloke from the school of linguistics; he had been the one who had delivered a lecture on Gaelic in summer. We spoke Welsh, of course.

The second day I spotted Peredur, who I have been practising Welsh with. We had let our sessions slip a bit! So it was good to catch up here. He also introduced me to one of his master students: Andrew, who was American. He was quite the language man; he had also learned German and Dutch. We had a brief conversation in my mother tongue! That was fun.

The session should have seen a visit from Hywel Williams, the local MP, and Sian Gwenllian, the local senate member. They didn't show up for some reason. But someone who did show up was the new VC who popped by for a little chat. He was mainly talking football though! Our picket line was erected only minutes after Wales got trashed by Iran, so quite a lot of people still had their head in the game. And I suppose as the VC you could argue he should've been more interested in why we were striking, but there we are. It was kind of him to pop by.

I then went home. This was already my third strike! And it might not be the last one. We'll see. But I think it is good that we have a union, and that it lets its voice be heard. And at least I had an excellent opportunity for practising my Welsh!

Picture by Dyfrig