Teachers take part in the first national pay strike in 21 years, as they march through central London. Lewis Whyld/Press Association. All rights reserved.In an excellent reflection on the University and College Union (UCU) strike over changes to their USS pension scheme last week, Brendan McGeever illuminates the thread that connects some of the current strikers to the Millbank demonstrators of 2010: it’s basically the same people, and one could quite easily tell that this is the case by looking at the faces of many of those marching at the UCU demo in central London last week.
As we enter the second week of our strike, I think it is important to highlight another fact: the fact that many of us now fighting through the UCU and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) ranks also carry histories of struggle elsewhere — histories that may clash with or complement struggles in this country.
I have been thinking over this in my intense ongoing discussions with international colleagues here and those back in Greece: discussions on the potential effectiveness of the strike, on the use of the picket line as a tactic, on the not-quite radical nature of the demands, on where each of us stands — or should stand — based on their line of work, on their capacity and their needs.
