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Nadje Al-Ali, professor of gender studies at SOAS, University of London
Photograph: Nadje Al-Ali
"The strike is about so much more than pay, although that is of course crucial in a situation where many colleagues are struggling to make ends meet. However, as a feminist scholar and activist I am particularly concerned about the gender pay gap, which is pervasive across the higher education sector. The most vulnerable and the lowest paid jobs, often part-time and fixed term, are disproportionately held by women and BME colleagues. So for me, the strike is very much about equality, fairness and job security.
"The other issue often ignored is the fact that so many of us are incredibly overstretched in terms of workload. As the value of our salaries fell, our workloads have increased. So many of us are working every evening and every weekend at the expense of our health and out family lives. It is not surprising that between the increasing workloads and the pay squeeze, work-related stress is taking on epidemic proportions."
Freyja Peters, administrator in a research centre at the University of Manchester
Photograph: Freyja Peters
"It is critical to take a stand on this issue. Superficially, 1% is a pay rise but, with inflation still close to 3%, this is a de facto pay cut for all staff at higher education institutions. It's easy to conceive of universities as sheltered places – the ivory towers cliché – but this image obscures the cleaners, porters, administrators, security guards, technicians, caterers and myriad other staff who comprise the majority helping to maintain world-class institutions. These people will not appear on any Research Excellence Framework (REF) form, nor feature in glossy promotional materials to lure in fees from home and abroad. Instead their reward is a salary 'increase' which has already lost them – by UNISON estimates – between £663-£1,173 a year over the past five years.
"My decision to strike was easy and based on two simple questions. Firstly, can universities afford a better offer? When recent Hefce reports indicate "sound overall" financial results for the sector, and when a "real terms reduction" in pay costs is believed to have helped universities make savings, the answer is yes. Our loss has been their gain. Secondly, can we, as employees, afford this pay 'rise'? No. Teamed with the blight of zero-hour contracts and broken promises on living wages for all employees, 1% puts our lowest-paid colleagues at great risk. For them, 1% is not a pay rise, but a further step towards the reality of poverty."
Tom Henri, lecturer in social work at Goldsmiths, University of London
Photograph: Tom Henri
"I believe that education is not a product to be left to the vagaries of the market. Yes, I am striking about pay but I am also striking because I believe that education is about values other than market value. The reason universities are not prepared to pay more than 1% is that they want to drive down costs. The reason they want to drive down costs is to improve their competitiveness with the private sector.
"Ostensibly, the current government's reforms of higher education funding have been about "levelling the playing field" between public universities and private for-profit providers. To this end the government have been quite successful. They have got rid of the block grant for most subjects, which they viewed as an unfair subsidy to the public higher education system, and opened up the student loans system to private providers. In the last year the amount of treasury-backed student loans paid to private providers has trebled, exceeding £100m. There are more than 150 private higher education providers in the UK. Private, for-profit education is now big business. Public universities are attempting to compete in the market place, reducing the value of a higher education to the laws of supply and demand."
Elizabeth Baptiste, senior administrator at the University of Westminster
Photograph: Elizabeth Baptiste
"Although I consider myself reasonably paid, at the end of each working month after paying monthly household bills, travel, food etc, there isn't anything left from my pay. I'm basically living from pay cheque to pay cheque with no opportunity to save. I'm a union representative and witness staff (especially low paid staff) voice concerns about not being able to provide for their families. The cost of living has increased over 15% in five years and the offer of 1% does not reflect this. In the same period pay increases for most staff have been worth around 2.2% and represents a shortfall of around 13% for higher education staff. I'm aware that some people may have concerns about losing a day's pay, but all we ask for is a decent pay increase to enable us to support our families."
Catherine Pope, professor of medical sociology at the University of Southampton
Photograph: Catherine Pope
"I am a professor, and compared to a lot of the people who will be striking today, I earn a decent wage. But thanks to an early career spent moving around the country chasing temporary research contracts, I still have 15 years of mortgage to pay and I have noticed the cost of living increasing while my wages fall in real terms. If I'm noticing inflation, then what is it like for my colleagues: lecturers starting on £27,000, or the lowest paid staff here on just over £13,000? Actually, I know – many of my colleagues are on 'top up' tax credits just to make ends meet.
"I've seen the figures – universities have a surplus of £1bn. Southampton is sitting on over £14m. We have worked hard, teaching more students, responding to external assessment of our research; we go on delivering year on year. It is time for our employers to invest in us. I am going to be on the picket line today supporting colleagues from all three trades unions because enough is enough – we need fair pay."
Paul Catherall, e-learning librarian at the University of Liverpool
Photograph: Paul Catherall
"I'm striking to support the case for a living wage for the poorest and most vulnerable people working in the education sector. Over the past decade we have seen a real-terms decline in pay compared with inflation; additionally, we have seen expanded use of exploitative employment such as zero-hours contracts, which create job insecurity, poverty and increased reliance on debt for millions. I am also striking as a show of solidarity with the wider public sector facing disastrous transformation into for-profit businesses, including health, education, policing and emergency services.
"The ongoing liberalisation of public services has led to inferior services operated for shareholder profit at the expense of genuine community needs, putting our hospitals, schools, social care, infrastructure and economic development at risk. This strike is not just about pay, but a chance to oppose the coalition's wider agenda to completely deregulate our public infrastructure, replacing these sectors with fake commercial interests and to show solidarity with sectors such as the probation service and Royal Mail facing catastrophic privatisation and closure today."
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