This document is an introduction to the initial experiences of a joint agitation group made of students and workers at City University, made as a result of first uproar against outsourcing of cleaning, overworked security staff and then announcements of massive redundancy schemes.
Capitalism now faces a crisis, not just of overproduction but of profitability globally. As the rate of profit steadily declines, the ruling class tightens the screws, forcing ever more brutal exploitation of workers. This systemic rot is felt even within our universities: at City University and across the UK, 40% of universities are now running at a loss. To add salt to the wound of post-Brexit stagnation, the Labour Party has pathetically tried to reinvent itself as the Reform Party by throwing migrants under the bus through harsher immigration restrictions. As a result, fewer international students are coming to the UK. Because why would they? It is much harder to work here after graduating than in other Western countries. Fewer international students mean less revenue, as universities have long treated them as cash cows, charging them double or more than home students' fees. Each home student now represents a £250 deficit, an intolerable burden in the eyes of university managers and investors. University bureaucrats and stakeholders, however, have several options:
1)Redundancies and pay cuts to cut costs,
2) Overworking staff to compensate for shortages,
3)Outsourcing essential services to profit-driven contractors,
4)Downgrading facilities,
5) Rent increases in university-owned halls,
6)Lobbying for a national tuition fee hike.
Then, what needs to be done? To combat these attacks on the working class, the City Student-Worker Action Group (henceforth SWAG) was established. The SWAG is a currently acephalous agitation group, established by the Internationalist Society (IntSoc) to become a predecessor to a future strike committee/mass assembly. It is organised around the struggle of both staff and students to advance our own interests, in our respective institutions.
The SWAG at City University is an attempt to connect the demands of the staff with those of the students. Whether you work at the university or are enrolled as a student, an attack or injustice against one part of the university inevitably affects the whole community. In essence, it is all one struggle. That is why the action group exists: to unite students and workers in solidarity against the corporate practices of the university bosses. If we are to learn from the experiences of the 2010 student strikes, the frequent strike actions by UCU which do not amount to significant gains, the precarious nature of the jobs of outsourced staff who have less bargaining power.... We learn that there is no alternative to combined action.
So far, we have been active in supporting the cleaners' struggle against the university’s practice of outsourcing through the agency Julius Rutherford & Co. The cleaners carry out essential work for the university and deserve to be brought in-house and given the same treatment as directly employed staff. Supporting strike action and attending protests shows the bosses that they cannot continue to ignore the growing problems within the university. Hundreds of professional services staff are going to be placed at risk this year so that they can find 150 staff members to fire, without actually having to give them additional remuneration for being fired. The catering staff also had enough of their jobs being so precarious. While the university may still function during a cleaners’ strike, by bringing in other contractors, it would be unable to operate if students and other staff members acted together in solidarity, as a single force. The university would have no choice but to listen to our demands. On the other hand, a student strike may achieve limited success, but without coordination with the workers, it would remain isolated and ultimately fail to apply sufficient pressure on the university.
For now, SWAG remains small, but we are committed to supporting the struggles of all workers across the university and preparing for the year ahead. We aim to grow our presence on campus significantly, with the goal of forming a combined strike committee. The cuts keep coming, even though fees have already gone up, but we will not let it go unchallenged. The Student Worker Action Group is here to bring students and workers together to push back hard against these attacks and to link our struggle at City with those at other universities facing the same exploitative system.
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