Today saw the much-hyped AUT strike. Of course, our Students Representative Council has yet again put the political views of its executive before… well… representing students, but the union’s claims of rock-solid support from students are just plain BS.
What is really causing respect for lecturers to evapourate is the ‘action short of a strike’ – refusing to mark assessments until their ransom demand is met – with the result that final-year students may not be able to graduate. Of course the AUT propaganda poster claims ‘Nobody wants to disrupt your education’ – with the union knowing fine well that the opposite is the case. The whole point of the strike is to cause as much disruption to students’ education as possible, in effect using students as pawns without their consent.
Luckily, there are still some lecturers willing to do their jobs. My lecture this morning was on as usual, and (despite the pickets outside the building asking people not to go in) it was FULL. Students would in all likelihood be willing to support the pay claim if lecturers weren’t jeapordising our futures for their own financial gain.