UK academics must stand up to stop universities becoming sweatshops | Steven Jones

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Employment practices akin to dubious fashion outlets mean qualified professionals are used as poorly paid casual labour

When senior academics go on strike, it is not usually because of financial hardship. Pay, while modest, is comfortable. Instead, academics’ motivation to strike runs much deeper: universities have been fast-tracked towards a market system that sits uneasily with their public role and employees’ values.

Institutional managers say they are powerless to resist structural reform. Highest fees in Europe? Blame the government. Yet more league tables and metrics? Blame the regulator. But casualisation can’t be blamed so readily on external forces.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/37AQivB

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