Pity the poor student, writes Matthew Taylor. Reading every book, straining every brain cell to achieve their best, only for the effort to be wasted because greedy, militant lecturers want more money and are refusing to teach or mark work until somebody coughs up.
The lecturers strike, which starts today, but threatens to rumble on through the spring and summer, has already run into criticisms along these lines from employers and students alike.
The dispute centres around pay and [unsurprisingly] the fact that staff don't think they are getting enough. More specifically their gripe is that when universities were lobbying ministers to introduce top-up fees, they said the extra cash would allow them to pay their hard working, put-upon staff a living wage.
Now the deal on tuition fees is in the bag the unions claim that bosses are not so keen to share the loot, and are putting it around that lecturers are in fact already onto a cushy number with average pay in excess of £40,000.
This has left staff somewhat irked. But already the decision to strike has brought the usual chorus of protest.
"They are only hurting the students." "This is no way to win the argument." "How could they do this at this time of year if they care about the people they teach."
It's a cry that goes up every time anyone, anywhere threatens to stand up and demand a better deal, be it tube workers, firemen, teachers ... and now lecturers.
But what do we expect people to do if they feel they are not being paid enough and negotiations with employers prove fruitless? The right to withdraw labour, and its ability to cause disruption, is pretty fundamental and one that has proved a powerful tool in forcing employers to improve pay and conditions once or twice over the last, well, few centuries or so.
So although students may feel a bit peeved that some of their work will fall by the wayside they should consider targeting their anger at employers as well as unions and hopefully the pressure will have the desired effect and force both sides to reach an acceptable agreement.
