Trade union solidarity is a great thing. The National Union of Students stood shoulder to shoulder with the academic unions, Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers, in opposing the government's variable fees bill (which also restorated grants for the poorest students) and nearly won.
But having lost that battle, lecturers want the new money anyway. On the basis that graduates will have to repay £9,000 or so for a degree, bringing extra money into universities, their teachers are demanding a 20% pay rise over three years to make up for decades of declining salaries.
Intellectually inconsistent, you might say, but that's what unions are for - to fight for their members' interests. So who's fighting for students?
The lecturers and university employers are lobbing rhetorical grenades at eachother and industrial action is due to begin in two weeks with a boycott of exams and assessment. If lecturers really mean it this will seriously mess students about. A small example of the effectiveness of this tactic was seen at London Metropolitan University last year when an unrelated dispute meant students' graduation results were delayed, potentially affecting their search for jobs.
Students are caught in the crossfire of the looming dispute, which poses a dilemma for their elected representatives. The NUS backs the lecturers' case and the University of London Union issued the mysterious statement: "We support action by the AUT and Natfhe that does not impact negatively on our members." But the whole point of the planned industrial action is to impact negatively on students - otherwise no one would notice.
Kat Fletcher, NUS president, is more rational and admits that the short-term interests of students could be harmed but that this is outweighed by the long-term interests of higher education. "It's not in their interest to be taught by badly paid and undermotivated staff," says Fletcher who blames the employers for the dispute and says that student unions should put pressure on vice-chancellors to come up with a serious offer. The NUS "broadly" backs the lecturers' 20% pay claim, she says.
How this plays on campus is anybody's guess. Mine would be that where students feel they are being properly taught they might be prepared for a bit of pain and anxiety about missed exams and results but where they feel they are being asked to fund academics to pursue their own research interests, they might get very angry indeed.
