Day of action against high work pressure at universities in the making
Monday afternoon there will be consultations in Amsterdam about a national day of action against the high workload at universities. The arrows are aimed at political The Hague, which invests too little in higher education.
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Student organizations, trade unions and individual scientists participate in the consultation, says professor Rens Bod, organizer of the meeting and driving force behind the much-discussed #WOinAction petition. He also expects board members from universities, such as Jan Lintsen from the University of Amsterdam. "It may be the start of more."
Lagging investments
Sixty universities are currently on strike in the United Kingdom. Is it conceivable that this will also happen in the Netherlands? Not for the time being, thinks Bod. “If the same thing happened here with the ABP pension as with the British pensions, then lecturers and professors would take to the streets. We are not campaigning for our income, but against the high workload, the loss of research-driven education and the lagging investments. ”
Still, he does not rule out the possibility that other sounds will be heard on Monday from people who want more radical actions or who come up with different ideas.
Professor Rens Bod: "We are not campaigning for our income, but against the high workload, the decline of research-driven education and against the lagging investments."
Chairman Marijtje Jongsma of the VAWO science union will also be present on Monday. “We are not going to call for a strike now. This is especially effective if you disrupt society by not collecting the garbage, for example. Scientists who lay down work during the day will most likely write off their article in the evening anyway. Moreover, we are currently in the same boat as the employers. After all, we mainly suffer from severe underfunding. We can now focus our arrows better on The Hague. ”
Overexploitation
Utrecht professor Ingrid Robeyns recently called for a 'white strike'. Employees would then no longer have to work overtime so that it becomes clear that the universities are driving these overtime hours and are looting their employees.
She feels closely involved in the fight against work pressure and recently discussed this with the rector of the University of Groningen in the television program Buitenhof. According to her, politicians still do not realize how serious the situation is.
Loyal
“Scientists are incredibly loyal to their students,” she says when asked. “They do whatever it takes to provide good education. But that leaves them with no time or energy to think about improving their own working conditions. That's the paradox: they are too busy to protest against the workload. ”
