University of Sussex staff are hosting a full slate of events on strike days, including talks, teach-ins, and even a day to bring along your puppers.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are striking over proposed pension changes for 14 days over four weeks, starting Thursday 22nd February.

UCU members have planned a full programme, starting with Professor Gurminder Bhambra’s ‘In defence of the public university’ at 13:30 on Thursday in Mandela Hall.

A UCU organiser told The Badger: “our catalogue of events will help contextualize industrial action in the wider context of a marketised higher education sector”.

The events may also lessen the educational loss of teaching for students. “These talks are an interesting way to engage students in the industrial action and ensure solidarity within the university community despite the lack of, like, classes and stuff”, one final year English student commented.

Other highlights include Paws for Pensions – an open invitation to bring your four-legged friends to the picket – and teach-ins on Art in Protest, a decolonial history of labour disputes, and a poetry reading and open mic.

Events will occur both on the picket lines themselves, and in Falmer House – home of the Students’ Union, which this week voted to support strike action.

On the question of the relevance of canine support for industrial action, one commentator quipped that “with these pension changes, our careers will be put on a leash. Like our dogs.”

Images: Sussex UCU

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