Picketing may have stopped at noon today, but the industrial action continues! It has been an incredible first day, and UCU members have been heartened by all the outpouring of support from SUBU, students, and the local public alike.
Members were tweeting from 7.30am, with well over 200 tweets, and hundreds of views, likes and retweets throughout the day. The UCU Regional Office noticed the surprise Star Wars theme developing, and thought it one of the best they’d seen! The Force is clearly with us here at BU.
This website has had over 450 views today alone, with 214 unique visitors, so is clearly proving a useful place for information and updates – please keep sharing across your networks!
Out on Talbot Campus, SUBU made their presence felt by bringing much-needed hot drinks, as well as their backing. Some fantastic students from the BA English programme and others also came along with cakes, and to chat to striking staff.
Local and regional media picked up the story too, and we received some great coverage on BBC’s Dorset Breakfast, a write up from Wessex FM, and an honourable mention in an ITV report. If you’re looking for the national view, then The Guardian have offered perhaps the best editorial so far (though they forgot to acknowledge all the brilliant professional services staff, as well as lecturers, on strike).
Thank you again to everyone who has liked, shared, honked, waved a banner, taken a leaflet, stopped to chat, and demanded that BU take notice – UCU members thank you from the bottom of their hearts. We, the students and staff, are the university, and it was brilliant to see that spirit today.
We hope to see the same level of energy and effort tomorrow, so please do come on down to the pickets at Poole House/Gateway (Talbot) and Bournemouth House (Lansdowne), keep the coffee and cakes coming, and remember to keep sharing and supporting!
#UCUstrikesback #strikeBU
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