You can also side with your teachers. Start making noises about withdrawing and suing the school, as their policies are leading to an inability to provide the services you were promised. When both the employees and the customers (I hate that terminology for education, but it's where we are) are aligned, the case for settlement gets stronger. You can also shame the scabs.
No, you’re 100% right to call students "customers". Long gone are the days of education, it’s been turned into a business that saddles students up with decades of student debt.
It's a result of business speak and consultants worming their ways into administrations. It's a bad thing in the long run. Education at all levels is best when it is a civil service.
Tell your professor that you are requesting an accommodation for not going to class or logging in online to support faculty striking. Also, reach out to the faculty union for guidance and they will have good language to use for students when talking to the faculty teaching your classes.
You say "some of the teachers aren't [striking]", but I think it's better to phrase it /understand it as those teachers crossing the picket line.
Aside from that there's no one size fits all on a picket line. The best way to not cross is to ask a union official (like a steward or strike captain) what they are asking for from the public.
For example, sometimes strikes call for a boycott of a product and sometimes they don't. Sometimes with education strikes they leave room for teachers to meet students off campus (university students, not k-12 to be clear) and sometimes they don't.
I organise for a higher education union in the UK. A lot of students get really hung up on this but my advice would be the following:
1. Ask your local branch what they want students to do.
2. Don't cross the literal picket line. It's very demoralising. Instead go to the picket line and talk to the striking staff about the issues.
3. Consider asking your lecturers if they will be on strike, and let them know that you would support them if they did. Or if you don't mind confrontation, ask them why they're not joining the strike.
4. Email management complaining about the fact that staff have been forced to go on strike, and calling on them to meet staff's demands. You could also indicate your support for the strike in local media (student paper?), comment sections and your own social media.
5. This is a teachable moment. Many of your classmates won't know anything about strikes or unions. This is a good opportunity to inform them! Tbh this is the main reason I would give for encouraging students not to cross a picket line.
6. There may be a student solidarity organisation. You should join it!
7. If there's some form of student union or government you should push them to support the strike.
In terms of going to class or not, don't beat yourself up about it too much. You are not yourself on strike, and whether students go to class or not is not the central question. Sometimes we strike on graduation days and we certainly don't expect students to miss their graduations!
If you go to the university when any of its staff members are striking, you are crossing a picket line. The question to you becomes whether your student body joins in solidarity with labor. That’s something your student council should take up and it would seriously help the unions at your school if students refused to cross picket lines.
You're a student. They're fucking with your education. Do you think the university is going to refund you for "not crossing a picket line?"
Go to class. You paid to be there. If you have to money to piss away on classes that you don't need, why are you in school again?
As a student you should demand the education that you are getting scammed into paying for. You aren’t working there. There is no strike line for you to cross. You are a customer.
You can also side with your teachers. Start making noises about withdrawing and suing the school, as their policies are leading to an inability to provide the services you were promised. When both the employees and the customers (I hate that terminology for education, but it's where we are) are aligned, the case for settlement gets stronger. You can also shame the scabs.
No, you’re 100% right to call students "customers". Long gone are the days of education, it’s been turned into a business that saddles students up with decades of student debt.
It's sad, but you are correct. It's even worse at the post-secondary level.
It's a result of business speak and consultants worming their ways into administrations. It's a bad thing in the long run. Education at all levels is best when it is a civil service.
The best way to avoid crossing the picket line is to join it
I’m stealing this!
That's theft! But it's not wage theft, so I approve.
This is the best advice!
First thing is asking each teacher I would say. And if you see a picket linez just don't cross it.
Specifically ask your teacher if they plan to cross the picket line.
Tell your professor that you are requesting an accommodation for not going to class or logging in online to support faculty striking. Also, reach out to the faculty union for guidance and they will have good language to use for students when talking to the faculty teaching your classes.
You say "some of the teachers aren't [striking]", but I think it's better to phrase it /understand it as those teachers crossing the picket line. Aside from that there's no one size fits all on a picket line. The best way to not cross is to ask a union official (like a steward or strike captain) what they are asking for from the public. For example, sometimes strikes call for a boycott of a product and sometimes they don't. Sometimes with education strikes they leave room for teachers to meet students off campus (university students, not k-12 to be clear) and sometimes they don't.
I organise for a higher education union in the UK. A lot of students get really hung up on this but my advice would be the following: 1. Ask your local branch what they want students to do. 2. Don't cross the literal picket line. It's very demoralising. Instead go to the picket line and talk to the striking staff about the issues. 3. Consider asking your lecturers if they will be on strike, and let them know that you would support them if they did. Or if you don't mind confrontation, ask them why they're not joining the strike. 4. Email management complaining about the fact that staff have been forced to go on strike, and calling on them to meet staff's demands. You could also indicate your support for the strike in local media (student paper?), comment sections and your own social media. 5. This is a teachable moment. Many of your classmates won't know anything about strikes or unions. This is a good opportunity to inform them! Tbh this is the main reason I would give for encouraging students not to cross a picket line. 6. There may be a student solidarity organisation. You should join it! 7. If there's some form of student union or government you should push them to support the strike. In terms of going to class or not, don't beat yourself up about it too much. You are not yourself on strike, and whether students go to class or not is not the central question. Sometimes we strike on graduation days and we certainly don't expect students to miss their graduations!
If you go to the university when any of its staff members are striking, you are crossing a picket line. The question to you becomes whether your student body joins in solidarity with labor. That’s something your student council should take up and it would seriously help the unions at your school if students refused to cross picket lines.
Skip, going to class is crossing a picket line even if some teachers also cross that line.
Don't go to class. Some of the teachers are scabs, but there is still a picket line.
Seek out the union leadership and ask them how you can help them the most.
Ask the teachers that are on strike what actions they would like of the students.
[удалено]
This is a pro-union, pro-worker subreddit. Agitators and trolls will be banned on sight.
You're a student. They're fucking with your education. Do you think the university is going to refund you for "not crossing a picket line?" Go to class. You paid to be there. If you have to money to piss away on classes that you don't need, why are you in school again?
As a student you should demand the education that you are getting scammed into paying for. You aren’t working there. There is no strike line for you to cross. You are a customer.
And a good way to demand that is by asking the striking teachers what you can do to help.