The Executive Committee of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, together with the undersigned members of the organization, stand in solidarity with the striking members of the University and College Union. We support your strike action protesting falling pay, including the attempt to cut worker pension schemes (so-called “de-risking”), the gender and ethnic pay gap, precarious employment practices, and unsafe and abusive workloads. We want to lend our particular support to your work to strike for better working conditions not just for faculty but for all academic staff, including PhD students, without whom our universities and colleges would fall apart. Without a real investment in its staff, British universities, like American universities, fail in their mission to support student learning.

We encourage our own members to send messages of support and solidarity through social media and to donate to your Fighting Fund: https://www.ucu.org.uk/fightingfund