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Wednesday March 2, 2022
News 2 Editor Ruth Kelner Deputy Editor Niamh Irvine Opinion 6 Editor Katie Preston Deputy Editor Matt Rogan Features 24 Editor Dan Bennett Deputy Editor Claire Forster Lifestyle 26 Editor Marti Stelling Deputy Editor Sharanya Kumar Science & Tech 27 Editor Oliver Fisher Deputy Editor VACANT Climate 28 Editor Joe Baker Deputy Editor Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb Sport 30 Editor VACANT Deputy Editor VACANT Stage S3 Editor Emily Sinclair Deputy Editor Amber Handley Screen S4 Editor Jed Wagman Deputy Editor Gena Clarke Games S6 Editor Luke Horwitz Deputy Editor VACANT Food S7 Editor Tom Willett Deputy Editor Navya Verma Relationships S8 Editor Bethan Hubbard Deputy Editor VACANT Travel S9 Editor Grace Swadling Deputy Editor Nicholas Chen Books S10 Editor Luke Horwitz Deputy Editor Caitlin Hyland Music S11 Editor Joe Radford Deputy Editor Ben Forsdick
Editor Matt Ward-Perkins Editor Will Rowan Deputy Editor Matt Igoe SCENE Editor Charlie Gaskell Chief Subeditor Lucas Lefley Subeditor Beth Evans Subeditor Alexis Casas Subeditor Kieayna Shodeinde Colverson Subeditor Marti Stelling Subeditor Emily Jebb Subeditor Megan Bartley Subeditor Orla McAndrew Illustrator Niall McGenity Managing Director Jasmine Moody Deputy Managing Director Bethan Hubbard Social Media Director Ella Peebles Technical Director Marks Polakovs Photography Director Vittoria Avigliano Marketing Director Alex Rich Opinions expressed in York Vision are not necessarily those of the Editors, Editorial Team, membership, or advertisers.
NATIONAL UCU PRESIDENT: “I WISH WE DIDN’T HAVE TO STRIKE” BY FAITH
STRIKING STAFF SPEAK OUT
ARNEUD AND Q CUMMINS
TODAY IS THE final day of strike action organised by the University and College Union (UCU) at universities around the country, including York. Staff have been striking on issues including pensions and pay, unsafe workloads, casualisation and inequality. The UCU has said the average working week in education is currently 50 hours, with 29% of staff working 55, while workload has increased for a majority since the pandemic. This increase in labour has come, for many, without an increase in pay, with national wage disparities found on a basis of race (White staff are paid 17% more on average than Black staff), disability (where the gap is 9%) and gender (with a gap of 15.1%). The UCU claims these disparities are likely to take 22 years to resolve with the current rate of change of universities. A key demand being made by the UCU in this term’s strikes is that employers revoke national cuts to staff pensions. Under Universities UK proposals, the UCU claims lecturers stand to face cuts of 35% to their guaranteed retirement income, a figure that Universities UK have
said is in fact around 10-18%. Additional demands from the Union include a wage increase for all staff, and action to tackle inequality and insecure contracts. National UCU President Vicky Blake visited the York strike picket line, and told York Vision: “I wish we weren’t on strike. I wish we didn’t have to strike, but we are here because it seems to be the only way that our employers will listen, and that’s really sad.” Acknowledging the inconvenience that strikes cause students, she said: “we are on strike because it’s the only way that they ever listen to us. “You deserve stable working conditions and fair treatment from your employers […] we are asking for fair and safe workloads.” This emphasis on “fair” and “safe” could be felt in many of the picket speeches, with one staff
A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Matt WardPerkins, Co-Editor
AS WELL AS being York Vision’s 275th issue, this is our final issue as an editorial team. It is also just over three years since Vision was brought back, returning to the University of York’s campus after years of struggles and mistakes. Most importantly, this paper, since its return, has been a home for hard-hitting investigations, breaking news, and content that is all about students at York telling students’ stories. We know that a student paper is not just a student
Will Rowan, Co-Editor
paper, and we have a responsibility to tell your stories the right way. Any publication will make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we get a free pass. It’s the job of every paper’s editorial team to put everything we can into making our publications as good as they can be, and to listen if readers say we’ve got it wrong. You have every right to criticise this paper, to point out things we should do better, to comment on the decisions we make, and that should be true of every publication. Vision is for you, not for us.
member saying: “I beg them to look at the colleagues who have given everything for our students, and I beg them to look at the students who want to be in the classroom and are here because they want to learn, and I beg them to stand up for us.” Picketers included some students who wanted to show solidarity with University staff. Speaking to Vision, YUSU President Patrick O’Donnell said that, in light of delays to exam results, coursework and overcrowded lecture theatres, it is “really important that we are working with the University and other students’ unions nationally to seek progress”. O’Donnell said students would see positive changes to their tuition if the demands of striking staff were met, telling Vision: “Our learning conditions are the working conditions of our staff”
At York and elsewhere, the natural rivalries between media groups have sometimes taken over any time they are in the same place. We have valued the positive working relationships we have been able to build with the teams at other student media groups, including rival publications. This issue obviously follows the end of the YUSU Elections, and we enjoyed attending and reporting on all the main events of the election season. While the turnout and Sabb nomination numbers were perhaps not at the level we would want them to be, let’s hope that the large numbers of first- and second-year students running for Part-Time Officer roles is a sign of things to come as life gets more normal. In Features, we are looking at the election system, and speaking to outgoing officers about the improvements they would like to see. The YUSU Elections aren’t the only things happening on campus, and in this issue we are reporting on the problems returning students have had finding accommodation and much more. In Sport, we are looking ahead
A University spokesperson said: “We recognise that the decision to take industrial action is not taken lightly - we respect colleagues’ right to take part.” When strikes were first called this year, Vice Chancellor Charlie Jeffery said: “The national UCU’s call for action will not change the national challenges facing the pension scheme, and so much headway has already been made on this issue, as well as very constructive progress on pay and working conditions. This is why I have called on all parties to build on the common ground we know exists, rather than continuing the damaging cycle of division we have seen. “I am committed to continuing to work collaboratively with our local UCU branch and to build on all of the work we’ve done so far to continue to provide good employment conditions for all of our staff.”
to College Varsity this Sunday, and the whole of this issue is packed full of revealing stories and insight. When thinking about what to write in a final editors’ note, we inevitably ended up thinking about the people who have enabled Vision to continue to grow. Of course, it is not just our last issue, and Vision would not be what it is without the amazing work of our SCENE Editor Charlie Gaskell, and Deputy Editor Matt Igoe. Their work has helped SCENE to grow, and they have supported the main paper through every prod week we have had. Our Chief Subeditor Lucas Lefley has done an incredible job building up a team that will keep Vision’s grammar and spelling in check for years to come, and there are many more of our outgoing committee who we don’t have space to thank, but Vision would not be printed without. If you’d like to be one of the people who takes this paper forward next year, please do come down to our AGM next Tuesday at 6pm in V/N/045. You don’t need any experience, and take it from us - this is a great team to be a part of.
