And yet there was still a terrific turnout and a fantastic atmosphere of friendship and support from everyone. This says a lot about how strongly we all feel about what has happened to our pay.
Picketing began at 0700hrs for some but by 0800hrs the picket lines were fully staffed and UNISON, Unite and UCU members once again stood together to show that the 1% pay rise, pushed through by the employers, is a derisory amount. The rise doesn't cover the bills all of which have shot up at least by the rate of inflation and the rate of inflation in December 2013 was 2% according to the BBC News Business.
We are still getting poorer and we wanted our employers to understand and remember that and do something about it. They tell us that there is nothing they can do because the pay increase is set by the UCEA not the individual universities. This is a disingenuous response because the UCEA takes its instructions from the Universities. It only needs the will of the Universities to instruct the UCEA to negotiate upwards on our pay and our pay would rise. There is blatantly no will to give such an instruction and so the employer - the University - is directly responsible for keeping our pay down - not the Vice Chancellors' pay - but ours.
For this reason, we took to the picket lines again. Click here to see a slide show of the morning outside building 37 - Student Services.
At 1100hrs all the outlying members from Avenue, Winchester and around the Highfield Campus rallied outside building 37 where members of management came out to hear our views and discuss the unions' claims that there is enough money in the pot for us to have a fair pay rise.
Anna Lyon (2nd from left) (UNISON Branch Secretary) and Jonathan Chipp (right) (UNISON Branch Chair)
speak with Malcolm Ace (centre) (UoS Chief Operating Officer)
Janice Donaldson (left) (Director of HR) speaks with UCU representatives
Professor Adam Wheeler (right) (UoS Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor) speaks with UCU representatives
We had some fun too with rotating banners....click here to see the high tech, laser display board. (If the video does not play once it has opened - click on the 'download' tab at the top of the newly opened video screen).
Click here to hear Mike Wilson, UNISON Regional Organiser, speak at the rally.
And finally - if you want to get into some chanting - click here.
All of us in the Branch Executive thank you, UoS members of UNISON, for your staunch and stoical support on the day; for your work in preparing for the day and for bringing your brollies and pac-a-macs and standing out there in the wet and cold to speak out for FairPay in HE.
All of us also thank the wonderful people who trouped round providing tea and coffee and biscuits to keep the spirits and sugar levels up. You were the angels of mercy as you headed to each grateful picket line.
