A little bird tells me human resources bosses had more than the University and College Union (UCU) strike to worry about last week. Advisers at the Association of Colleges were hard at work dealing with queries about strike problems - but not necessarily those relating to the lecturers’ walkout. Clearly, college managers had seen the lecturers’ strike coming - but their problems came from a little further afield.
It seems the National Union of Teachers’ strike on the same day was causing even more mayhem - because staff not taking part in the UCU strike were asking if they could have the day off to look after children who would have been at school.
But what about those UCU members who had the foresight to book a day off for childminding in anticipation of the NUT walkout - only to discover they would be striking the same day? How do you strike on a day off?
Presumably, all they had to do was call in to cancel their day off and turn up on the picket line with their children in tow to help hold the banners.
