OXFORD WORKER JUSTICE
Oxford Worker Justice is a network of workers at the University of Oxford, organising in our workplace and building solidarity between staff at the university’s many colleges, departments and trade unions. With support from students, we fight for pay, conditions, and staff self-organisation!OWJ aims to break the atomisation of the University – with its divided colleges, departments and multiple recognised unions – by building connections and organising efforts on the ground across the institution.As workers, we know there are low-waged and casualised staff in the classrooms, in the offices, and in the kitchens of the university, and through OWJ we hope to come together to support each other, alongside solidarity from students.
OXFORD WORKER JUSTICE
Principles
We oppose the gross inequality of the university. It and its colleges own approximately 100,000 acres of land and billions in wealth, much of it acquired through historical dispossession and donation by colonial and neocolonial elites. Meanwhile, many colleges pay less than a living wage.We oppose the atomisation of the university. The university is in reality one huge workplace, but it can pretend otherwise via its many departmental and collegiate divisions. This leaves workers and their unions unable to fight back wholesale against poor pay and casualised conditions, while the many arms of the university collaborate whenever they see fit.We oppose the racism of the university. The lowest paid staff are generally precarious black and brown migrants, and the top earners are internationally influential white property holders, with a sliding scale in between. Since the university is the largest employer in Oxfordshire, this racial hierarchy of labour has a major impact in segregating neighbourhoods and creating unequal living conditions. This fits neatly into a history of profiting from and propping up racism and empire.We are for the self-organisation of workers, at the university and everywhere (whether employed or unemployed). Only through our democratic self-organisation can we win changes in our pay and conditions, in the structure of the university, and in the wider world! Unions will only work for us if we push them. HR departments are often worse than useless.
OXFORD WORKER JUSTICE
Strategy
Oxford Worker Justice works on a strategy of organising where you are. As individual university workers, we try to understand our own position in the structure and functions of the university — its profitmaking and production of international elites — and the leverage we have, at a university, department, and college level, and within our trade union branches (UCU, Unite, Unison).In order to do that, we need to support each other. Organising your workplace alone can be difficult and isolating. Together, we can work on organising strategies, figure out how to relate to our union branches, or just have a moan about our workloads and managers!We also understand that organising can be a slow process, involving the difficult work of bringing together people from very different backgrounds, who may speak different languages, and face very different working conditions. So we can't just focus on quick wins and good PR, we need to steadily and deliberately forge solidarity.OWJ also invites all students — undergraduates and graduates — at the University to get involved as well. Students can often have more spare time and have less to lose than, particularly casualised, staff. Some students can build contacts with cleaning and academic staff in a way that other workers cannot necessarily, if they are isolated to their particular department, college, or office building. Students can also help with our research into colleges' dubious employment practices.
OXFORD WORKER JUSTICE
Get Involved
To get involved, fill out our form!You don't need to be experienced to help out! If you're interested in having organising conversations with colleagues; social media; graphic design; events & socials planning; or you just want to moan about your manager, join us!
OXFORD WORKER JUSTICE
Events
Still in the planning stages, we hope to host regular events, most importantly peer support meetings for those working to organise their department or college or office or team, or generally facing problems at work. Here we provide snacks and drinks and keep the atmosphere relaxed. Sometimes we can also provide informal organising and Know Your Rights trainings.Whenever they come up, we will organise actions — protests, flyering sessions, stalls — to support fellow members in their organising.We also have occasional socials — a film screening, reading group, pub trip. We aspire to more the larger we get. A five-a-side match is still a while off!To find out about all future events, follow us on social media (links below), or sign up using our form!
