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--+ AS THE AUT strike continues, concerns are growing amongst students and staff alike. The strike, which was first imposed on March 1, may continue for longer than either would have hoped and its long-term effects are beginning to cause students anxiety about their work.

Dr Ann Kettle from the St Andrews Medieval History Department, and the University President of the AUT was not available to comment on the situation, having gone away for the week. However, Dr John Ball, the University AUT Representative who works in IT Services, commented on growing frustration towards the employers, University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), as he feels that they are still to realise “that we are serious about this.” According to Ball, the terms that the employers have offered regarding pay, “are not acceptable.” He then remarked on the underlying principle of the strike, saying, “If it was just a matter of a pay-rise, we would have given up long ago. But this time they’ve reduced the pay-rise scale, and lecturers will be earning less money over their careers than if they had stuck to the original scale.”

The Principal, Brian Lang, has demonstrated his own wish for matters to be rectified between the AUT and the UCEA, this week calling for negotiations to resume between the two groups.

As academics taking part in the strike express their reasons for doing so, one may well ask where this leaves the students. Many still seem unsure of how the strike will effect them. But Dr Ball stressed the point that there is no reason why they should not be kept up to date: “all members of the AUT have been asked to inform all the students in the class about the strike and why we’re still doing this.”

However, Derek Macleod, President of the Association believed that there was an inconsistency in the nature of the strike, saying that there appeared to be a “general confusion of what the action is, who will still be marking things, who will not, etc.” Macleod himself did not believe that students had been adequately informed about the strike, remarking: “The student body has not been told officially - Brian Lang did send an email to all students, but there has been no definitive voice from the AUT.”

Certainly many students are beginning to be made to feel insignificant by the strike’s actions. A second year English student felt angry at what she believed to be the thoughtless attitude of some staff regarding the effects the strike may have on students’ work. She was told that “if I want essay feedback, I will have to find a post-grad or final year student myself to get it.” Those students who are set to graduate are likely to feel the impact of the strike more seriously however, as they fear that their degrees will be harmed. Mairi McConnachie, a 4th year Anthropology student, says that her dissertation supervisor striking, could “in effect stop me graduating.” Her belief is that it would disadvantage students less if tutors boycotted “classes rather than marking.”

Dr Ball claimed that the seriousness of the possible effects on students is what will make the employers reconsider the matter: “The situation has become so serious that now there’s no going back, which is why we’re hoping that they’ll agree to talk again.”

Derek Macleod saw the inevitability of a “short-term disruption” caused by the strike, but said that this “cannot go so far as to be detrimental to students.” Macleod ended on a more encouraging note, saying that the staff themselves will not benefit in the long run from the strike if they refuse to mark student’s work. He added that “chances are, some may be marking it - they would not want to come out of a strike with a huge build-up of marking to do.” He concluded that the strike is therefore “not in anyone’s interests, and resolutions will have to be reached sooner or later.”