UEL lecturers and staff members of the UCU (University and College Union) are set to take 2 days of strike action on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th October 2012 across both UEL campuses. The Education Activist Network calls on all students of UEL to support their lecturers and staff on strike this Wednesday and Thursday. We urge you to sign the petition in support of them and join the walkouts and picket lines in a show of solidarity. WE WILL BE ON THE PICKET LINES @ UEL DOCKLANDS CAMPUS @ CYPRUS STATIO N FROM 8AM BOTH DAYS. The escalation of strike action comes after the brutal attacks that the management of UEL have imposed upon both students and staff. Management are undercutting staffs current terms and conditions, bullying staff and piling upon them heavy workloads. This is part of the wider motive to drive down pay, conditions and pensions to squeeze every penny out of workers. Whilst they are investing heavily in brand imaging, marketing and recruitment. It is clear to see where managements agenda lies. We cannot be divided, it wasn't our lecturers who raised our fees, or closed our departments, or made redundancies and cuts to courses, or squeezed our deadlines. It was the reckless Tory government who implemented these draconian attacks upon education and our management who are driving them through. The ideological assaults the government are making and the willingness of management to enforce them is rapidly deteriorating the state of education at UEL. Students are being turned into consumers and lecturers into providers. Our education is becoming a supermarket for private firms to do as they please. UEL cares more about contracting Starbucks and Costa then it does for our education or our lectures and staff. The attacks on our lecturers and workers are a symptom of the marketisation, privatization and commercialization of our universities. Our DEMANDS are clear: We unilaterally support our staff on strike UELSU shuts down for both days and leads a student walkout Management backs down over its attacks NO privatizations, NO redundancies, NO cuts