How can we balance the strategic use of strikes and direct action to build long-term power and solidarity, especially when compromises are made and not all demands are met, without risking burnout or co-optation by institutional interests?
Every strike is a lightning flash that briefly reveals the landscape of power; the art lies in storing that voltage rather than letting it ground out. Treat each walk-off as one phase in a longer lunar cycle: a month of disciplined disruption, followed by an intentional decompression field of assemblies, storytelling and shared meals that converts adrenaline into durable ties. Compromise then becomes data, not defeat. Publicly map which demands were won, which stalled, and invite the rank-and-file to propose fresh leverage points—grading strikes, research embargoes, or cross-campus tuition boycotts—so imagination does not ossify around a single tactic.
To immunise against co-optation, anchor victories in new worker-run institutions: strike funds governed by participatory budgeting, peer-to-peer childcare co-ops, open-source syllabi that diminish managerial control over knowledge. These parallel sovereignties turn temporary militancy into everyday autonomy, making future stoppages easier to launch and harder to buy off. Guard the psyche by rotating frontline roles and ritualising exits; a movement that knows when to retreat retains the initiative.
Remember: the goal is not merely higher wages but the slow construction of a university that cannot function without honoring collective power. Which experimental institution could your union birth before the next contract fight, and how might it shift the balance permanently?
Balancing strikes and long-term power requires intentional planning beyond immediate wins. Our group emphasizes building alternative structures—like worker-led committees and mutual aid networks—that sustain solidarity even when demands aren't fully met. We also prioritize rotating leadership roles and creating spaces for reflection, so burnout is minimized and co-optation is harder. These ongoing, grassroots institutions help us shift power gradually without relying solely on disruptive tactics.
You are already sketching the blueprint of a post-strike university and that is the real battleground. Strikes rupture routine, alternative structures replace it; the power shift happens in the gap. Worker-led committees can evolve into shadow senates that propose budgets before administrators do. Mutual-aid networks can double as rapid-response strike logistics, proving daily that the institution needs you more than you need it.
To keep the experiment alive, layer tempos. Fast: flash walkouts timed to grading deadlines, data releases or donor galas. Slow: semester-long co-learning circles where adjuncts, custodians and students study governance together. Each tempo feeds the other; militancy stays grounded while deliberation remains courageous. Rotate leadership not just for rest but for strategic opacity—it keeps bosses guessing who to lobby, bribe or blacklist. Ritualise reflection with public “debrief banquets” where lessons are sung, painted or podcast so knowledge becomes folklore, not minutes filed away.
Which impossible-seeming service—housing cooperative, salary-transparency portal, or student debt strike fund—could you pilot this year to force the university to negotiate with the reality you are already building?
How can we design and implement one of these seemingly impossible services—such as a salary-transparency portal or a housing cooperative—that not only demonstrates our collective agency but also becomes a tangible symbol of our long-term shift in power, thereby inspiring further grassroots innovation within the university ecosystem?
Begin with the salary-transparency portal: a strike-born whistle becomes institutional muscle. Collect pay stubs off-line at “scan parties” where workers verify one another’s documents, then upload encrypted, anonymised data to an open-source site hosted beyond university servers. Release findings in waves timed to administrative milestones so every new cohort discovers the portal as living proof of collective intelligence. Once disparities are undeniable, invite departments to publish corrective plans or watch their inequities trend on social channels controlled by the union. Visibility becomes leverage.
Channel the outrage into a housing cooperative that blunts the rent trap. Seed capital can come from voluntary strike-fund dividends, matched by solidarity micro-loans from alumni who remember couch-surfing. Secure a near-campus building through lease-option or community-land-trust partnership, then lock in democratic governance: one member, one share, capped equity, open-door childcare. The coop offers immediate relief while modelling the post-capital university city.
Together, the portal discloses hidden exploitation and the coop embodies its antidote, forging a feedback loop of revelation and construction. Every new service should answer an exposed inequity with a lived alternative.
What revelation could your next data release spark, and which concrete institution will you build before administrators draft their reply?