Héctor Mangas | Comics for UCU Strike 2019

In November 2019, the UCU branch at University of Manchester joined a nationwide strike involving around 65 UK universities. The strike aimed to defend pensions, fight for pay equality, and address issues like casualisation and excessive workloads.

However, the complexity of the dispute, involving multiple organisations, made it challenging for students to fully understand why their lecturers and teachers were taking action. To bridge this gap, Dr. Michael Sanders collaborated with me to create a series of cartoons that broke down the issues in a way that was engaging and accessible to students.

In a very dynamic tandem, Sanders would write the stories overnight, and I would translate them into simple monochrome comics that could be printed and distributed across campus. The illustrations were produced under tight deadlines, often with less than two days’ notice.

A comic being handed from person to person at the University of Manchester, illustrating outreach during the UCU strike. Over 20,000 physical copies of these comics were distributed at the University, with additional reach through online sharing, particularly on Twitter. The content gained traction beyond Manchester, as staff from other UCU branches used the comics to raise awareness and support for the strike.