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I spoke to Victoria Blake, chair of the UCU's anti-casualisation campaign. A former academic herself, Victoria left the profession two years ago after suffering a self-described breakdown. "In retrospect," Vicky says, "my breakdown had been coming for a while. I woke up one day and I couldn't go to work, I just started crying. I'd been having issues with stress and heart palpitations.""I was working seven different zero hours contracts at two universities," she says. "I had teaching jobs, research assistant jobs and other academic related contracts all at the same time. I was working 70 hours a week but being paid for fewer than 40 of those. I was on less than minimum wage when I worked it out once." Poor pay is something felt particularly acutely by women in the sector. The average shortfall faced by female academics was £6,103 a year, and the gender gap is another reason for today's strike.I woke up one day and I couldn't go to work, I just started crying.
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