May I add a word from the point of view of British Universities?
The Assistant Staff in Brit. Unis - based on my experience in Lancaster, but also informed by my up-to-date knowledge of T.U. affairs generally - are, on the whole, reasonably well paid. Certainly in the provinces, jobs as cleaners, caterers, technical staff and secretarial staff are sought after, because the pay is rather more than for similar jobs in the commercial sector, and considerably more than in the public sector (hospitals and schools, for example.)
Conditions are usually reasonable, although the work-load is often quite heavy, with "gap savings" being made every time anyone leaves.
I am not quite so sure of my ground when it comes to the Unis sited in the big cities, but I am not aware of any rumblings of unrest at grass-root Union level. (And I would almost certainly be aware if it was happening!)

On the point of free education for Uni workers, I have, over the past ten years, had three members of the Assistant staff take my courses, one of whom is doing a three year Certificate course and aims to do either a degree or an MA at the end of it. I also know a number of secretarial/clerical staff who started off as cleaners or catering staff and have progressed.

The main grievances at the Universities over here are from the academic staff, who have suffered pay rises of significantly less than the cost of living rises over the past fifteen years or more, so that they are somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent (depends which side does the calculations!) down, in real terms, on the pay levels of the 1970s.
The other major grievance from academic staff is the prevalence of short-term contracts. 1 year contracts which may or may not be renewed are very common - indeed the norm for newly engaged staff. And this is not just for research staff funded by short-term grants (which is at least understandable, if still regrettable) but for staff teaching well-established courses, and for academic-related staff who administer long-term programmes.
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