THE UNIVERSITY and College Union (UCU) held a rally and lobby of Parliament on Tuesday as part of its fight against a huge escalation, in mass sackings in the form of thousands of compulsory redundancies, which are being imposed around the country.
UCU General Secretary Jo Grady told the rally: ‘University job cuts being imposed by overpaid vice chancellors puts the quality of the education of our students at risk.
‘It’s a bankrupt and opportunist policy from university leaders who are seeking to exploit the crisis to make cuts.
‘We’re lobbying your MPs about the impact on you, your jobs and your students.
‘We are calling on everyone to join our march on May 8th in London.’
Earlier on Tuesday there was a lively picket of UCU members outside Brunel University in Uxbridge, West London, against mass sackings of lecturers and other staff.
Hundreds of staff at the university are being targetted, and the union has called escalating strike action to fight the mass sackings.
Brunel UCU members voted overwhelmingly to strike against 500 compulsory redundancies.
They are on strike again today (Thursday), then for three days next week, four days the week after and five the week after that.
Speaking on the picket line on Tuesday, Dominic Benson, who works in the professional services support department, told News Line: ‘Nearly 500 jobs are at risk.
‘There’s going to be a consultation lasting 45 days.
‘Although my job is safe, I am here with colleagues to defend all jobs.’
Stanley Gaines, Psychology Department, said: ‘We are in dispute over Brunel’s failure to agree to work together to avoid compulsory redundancies.
‘We are an academic union and we have members who are academic technicians and admin staff.
‘We are fighting to save jobs in all areas.
‘The union is holding a rally this afternoon in central London to stop unprecedented cuts across the country and to defend jobs.
‘What we are seeing is a national movement and this rally is an important event.’
Bianca De-Haan, Psychology Department, said: ‘We’re here to fight compulsory redundancies.
‘There are going to be 20% staff redundancies, which means that students won’t get the support they need.
‘It will also harm research due to lack of staff, and those that remain being overloaded with work.
‘Brunel students come from different backgrounds and they will not benefit from these cuts.’
- UCU Scotland announced on Monday that members at the University of Edinburgh are set to strike if senior management don’t roll back on threats of £140million cuts and take compulsory redundancies off the table.
UCU members at the university were asked in a consultative ballot if they would be willing to take strike action if the university didn’t rule out compulsory redundancies. In a turnout of 59%, easily beating the anti-trade union threshold, 75% of members voting said that they would strike.
If the same vote is repeated in a statutory ballot in the coming weeks, then the university will face strikes and other action on campus.
On 25 February the university principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, announced that the university is looking to make cuts of £140million and that cuts of this scale could not be made by voluntary redundancy alone.
The announcement, sent by email, left university workers fearful that senior management are planning to sack staff using compulsory redundancies.
The union said that cuts of this size are unknown in Scottish higher education, and questioned the role of management and the decision making at the university, given there is currently no deficit, and to date, unions have not been shown any evidence that there is the prospect of one.
The union cast doubt on the necessity of the cuts, and said that, instead, the university should look to using some of its reserves to mitigate job cuts, as well as cutting back on capital expenditure.
Recent accounts for the university show net assets of over £3billion.
UCU leader Jo Grady, said: ‘Edinburgh University management need to listen to their staff. The consultative ballot results show a clear willingness to take action against cuts and to defend jobs.
‘Instead of pressing on with plans to make the biggest cuts ever seen in Scottish higher education, Peter Mathieson needs to work with UCU, use the university’s reserves and rule out compulsory redundancies.
‘Politicians need to up their game as well and make clear that cuts of this scale are completely unacceptable, unnecessary and will cause lasting harm to one of Scotland’s most respected universities.’
Branch president, Sophia Woodman, said: ‘This is a strong vote for industrial action by members in this consultative ballot.
‘Senior managers at the university should be under no illusion about the strength of feeling of staff.
‘Instead of manufacturing a crisis, senior managers should be sitting down with the union for talks and looking to resolve this dispute before it escalates further.
‘Members have been clear that they strongly oppose compulsory redundancies and we expect the principal to heed that message.’
- University of Bradford staff have overwhelmingly backed strike action in a consultative ballot over plans to axe at least 300 jobs in a programme of cuts that will see chemistry and film & television courses shut down.
An overwhelming 69% of staff who voted in the consultative ballot backed strike action, with the turnout surpassing the 50% anti-trade union threshold.
If the result is repeated in a statutory ballot then the university faces strikes on campus.
The dispute is over the huge cuts programme university management is attempting to force through.
At an all-staff meeting last month, vice-chancellor Shirley Condon stated that 200 jobs would go as part of £13m worth of cuts.
However, at the same meeting, the chief financial officer said the university wants to reduce the staffing to an equivalent level as in 2019, which equates to around 300 full-time equivalent jobs, but well over 300 staff, once those in part-time roles are included.
Management has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies.
UCU slammed the university’s decision to shut down its film & TV and chemistry courses.
Bradford is UNESCO’s first city of film and the UK’s city of culture 2025.
Chemistry, and its successful apprenticeship programme, are crucial to training skilled workers for the regional economy and the uptake for chemistry degree apprenticeships is increasing.
The vice-chancellor has been in post for five years and has a total pay packet worth over a quarter of a million pounds (£293,000).
General Secretary Grady said: ‘Our members are prepared to strike because they refuse to bear the brunt of years of mismanagement.
‘The proposed cuts are fundamentally flawed and would see important courses axed. We have appealed to the vice-chancellor to work with us to defend as many jobs as possible and secure the future of our university. But no such assurances have been forthcoming.
‘At every step, our members have demonstrated a willingness to engage with management to secure the future of the university, but management has repeatedly refused to listen to our concerns.
‘Now UCU has shown we are willing to strike to protect jobs, we hope management will begin to negotiate meaningfully and in good faith.
‘The cuts being threatened would also have a devastating impact on businesses that rely on trade with university staff and students.
‘The academic vandalism Bradford’s management is embarking upon not only affects the university, but all the people of Bradford, and we call upon constituency MPs, council leaders and councillors to stand with our members to protect jobs and our communities.’
- University of Bedfordshire plans to sack scores of staff will make life worse for students, UCU and UNISON warned last Friday.
University leaders told workers earlier in the week that they could lose their jobs as bosses looked to deal with a predicted £5m deficit next year, said the unions.
Nearly 240 existing posts will go under the plans.
The university is planning on merging faculties and schools to cut spending.
Unions warn this will lead to fewer staff and less specialised support for student learning.
Jobs would be lost across the university’s Luton and Bedford sites, say the unions, warning that it will be a particularly cruel blow to Luton’s local economy, which is expected to lose more than 1,000 jobs when the Vauxhall factory in the town closes in April.
Grady said: ‘Our members are shellshocked at the number of jobs the university wants to slash. We are calling on the vice-chancellor to think again and to stop trying to use staff as the shock absorbers for management’s financial failings.’
Clearly there is a nationwide jobs cull underway in higher education, which requires national strike action to defeat it and must be urgently called.