UNIVERSITY workers are set to strike to defend jobs and courses as soon as the new academic year begins in September.
Staff at Sheffield Hallam University will take four days of industrial action in September in defence of jobs and employment conditions.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the university will strike from Monday 23 September until Thursday 26 September following a ballot that saw 87% of those voting agreeing to take action.
UCU accused the university of pushing ahead with expensive building projects and satellite campuses, while launching a wholesale attack on staff and students through an unprecedented cuts programme, severely breaching the post-92 contract and National Framework Agreement, and destroying working conditions.
Around 140 academics have left following the opening of a voluntary severance scheme in December 2023 and the university has ploughed ahead with further job losses.
400 professional services jobs are also being axed, amid concerns that the loss of these workers will severely impact student experiences.
The university has also failed to honour a negotiated and fully agreed contract for Associate Lecturers who were expected to move from zero-hour contracts to fixed-term contracts in September 2023.
A decision has now been made to retain the use of zero-hour contracts, condemning these staff members to insecure gig economy-style employment.
Senior leaders want to cut a further £15m from the university budget this year, which is likely to involve the loss of further academic staff.
However, management refuse to provide further information on these plans and no meaningful attempts have been made to address staff concerns despite various solutions and compromises being offered by UCU.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Strike action is a last resort for our members but they will not stand by and let management force though these scandalous cuts which would see teaching, research and academic standards torn to shreds.
‘Rather than reviewing its spending on new buildings and a satellite campus halfway across the country, Hallam management is threatening to slash jobs, jeopardise academic standards, and tear up staff’s hard-won terms and conditions.
If university management do not stop these attacks on staff, they will face unprecedented disruption at the start of the new academic year.’
UCU has also called for an urgent review of the plan by senior management of Goldsmiths, University of London, to sack over 90 academics as part of a so-called ‘Transformation Programme’.
UCU analysis of senior management’s ‘business case’ shows Goldsmiths is not in financial crisis and that there is no pressing financial rationale for these redundancies.
‘Goldsmiths has tens of millions in cash reserves and there is minimal risk, even in the event of student numbers falling short of projections, that it will fall foul of Office for Students requirements.
‘The union is clear that Goldsmiths’ justifications for the mass jobs cull are deeply dishonest.’
In particular, Goldsmiths senior managers have repeatedly claimed – in an effort to present their expenditure on staff as ‘unsustainable’ – that the sector average for staff costs as a proportion of total expenditure is 43%, despite the latest HESA data putting the figure at 51%.
There are further concerns that the redundancy programme may have discriminated against staff with protected characteristics and that the process by which individual academics have been ‘scored’ is seriously flawed, leaving Goldsmiths open to legal challenges in the future.
A UCU spokesman said: ‘Goldsmiths senior management are not only attacking jobs but doing so based on false premises and through the use of potentially discriminatory “rank and yank” tactics.
‘We need a full, independent audit of the institution’s finances, as management refuse to open the books and be honest about their position.
‘These cuts will not only wreck the lives of many academics; they threaten the future of unique, world-leading programmes which are likely to be stripped of the specialist staff required to run them. This should prompt intervention from the Labour government.
‘It is despicable and perplexing that Goldsmiths is exploiting the generalised sense of crisis in the higher education sector to burn down its own house. We call on the institution’s senior management to immediately halt its arsonist ‘Transformation Programme’ and work with us to protect jobs.’
- The UCU has welcomed last week’s announcement by the government of its decision to repeal the Tory Minimum Service Levels legislation.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘Workers across the country will be pleased to see the back of Minimum Service Levels, which aimed to crack down on one of the most basic rights of the trade union movement.
‘The Tory plan to restrict the right of workers to strike and force them to cross their own picket lines was pernicious, unworkable and counter-productive and we are glad that the legislation will be repealed.
‘UCU, alongside unions from all sectors, fought against these plans from day one and will continue to ensure that the incoming Labour government does right by those it was formed to represent.’
- The UCU has issued a statement in condemnation of racism and fascism, saying: ‘UCU sends its heartfelt condolences to the victims and loved ones of the atrocious attack in Southport last week. The local community needs the support and space to heal and come together after those tragic events.
‘Fascist thugs have instead exploited this tragedy to launch racist and Islamophobic violence across England.
‘We send our solidarity to all those under attack, including the many Black and Asian people who were assaulted, as well as international students and staff who will rightly be worried for their safety.
‘We applaud all those who joined the many protests against the far right. We encourage UCU members and all trade unionists to continue to stand against them and to offer support to local mosques and community groups. When doing so, please remain vigilant, look after each other and travel in groups.
‘The racism we have seen did not occur in a vacuum. It is the result of decades of emboldening anti-migrant racism by Britain’s political and media class. Those who have stoked far-right rhetoric are culpable and must now face the consequences.
‘The government needs to tackle both the anti-migrant rhetoric spewed by segments of the press and end its own pandering to racist panics about refugees.’
• ‘St Andrews’ dismissal of Stella Maris from the university’s governing board is an egregious attack on freedom of expression and academic freedom,’ the UCU declared last week.
Maris was dismissed from the institution’s governing body and from her position as trustee after she accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.
The UCU said: ‘We strongly condemn the decision and call for her immediate reinstatement.
‘It is those, like Stella, at universities across the world standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people – against Israel’s apartheid system and its genocidal war on Gaza – who embody the core values of higher learning.
‘In such efforts to silence discussion of the horrific crimes we all see unfolding every day, university managers threaten not only the reputation of their institutions but our basic rights.
‘We will continue to support the freedom struggle of the Palestinian people, and oppose anti-democratic efforts by employers to close down the space to do so.’