‘REINSTATE Indro Sen,’ demanded striking lecturers yesterday, in defence of their UCU rep who was unfairly suspended from North West London College in Dollis Hill, Willesden.
Maths teacher and union rep Indro Sen was on the picket campaigning for the public meeting which takes place today at 6pm at Willesden Green Library, NW10. He was joined on the picket by students at the college who supported the call for his reinstatement.
Indro Sen told News Line: ‘This college has served this community for years. In 2013 they tried to merge it with the City of Westminster College; two very different colleges. Together, after eight months of campaigning, lecturers, students and managers overturned the merger. Our principal resigned and the then vice-principle of City of Westminster College became principal here. We were very concerned that he was too close to the proposed merger. He said that he was no Trojan Horse.
‘However two years down the line it has merged. I had unpaid leave to represent a fellow UCU colleague. All my classes were covered. I emailed my Human Resources manager when I finished the case at 5pm on October 10. She emailed me back at 7:20pm, “Don’t bother coming back, you are suspended.”
‘I have represented colleagues at employment tribunals for the last five years on unpaid leave and nothing has happened before. In my view, it was more than a coincidence that in the week that I was suspended on the Wednesday the Governors met and they reached the decision to merge City of Westminster and North West London College and they announced it publicly.
‘They know my track record on the merger. We are one of the only colleges in the country whose joint action has prevented a merger taking place. With me out of the way they anticipated that the merger would progress smoothly. Unfortunately for them they underestimated the strength of the branch. The strike is solid today.’
Student Angelina Dwornik joined the picket, she said: ‘Indro Sen is a great teacher. He is the best! He explains maths so well, so that you can understand the most difficult questions. He is the finest teacher in the college.’
