by New Worker correspondent

This week at the Canterbury-based University of Kent staff went on strike in protest at Management failing to rule out compulsory job cuts. The University and College Union (UCU) say the university is facing “a regular cycle of cuts to staff, courses and restructures, all of which impact the livelihoods and workloads of staff who work tirelessly to support students, conduct outstanding research and scholarship, and keep the university going”.

Negotiations earlier this year saw management extend a promise of no compulsory redundancies to academic teaching staff until next December. This does not however, apply to professional services staff such as student support, marketing and library staff, who are often also UCU members.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Our members are on strike today because the University of Kent has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies or protect staff workloads. Management now needs to work with us to protect jobs and student provision. Professional services staff are vital to the functioning of the university and to the educational experience we want all our students to receive. Until management rules out compulsory job cuts, our members have our full backing in taking this action.”

This is not a unique case. At Sheffield Hallam university staff walked out on Monday and Tuesday after management decided to withhold part of their wages for seven months by refusing to implement the 2024/25 pay award of 2.7 per cent due in August 2024. This would cost an average of £100 per month once pension costs are factored in.

Initially Management claimed it could not afford to implement the award, but it did so when UCU won its strike ballot, but they refuse to pay staff money due last August. Hallam is the only university in Yorkshire and Humber that refused to implement the award. At the same time Hallam management are carrying on with a £220 million satellite London campus at Brent Cross.

Another strike against redundancies took place on Wednesday at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Here the issue is redundancies where almost one in six staff are at risk: 190 jobs are set to go. A business case published in November announced that Management intends to cut at least 30 staff in the faculty of medicine & health sciences, 25 in the science faculty, 22 in arts & humanities, with at least 90 from various departments and professional services.

This comes on top of 400 staff leaving in 2023 due to a £40 million deficit. No wonder an overwhelming 82 per cent of the university’s UCU members voted for strike action and action short of a strike this time round.

The local UCU co-chair Nadine Zubair said: “We will use our strike day to celebrate staff, to remind the employer that we are the university, that we matter, and that we have a clear and unified voice. There is a real power in coming together and acting as a collective in these moments of crisis, and we need to act together to support all our colleagues who are ‘at risk’ of redundancy.”

The same spirit is evident at the University of Bradford where staff have overwhelmingly backed industrial action over plans to cut more than 300 jobs, including the closure of chemistry and film & television courses as part of £13 million cuts package.

Again, Management blames a reduction in the number of international students, UCU notes the vice-chancellor “earns” £293,000 annually and that “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.”

In the north-east of England, Durham and Newcastle universities have announced 200 and 300 job cuts respectively. Bangor, Birmingham City, Edge Hill, Liverpool, Reading, University of South Wales and York have all announced similar plans. The Office for Students (OfS) estimated that over 70 per cent of English universities are expected to operate at a financial loss in 2025 to 2026so worse is to come. North of the border, cuts at the University of Edinburgh have been panned as “off the scale” by UCU. The Principal announced he was seeking cuts of £140 million, through both voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

He blamed “income for teaching not rising in line with costs, steeply rising utilities prices, inflation, recent unexpected announcements on national insurance contributions, and a rise in employment costs” as well as “a reduction in the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for international students”. He said nothing of his £342,000 basic salary.

As Scottish students on undergraduate courses do not pay tuition fees on their home turf, these universities rely on income from the Scottish government and the high tuition fees charged to international students, the latter is becoming more of a deterrent.

The UCU said some of the university’s assets of £3.1 billion should be used to save jobs.

Reasonably, UCU queried how Management had got into a position where it was looking for cuts of this magnitude. UCU members have passed a “no confidence” vote on the principal and senior management team. In addition, a UCU consultative ballot saw 75 per cent vote for strike action if the threat of redundancy is not withdrawn.

Further north, on the banks of the beautiful silvery Tay, the University of Dundee, has a £30 million deficit, which Management hope to correct with 632 job cuts with its present eight academic schools folded into three faculties, research activities will be particularly badly hit.

In November, the institution announced it was facing a financial crisis due to factors including “a severe drop in international student recruitment, ongoing structural underfunding of higher education, cost increases [and] inflationary pressures”.

Because the city votes SNP the Scottish Government has given it a £22 million bail-out. Jo Grady, who must be getting tired of making such announcements, said: “We are clear that there is an alternative to sacking staff and cutting courses, student support and vital educational provision in this city, and we’ll continue to do all we can to save jobs and preserve education in Dundee.”

Needless to say, some were angry at Dundee getting so much money as it means they are getting 88 per cent of the £25 million pot leaving just three million for the other 19 Scottish universities. Ferdinand von Prondzynski, former principal of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said “this leaves a completely irrelevant amount of money for the rest of the system” adding: “What the current situation shows is that the funding framework for Scottish universities is completely inadequate, making it inevitable that some universities will experience existential threats.”