This week staff members at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) will be on strike over job cuts and redundancies at the university where former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was once a lecturer in Politics when it was the Glasgow Col lege of Technology.

While this is perhaps the only university at which pickets mingle with proud parents and graduates outside the graduation hall, at many other universities up and down the country staff are presently in various stages of industrial action in defence of jobs.

At GCU, the Education Institute of Scotland’s University Lecturers’ Association (EIS-ULA) is at the forefront of action opposing up to 100 planned job cuts.

After members voted for action, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley rallied the troops with an impassioned call to arms by declaring: “Any move to strike action is taken as a last resort, but our members at Glasgow Caledonian University have been left with no alternative as they seek to fend off the university’s cuts agenda.”

Local branch secretary Nick McKerrell added that: “The proposed loss of 100 jobs at Glasgow Caledonian University and senior management’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies has provoked fury across campus. On top of that a costed plan put forward by trade unions to avoid these cuts was rejected out of hand.

“This intransigence is so frustrating as GCU has significant cash reserves of £95 million, one of the highest in the country. A fraction of that could be used to save jobs in the short term.”

Glasgow Caledonian University, which is regularly ranked among the UK’s leading modern universities, has said the proposals are part of a wider programme aimed at addressing a significant financial shortfall.

As in many other similar disputes the GCU management lament that their income has fallen due to a decline in international student recruitment, in this case by £33 million in the last two years alone, but the EIS notes it has £95 million in reserves. A number of staff have taken voluntary redundancy but EIS opposes any enforced job losses.

In Devon, a similar story is unfolding at the University of Exeter where 150 jobs are on the line. Once again Management say they want to “secure the university’s long-term sustainability, protect our teaching and research excellence”. This they say will be at risk from declining tuition fee incomes, rising costs, underfunded research and a sustained drop in international student demand.

Although it declares it wants to cut the head-count by voluntary means it has not ruled out compulsory redundancies. The Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (HASS) will be particularly affected but Management say they do not intend to close any departments.

The local University College Union (EUCU) branch, which represents 1,200 academic staff, accused bosses of “targeting of the very disciplines to which Exeter largely owes its membership of the Russell group” and complain the rationale for the cuts has not been explained to them.

Local Labour MP Steve Race said: “The University of Exeter is a major economic driver of our city, and the benefits of its research partnerships with our local hospital, the Met Office, and others bring real benefits to everyone in our city. I want to make sure it continues to play that important role.”

In Newcastle, staff at Nor thumbria University are balloting for strike action in very similar circumstances, but the cuts will be more dramatic – affecting a tenth of the jobs before Christmas. Again, Management are refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies.

UCU says the five million pound cuts come after an already damaging restructure and plans that would push staff out of pension schemes. They also complain of the folly of expensive building projects, including a £2.5 million Centre for Writing which would house some of those staff who survive the cull.

Further north on the banks of the beautiful silvery Tay things are getting even worse at the long-suffering University of Dundee, which was left with a huge deficit by the previous management who hastily departed when it was discovered.

A similar tale can be told of the University of Lincoln, where 97 per cent of UCU members voted “no confidence” in its senior leadership team last month. They say that having lost a third of the workforce, Management is refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies either in this academic year or the next. The cuts have unsurprisingly adversely impacted staff wellbeing, job security, and the quality of teaching and research, says UCU. Efforts by UCU to negotiate with the university over the changes have fallen flat.

In Robin Hood’s territory the part of the evil Sheriff of Nottingham is presently being played by the senior management of the University of Nottingham, who are once again wielding the axe on jobs and courses.

In the middle of last month the local UCU branch offered to suspend their marking and assessment boycott to allow students to graduate normally if Management confirmed some future degree-level provision for Modern Languages, Music and other areas threatened with complete closure, as well as an improvement to the current voluntary redundancy scheme.

These modest proposals were rejected by Management, who only offered a short extension to the current consultation period.  A more detailed financial counter-proposal from the union was also given short shrift. So far 350 mainly administrative and technical staff have already been given the boot, now 700 academic jobs are at risk. Over 2,500 “at risk of redundancy” letters have been issued.

The union’s branch president, Lopa Leach, said: “Management has thrown students and their interests under the bus. Here was the possibility to end the dispute in time for graduation, but they are unwilling to entertain con structive solutions. Considering management’s disinterest, we are now left with no alternative but to consider escalating the dispute.” Robin Hood would have taken a firmer line…

by New Worker correspondent