University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Dundee began a further five days of strike action yesterday (26th May) over threatened job losses and staff facing compulsory redundancy.
The strike follows 15 days of strikes in February and March. Since then, university senior management, in the face of continued industrial action and criticism from the Scottish Government and local politicians, backtracked on their original plans to cut 700 jobs.
Management initially accepted Scottish Government advice, announcing a reduced figure of 300 job losses through a voluntary redundancy process.
However, UCU said the employer is refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies and redundancy consultations are well under way in both the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) and the Educational Assistive Technology Team (EduAT) at the university.
The union said that members were “shocked” that staff were still facing compulsory redundancy in both the LRCFS and EduAT.
The union said that Assistive Technology plays a “vital role” in enabling learners with additional educational needs to achieve their individual potential and that it is “baffling” that EduAT remains at risk despite being sustainable and profitable.
The union said that it remained committed to playing a positive role in ensuring a sustainable future for the university, but that the use of compulsory redundancies was “unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for the Dundee UCU branch said: “The announcement at the end of April that, instead of up to 700 jobs being cut, the University is looking to lose 300 staff via a voluntary severance scheme was welcome. However, the threat of compulsory redundancies is still looming over staff once a voluntary severance scheme closes, and there are staff at the university that are currently facing redundancy in the Leverhulme centre and EduAT.
“We call on the employer to abide by the Scottish Government’s call to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies, and to commit to making any savings through voluntary methods. The employer is pushing ahead with redundancies, and given that jobs are on the line our members felt they had no choice but to embark upon further industrial action. That’s why members will be taking strike action for five days. UCU wants to work for a sustainable future for the university, for students, staff and the city of Dundee, but our members must take a stand against compulsory redundancies.”
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, added: “Some seven months after first announcing that management failures had led to an unforeseen deficit, the fact that staff are still facing an uncertain future with management still unwilling to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies shows the ongoing crisis in the university’s leadership and governance. The intervention of Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council is welcome and essential, but as well as dealing with the immediate crisis at Dundee, we also need to see wholescale revision of governance arrangements at universities to ensure this never happens again.”