Category: Cuts
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Notes from the Picket Line: A Field Guide to the Modern University Dispute
By An Extremely Tired Union Rep 06:12 – Awakening Wake suddenly from a dream in which the Vice Principal has announced a ‘further period of reflective consultation regarding the consultation process.’ Check phone. Sadly, not a dream. Three new emails marked:HIGH IMPORTANCE. One asks whether attending a rescheduled PAB during ASOS constitutes partial labour reconstruction.…
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Recognised for teaching, at risk of redundancy
As the University’s consultation on proposed redundancies continues, a number of staff currently listed as “at risk” have recently been nominated for internal teaching awards. Teaching nominations are typically submitted by students and recognise staff who have made a significant contribution to the student learning experience. For those receiving them, the nominations reflect the impact…
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Plus ça change? Reflections from a previous redundancy consultation
While bringing the joint union blog back online, we came across posts written during the university’s last major redundancy consultation in 2011. Reading them now is striking. Many of the concerns raised by staff at that time will sound familiar: questions about financial assumptions, uncertainty around recruitment forecasts, and the importance of exploring alternatives to…
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GCU staff vote for boycott if catering jobs are lost
Despite being called during one of the busiest teaching days of the week, and at less than a week’s notice, a concerned meeting of university staff voted unanimously that they would boycott any new outlets set up by outside caterers if such a move had resulted in job losses for our existing catering staff. The vote took…
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GCU combined unions call all staff meeting Monday 21st November
The Combined Unions at GCU have called an all staff meeting next Monday, 21st November The University is facing a £3 million deficit. GCU management plans for a “New York Campus” are 3 years behind schedule and are costing millions of pounds per year. A dispute between GCU and Cordia threatened 70 of our catering…
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GCU Unions – Management do not have a monopoly on wisdom
The trade unions at GCU note that Court endorsed the Executive proposals on restructuring at their meeting yesterday. Whilst happy with the removal of the threat of 95 compulsory redundancies, which was made by the Executive on 18th May, the trade unions are disappointed that none of the suggestions and alternatives to the management driven…
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Scottish Parliament hears the case for reform of University Governance
A packed Committee Room 1 of the Scottish Parliament heard calls for bringing democracy to the present system of University Governance – widely seen as ‘not fit for purpose’, in the view of university staff from the majority of Scotland’s universities. MSPs from the governing SNP, and from Labour and the Greens were clearly disturbed…
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GCU Petition to Court launched as UCU and EIS decide for action
Following senior management rejection of the joint Trade Unions offer to work together to lobby the new government for additional funding if the threat of compulsory redundancies was lifted, an all staff petition has been launched to pressurise the University Court to live up to its responsibilities towards GCU. This reads: Dear Chair of Court…
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Adding insult to injury: GCU management organise line manager workshops for ‘when you have to give bad news’ at GCU
In an incredibly insensitive e-mail to GCU all staff the GCU OD department are now publicly advertising workships for line-managers on ‘handling difficult conversations’. Described as ‘a range of resources available to staff to support during the restructuring process’ the e-mail image below is perhaps ‘worth a thousand words’, or at least more than a…
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Management at GCU spurn trade union olive branch and continue with threat of redundancies
To begin with a quote from the message management formally gave the Unions at the consultation meeting yesterday “We are not at this moment in a position to guarantee no compulsory redundancies, but have stated that we will remove the risk of redundancy in respect of this consultation if and when we are in a…
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