Cuts on the campus

by New Worker correspondent

A dispute is bubbling away at the University of East London (UEL) where the University and College Union has warned of industrial action against the university’s plan to impose compulsory job cuts.
     Balloting it presently underway. The issue is over ten compulsory job cuts, including seven academic posts, and the effects of the additional workload which remaining staff would face. Last July the university said it needed to make 134 people redundant due to an expected decline in student numbers due to Covid-19, but the now the university is forecasting higher student enrollments than last year. These cuts would mean 92 jobs would go in total, after 82 staff agreed on voluntary redundancy. The latest cuts target senior academics in the social sciences and the university’s architecture departments.
     The union said it sent a worrying message to students that the university was cutting almost 100 jobs despite the university forecasting an increase in student enrollments, and with staff workloads already at unbearable levels.
     In addition UCU argues UEL is acting unlawfully and is considering a legal challenge on grounds of lack of meaningful consultation, unfair selection, unfair dismissal, victimisation and discrimination. Six of the seven academics facing the sack are over 50 years old, five are of black and minority ethnic heritage, and five are female. This, said UCU makes the university’s pious claims of commitment to equality and diversity “ring hollow when it treats staff like this”.
     By a strange coincidence no less than four of the seven academics facing the sack are also UCU activists, including the branch chair and vice-chair.
     The university claimed it has been acting properly stating that “Following an extensive consultation, that commenced at the beginning of July, at the end of both the legal process and then a further nine weeks of consultation with at-risk individuals – demonstrating the university’s commitment to seek all reasonable alternatives to compulsory redundancy – eight roles remain at risk and efforts are continuing to identify suitable redeployment opportunities for those people.
    Evidently unconvinced UCU regional support official Amanda Sackur said: “UEL staff are reporting unmanageable workloads but the university is insisting on more cuts. The decision to sack another 10 staff on top of the 82 who have already accepted redundancy this year is completely unjustified”, adding that “Most of the academic staff the university is trying to sack have protected characteristics, and we believe UEL has deliberately tried to get rid of UCU activists. It is outrageous that the university trumpets its commitment to diversity and equality and then attacks staff in this way. UEL now needs to step back from the brink, limit any further damage to its reputation, drop these disastrous cuts and engage meaningfully with us in finding alternate solutions”.
     On the same campus teachers at the London Design & Engineering College (LDE) are taking strike action over the dismissal of a National Education Union rep. This is one of those free schools where the headmaster is a law unto himself.
     Squashed into a corner of the UEL, it is far too small for the number of pupils and even lacks a playground. After a NEU rep raised health and safety concerns during the pandemic, the Head promptly sacked the rep saying she had no rights because she had been employed for less than two years.
     Even after a judge found the sacking was unjustified and instructed LDE management to reinstate her the bosses reneged on their promise to do so and another person was appointed in her place. The rep said she was unaware of any investigation and simply had a dismissal pack sent to her house.

Protest Picnic for Struggling Workers!

by Theo Russell

A GMB union ‘Protest Picnic’ was held outside Charing Cross hospital in West London on 4th July, in support of low-paid, privatised Sodexo support workers. Several members of the new Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea Trades Council joined the protest, and the trades council banner was on display along with the local National Education Union (NEU) banner.

Over 1,100 cleaners and porters working for French multinational Sodexo at St Mary's, Charing Cross and Hammersmith Hospitals are being paid the National Living Wage of £8.21 per hour, whilst a minority of staff on the old contracts are paid £11.00. The GMB says that if you do the same work you should be paid the same wages.

In June the GMB organised three hospital protests at the NHS Imperial Trust; at Charing Cross in Fulham, St Marys in Paddington and Hammersmith Hospital workers were all involved in protests over wages.

The picnic protests include soft drinks, low music, pizza and cakes for the workers and their supporters.

Michael Dooley, the local GMB Union officer, told the protesters: "The general public will be surprised to hear that the staff in Charing Cross are paid only the minimum wage. Porters who care for patients and the deceased, cleaners who clean the blood, sick and other waste and the staff who keep the hospital moving 24 hours a day deserve more than the minimum wage.

"A picnic protest is a novel way of drawing attention to the plight of the staff working in Charing Cross Hospital, many staff are new to Britain and will appreciate the efforts by the union to get them involved in this after work protest.

"The protests are hoped to draw attention to the poor wages and obtain increases in pay rather than to go on strike at the hospitals, but the workers understand they may have to go on strike if their wages are not increased."