Unite for
Jobs for education workers
As part of Unite's campaign to save jobs within the education
sector negotiations in higher education with the employers body
UCEA heard at the last JNCHES (Joint Negotiating Committee for
Higher Education Staff) held on the 27 April that all unions in the
sector Unite, EIS, UCU, Unison and GMB were opposed to the "jobs or
money" arguments put forward by UCEA as part of those
negotiations.
Unite formally raised this at JNCHES and with the other unions
are pressing UCEA to commit Universities and Colleges to enter into
a national agreement on job security and redundancy avoidance.
Negotiations on this are continuing but the employers association
were left in no doubt how important this issue is to our members
who are daily being threatened with compulsory redundancies.
The text of a statement within the sector also has support from
the National Union of Students and all major unions in the
sector.
STATEMENT
As representatives of both staff and students in higher
education, we are deeply concerned at the announcement by the UCEA
(the national body that negotiates on behalf of UK universities)
that two-thirds of all Universities are considering job
cuts.
At a time when demand from students for access to higher
education has never been greater we believe that any strategy of
cutting jobs is deeply problematic.
The scale of redundancies in those institutions who have
already announced cuts is substantial with both jobs and whole
departments are threatened. Cutting jobs could further raise
staff:student ratios (which have already doubled in the last 15
years), and lead to larger seminar, class and lecture sizes; less
contact time and an increased workload for those staff who
remain.
Cuts could therefore have a devastating impact upon the
quality of education experienced by current and future
students.
Given UCEA has raised the spectre of mass redundancies
across HE at national negotiations, there should be nothing in
principle to stop the HE sector from coming together to provide
reassurances on seeking to avoid job cuts rather than their current
position- hiding behind claims of institutional
autonomy.
We therefore believe that a partnership between unions and
employers to reach a national agreement on job security is
essential if we are to defend education.
We pledge to campaign together on defending education,
reflecting the belief that our sector plays a critical role in
mitigating the effects of the economic recession; creating the
conditions for future prosperity and providing all in our
communities with access to the opportunity to learn.
Unite Education Sector is urging all union members and
representatives working in the sector to support the Unite for
Jobs campaign.
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