Universities merging services could mean job losses, says
Unite
25 July 2011
Liverpool and Lancaster could be ‘the tip
of the iceberg’
The merging of the academic and other services provided by the
UK’s 160 universities could lead to job losses, Unite, the largest
union in the country, has warned.
Unite’s concern centres on the current talks between Lancaster
and Liverpool universities which are holding preliminary
discussions to explore ‘the benefits’ of closer collaboration, and
follows the sharing of services by Warwick, Birmingham and
Nottingham universities.
Unite’s national officer for education, Mike Robinson, called
for the management at both Lancaster and Liverpool to be
‘transparent and open’ in their discussions on shared services. At
present, the talks were ‘opaque and hidden from view’. Liverpool
employs 8,300 staff and Lancaster 5,200.
He said: ”Unite is concerned that services could be merged with
potential for job losses. We call on the senior management of both
Liverpool and Lancaster universities to make clear any closer
co-operation will not result in compulsory job losses.”
He said that parallels are being drawn with systems at Liverpool
and Lancashire councils that share online and telephone
services.
”This could be the tip of the iceberg and if this is replicated
across the 160 universities across the four countries of the UK, it
could have serious implications in terms of jobs. On one hand,
student university fees are hitting £9,000-a-year, but, on the
other hand, the number of staff could be cut.”
Mike Robinson said: ”When University of Manchester Institute of
Science and Technology (UMIST) and University of Manchester merged
in 2004, there were job losses and campus sell-offs. Both Liverpool
and Lancaster are competing for overseas students, particularly in
China, and both have ambitious plans with universities in China to
recruit students into the UK.”
He said that merger talks were being driven by the coalition’s
reduction of university funding, particularly the teaching grants
being slashed by 90 per cent, and also within England by the Higher
Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which allocates the
cash from the treasury to individual universities.
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information please contact Mike Robinson on 07768
931 284 and/or Unite communications officer Shaun Noble on 07768
693 940
