Reino Unido: Swansea University staff urged to speak out against possible job cuts

Reino Unido: Swansea University staff urged to speak out against possible job cuts

Staff at Swansea University have been urged to stand up and speak out against possible job cuts.

The University and College Union (UCU) is considering strike action in response to reports that 12 jobs in the school of environment and society are to go.

Swansea UCU president Chris Whyley said: "Despite meetings between union and management, intensive discussions involving the threatened staff and proposals by UCU to avoid redundancies, management has not budged an inch."

A redundancy committee was formed to make recommendations to management following a recent meeting of the University Council.

But Mr Whyley described the process as "little more than a charade".

"For the first time in its 90 years of existence Swansea University is proposing to its council that it should take steps to make permanent staff compulsorily redundant," he said.

"If council agrees to this proposal it will be agreeing to a fundamental change in the relationship between staff and management at this university.

"It will be a change that marks the end of Swansea University as an entity in which all staff engaged in teaching, administration and research relate to one another as equal members of a common scholarly community.

Staff threatened with redundancy include professors, readers and senior lecturers, their length of service ranging from three to 32 years.

"If this does not worry the current management, it should certainly worry staff," said Mr Whyley.

"What it means effectively is that no-one, no matter how long or short a time you have served the institution, no matter how you may have been rewarded in the past for your work, is safe.

"There is no doubt that this will cause demoralisation, but there will also be an inevitable tendency for individuals to think that they will not be affected, that management will not come for them, and that the best thing for them is to keep their heads down."

Mr Whyley said no such certainty regarding job security can exist and that for people to think otherwise is to refuse to face reality.

"Apart from the wish to give support to endangered colleagues, UCU hopes that [staff] will want to make an unambiguous statement to management about this matter, one that they will hear loud and clear," he added.

A spokeswoman for the university said it was committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies where possible, and was exploring redeployment and voluntary severance options with affected staff.

She added: "Overall, Swansea University is financially sound, and intends to remain so.

"However some areas of activity that fail to demonstrate distinction in research or to generate sufficient income from student numbers or other sources may not be sustainable in the longer term. All publicly-funded organisations will face major financial challenges over the next few years."

This is south wales.co.uk, 20/11/09

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