GCU lecturers to strike as university confirms £92.8m reserves but using them would be "irresponsible"
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Glasgow Caledonian University lecturers to strike as redundancy talks fail, as university said using £92m reserves would be “irresponsible”
Lecturers at Glasgow Caledonian University will walk out in an escalation of industrial action, marking the second announcement of strike action in two days.
Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland University Lecturers Association (EIS ULA) at GCU said they were seeking to protect members from compulsory redundancy after ACAS talks failed to reach a suitable dispute resolution on Tuesday (15 September).
The union claimed that redundancies at GCU come despite the university holding £95 million of cash reserves.The university confirmed that it held £92.8 million in reserves at the end of August. But a university spokesperson said the institution would be "irresponsible" to draw on those funds.
The university also said that the trade union’s claim that it holds “one of the UK’s worst staff-to-student ratios” is out of date.
Starting on Monday (21 September), staff will take 14 days of strike action over a four-week period to protect jobs and the educational provision at GCU. Strike action will take place on the 21, 22 and 23 September, with the university already being notified of a further 11 days of action across September and October.
EIS ULA said pickets will be organised outside the University’s main entrance. Four days of strike action have already been taken by EIS members across June, July and August in opposition to management’s redundancy plans.
Trade unions had suspended industrial action whilst talks with ACAS took place. But EIS ULA said GCU management representatives “refused to remove the threat of compulsory redundancies during the talks”. It is a move that trade unions said leaves them with “no other choice” but to move ahead with their planned industrial action.
Commenting on the job cuts, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said: “The University’s plan to axe jobs will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on research capacity, course availability and the quality of education students will receive. GCU already has one of the UK’s worst staff-to-student ratios and further job cuts will not only exacerbate the existing workload problems caused by understaffing that members are reporting, but it will harm the student experience.”
Ms Bradley continued: “The University needs to prioritise investing in its staff for the benefit of their students and the reputation of GCU. The University is prioritising its spending on infrastructure at a time when staff are buckling under excessive workload while they see their colleagues leaving the institution. The large cash reserves that GCU has means that compulsory redundancies are not needed, yet despite this, the University is pushing ahead with job cuts leaving staff with no choice but to take industrial action to protect their jobs.”
A spokesperson for the university said it was experiencing a “significant reduction in recurring income”.
They said: “We are disappointed that our campus trade union members have voted to strike. The University is experiencing a significant reduction in recurring income, and alongside the challenging and unpredictable financial climate, it would be irresponsible for the University to draw on our reserves as the unions suggest.
“If we are to continue to deliver for our students, we must remain on a sound financial footing, which unfortunately means making difficult decisions now.
“Our door remains open and we are willing to continue discussions with the trade unions where there is a realistic prospect of resolving the dispute. In the meantime, we are putting plans in place to minimise disruption to students.”
The university said it had already pursued measures the unions present as alternatives, including vacancy rationalisation, restraint on infrastructure and estates spending, other non-pay reductions and a mutual severance scheme. It added that none of the alternative proposals submitted by the trade unions had forecast for a downside scenario.
Support staff at the university represented by UNISON said they would take part in strike action on September 17. The union said it has also failed to come to an agreement regarding redundancies of staff, including IT.