Birmingham City union threatens strike action over restructure

Union members have entered a formal dispute and threatened strike action at Birmingham City University after it told staff to leave if they do not agree with its transformation plan.

Thirty-six academic leadership positions are set to go by the end of July, the University and College Union (UCU) branch said, and the union called on the university to work with staff to find an alternative plan and rule out compulsory redundancies, “or face the prospect of industrial action”.   

David Mba, vice-chancellor at BCU, wrote to staff outlining that the university will be opening a voluntary severance scheme, which will be open until the end of March, as part of the university’s “Strategy 2030” plans announced last year to move towards a greater focus on teaching, rather than research.

In a letter seen by Birmingham Live, which reported that staff that take up the offer could receive a pay out of up to six months of their salary, he wrote: “As we move into the next academic year it is imperative that everyone at BCU is wholly committed to our direction.”

But he conceded that the university’s new strategy “may not align with all colleagues’ views, or their professional aspirations”.

“To anyone who has doubts about the way we need to work – focused on the highest standards and, arising from this, a necessary culture of accountability – I want to acknowledge your contribution to BCU up until now and respectfully encourage you to consider this scheme very carefully, as a positive opportunity,” he wrote.

The union said it feared the university’s proposals will result in job losses, increased workload for remaining staff members, and lower research status of the university. 

UCU regional official Anne O’Sullivan said that the plans would impact the national and international reputation of the university, and said the proposals “will impact the careers of staff whose skills and employability will suffer”.

She added: “The university must negotiate meaningfully with us or face the possibility of industrial action ballots.”

Jo Grady, general secretary at UCU, said: “The university must urgently stop its attack on jobs, which risks doing irreparable damage to the institution’s research capabilities. It is shocking that staff have to declare a dispute to try to push the employer to do the right thing. Management needs to rule out all compulsory redundancies and work with us so we can avoid any industrial unrest.”

The news follows a raft of cuts seen across the higher education sector in the last month. The University of Edinburgh announced that it is intending to make cuts of £140 million to fill a financial black hole, and over 1,000 job cuts were announced across the universities of Newcastle, Durham and Cardiff last month alone. 

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com