Leicester staff vote for strike action over job cuts

Union members at the University of Leicester have voted in favour of strike action over job cuts at the institution.

The University and College Union announced that 69.7 per cent of its members at Leicester who voted said they were willing to take strike action, with 84 per cent backing action short of a strike.

The union took to the ballot after 145 of staff were threatened with compulsory redundancy, with about 60 jobs expected to go. Some members of staff have already taken voluntary redundancy or accepted “inferior contracts”, the union said.

In January, the branch passed a motion of no confidence in vice-chancellor Nishan Canagarajah, and last month the university was forced to delete a tweet promoting its “game-changing” research, after it was revealed that the academics who conducted the work were at risk of redundancy.

The researchers work in the department of neuroscience, psychology and behaviour, which is targeted for the redundancies, alongside the business school.

Sarah Seaton, chair of Leicester’s UCU branch, said that members had “made it overwhelmingly clear they are willing to take industrial action to protect jobs”.

The vice-chancellor “has ignored a tsunami of dissent whilst trying to push through these cuts and staff believe the university has tried to intimidate them into submission. But we will fight to protect colleagues’ jobs, and are willing to boycott all marking and assessments unless the university withdraws its threats of compulsory redundancy,” she said.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The University of Leicester is treating redundancies as the first option rather than a last resort, but our members will not let staff pay the price for poor decisions by management.”

A Leicester spokeswoman said that the university “regrets” the strike vote, but remained “committed to efforts to ensure there is continued dialogue”.

“It is important that we minimise the impact of any action on our staff and students. As we look to welcome our students back onto campus, it is now our priority that we support them in their end-of-year assessments and ensure our final-year students can graduate.

“We will continue to work with staff to minimise the number of staff redundancies through our consultation process,” she said.

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com