University of East Anglia union calls strike ballot over job cuts

Union members at the University of East Anglia will vote on whether to take strike action, after the university announced almost 200 members of staff were at risk of redundancy. 

The University and College Union (UCU) strike ballot will run until early February, which could pave the way for industrial action as early as next month, unless managers are able to rule out compulsory redundancies, the union said.

The university late last year announced that up to 190 members of staff were at risk of redundancy, which it said formed part of plans to save £11 million to stay on track with its financial sustainability plan. The announcement came on top of 400 job cuts already made in 2023, equivalent to 10 per cent of its workforce. 

The union follows in the footsteps of UCU members at Newcastle University, who yesterday announced a strike ballot over multimillion-pound cuts occurring at the university, and plans to freeze promotions.

Jo Grady, general secretary of UCU, said that the union “refuses to pay the price for management’s continued failings”. 

“Just 18 months ago, UEA staff were on strike in a dispute which saw one in 10 of the former workforce lose their jobs. For management to come back to the table and say almost one in six are now at risk raises fundamental questions about the leadership and governance of this institution,” Grady said. 

“Senior managers have a small window of opportunity to end the cycle of decline and work with our members to secure the future of the university, if they refuse to do so they are laying the ground for significant industrial unrest.”

The union said that according to the university’s business case published in November, management outlined that it intends to cut at least 30 staff in the faculty of medicine and health sciences, 25 in the faculty of science, and 22 in the faculty of arts and humanities. At least 90 workers from departments across professional services at the institution are also at risk.

The former vice-chancellor of the university, David Richardson, resigned after the university reported a £13.9 million deficit in 2023, reflecting ongoing financial difficulties at the university.

A UEA spokeswoman said: “Although our long-term finances remain sound, UEA has been affected by inflationary cost pressures and a reduction in international postgraduate numbers, which is common across the HE sector, meaning regrettably we do face having to make redundancies.

“We continue to do everything we can to mitigate the impact on individuals and will support affected colleagues and continue consultation with our trade unions.

“Should the ballot lead to action, we will work hard to ensure that any disruption, in particular for students, is kept to a minimum.”

In a statement, the UCU branch at UEA said that the cycle of staff cuts at the university had been “devastating for morale”.

“We believe that compulsory redundancies at the scale that the UEA executive team are proposing would represent a new low and would also raise fundamental questions about the future of the institution. We don’t see how these planned cuts can take place without damaging the student experience and the reputation of UEA – both nationally and internationally,” the branch said.

“The UCU branch will do everything in our power to avoid compulsory redundancies at UEA. We also have fundamental concerns about failures of governance and management’s financial strategy. Staff are the heart of UEA – they need to be listened to, engaged with, and have confidence in the future of the institution. Management can’t keep cutting staff as a way of dealing with the historic mismanagement of the university.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com