London Met UNISON members have voted unanimously to ballot for industrial action over the compulsory redundancies proposed by management this month.
On 9th November, the new VC announced 44 compulsory redundancies, including the closure of the Learning Development Unit and the Writing Centre.
UNISON’s Branch Committee unanimously agreed that a robust response was necessary, and put a motion for action to our members. One hundred members came to branch meetings at short notice last week, heard about the importance of the LDU and the despicable way staff had been treated, and also unanimously voted to back the motion.
There was not a single vote against the motion or any abstentions. Max Watson, UNISON Chair, said:
“This display of solidarity and resolve indicates the strength of feeling over these job cuts. Members are increasingly fearful of the direction London Met is going and worry that we are losing our ethos of Widening Participation. The proposed closure of the LDU is on a par with shutting down our last nursery.
“To add insult to injury the VC has proclaimed that statutory minimum redundancy pay is all that’s on offer to our loyal, hard working staff members – many of whom have given many years of service dedicated to supporting students at London Met.
“Our repeated requests to meet with the VC to discuss these cuts have so far fallen on deaf ears. We hope that this motion calling for action will make the VC listen carefully to our concerns before any rash decisions are made.”
You are invited to the Students’ Union “21st Century Welfare” event to debate the spending cuts, rises in tuition fees and, specifically, how this may affect London Metropolitan University.
Speakers include Jeremy Corbyn MP, a representative from the NUS and UNISON assistant branch secretary, Gail Cameron. The event will include a Q&A session and refreshments will be provided.
When: Monday 29th Novemeber, 11am-1pm
Where: T8-20 Boardroom in Tower Building, North campus
The vice-chancellor has announced 44 COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES in several departments, including destroying the Learning Development Unit, a service at the heart of what our University is all about — helping students from diverse backgrounds through Widening Participation.
London Met UNISON members joined with students and academic staff to protest against education cuts yesterday on a huge demonstration of unity and strength.
Together, we carried our new banner (made by UNISON members) that read ‘Save London Met, Education for all’ with all three unions’ logos to display our common purpose. Organisers estimated over 50,000 were on the march.
“This is just the start. We intend to mobilise a mass campaign in every community against the increase in fees, the abolition of the education maintenance allowance and the near privatisation of our universities and colleges,” UNISON head of higher education Jon Richards warned.
Max Watson, Chair of London Met UNISON, said: “It was inspiring to see so many students and staff unite against education cuts and massive fee increases. This protest has kick-started a movement that will shake this ConDem government into quickly changing their minds about unnecessary and dangerous cuts and we in London Met UNISON are proud to have been there from the beginning.”
Read the full UNISON press release, ‘This is just the start’, (plus photos and a short film), and see a photo sideshow from our branch, below. See more photos in our Facebook group.
We are working with Islington and City Credit Union Ltd. to establish a payroll deduction facility as an important benefit for all staff employed at London Metropolitan University.
The credit union is a not for profit Industrial and Provident Society established in 1997 to provide savings and loans for employees of Islington Council. To date the members have accumulated over £1,200k in savings and membership is now over 1,900 and rising. Anyone who saves with the credit union becomes a member of the co-operative and can use one of four savings/budgeting accounts. The savings form a pool of money held in trust which can be withdrawn within five working days. Any member can apply to borrow from this pool of money and because it is largely volunteer run with no outside shareholders it can offer flexible low cost loans to its members.
The primary objective of the credit union is to promote sound financial management by encouraging people to save rather than borrow. Unlike other financial institutions, there is no minimum savings level and no minimum loan value. We believe this is a cost-free way for the University to put corporate social responsibility in action and to support co-operation locally.
