All those against the cuts
HE CAME
and we welcomed him…
HE SAW
and we hoped he was listening to us…
HE PRESSED THE RED BUTTON…
but we WON’T duck and cover!
This week Malcolm Gillies has announced that London Met is to have devastating cuts applied to us, with unprecedented course closures in the HALE area and others that will almost certainly result in MASSIVE JOB CUTS.
Around 70% of undergraduate courses are to be put to the sword, as our ‘Caesar’ Gillies dramatically and ruthlessly shrinks his ‘state’, despite widespread criticism from students, academics and the Unions who have passionately put forward arguments against it.
Gillies appeared on Channel 4 television recently to ‘justify’ his plan saying:
“The cuts are ‘painful and necessary’…” WRONG!
We have already had one so-called ‘Cost Improvement Programme’ (2008-2010) which cut staff costs by far more than 350+ FTE. The current compulsory redundancies are not necessary. The percentage of staff costs against total expenditure is now 58% as opposed to a 55% sector average. We are currently running at a small surplus in monthly accounts. We have surplus building stock that could pay off HEFCE. We are in no worse a financial position than any other post-92 university and in a much better position than many.
“The recent undergraduate review at London Met was ‘the most comprehensive ever carried out by a British University” WELL…
It might have been if genuine staff and Union submissions had been properly considered rather than dismissed out of hand. The section used to ‘justify’ the cuts was, in fact, one of the least convincing and most rhetorical papers put out by London Met management ever.
“For some reason or another the demand [for HALE courses] is not there” WRONG!
History, Philosophy and Performing Arts are not under-recruiting courses by any standards. The ‘DEMAND’ section of the ‘comprehensive review’ referred to above did no analysis either of the external market place and did not consult with any of the affected staff. The Dean of Humanities has not consulted with the affected staff. These courses actually do make money. The case for these courses has not been heard.
“We have a student demographic of ‘57.2 per cent, compared to a national average of 32.3 per cent’ of working class students. This is the highest in the country.” TRUE!
So why is Gillies denying these students Humanities, and thus trying to pigeon hole them towards doing ‘bargain basement’ vocational courses – that reeks of the University elitism of the past and isn’t something London Met should be acquiescing to.
“There will be pain, [for the possibly hundreds of staff getting compulsory redundancies on statuary minimum terms] but it will be necessary.” REALLY?
He is currently dismissing staff at insulting statutory minimum terms. He left City University with, allegedly, a level of compensation well in excess of £100,000. He is getting rid of staff now in the cheapest and most painful way possible, with scant reward for their loyalty and effort. None of this is ‘necessary’.
What needs to be understood by all is that these measures and the direction we are being lead in will have serious consequences for our students, of course, and could have devastating consequences for YOU and your colleagues.
Our ‘Caesar’ Gillies is pressing ahead with destroying the soul of this University; his aim? To turn us into a privatised ‘competitor’ to further education colleges instead of what we have been, the largest University in London with a proud history of providing quality, affordable education to those from the widest social, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
It’s time to stand up and say, WE DON’T ACCEPT THIS, WE WON’T ACCEPT THIS, WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR JOBS AND OUR UNIVERSITY
