Resist pay and job attacks at universities

Brighton UCU members join the NHS physiotherapists’ picket line in February

A jobs massacre at Brighton university highlights how high the stakes are in the ­workers’ battle taking place across British universities.

Brighton university bosses ­earlier this month announced that they want to force through at least 130 academic and professional services staff redundancies. Up to 397 workers have been flagged as at risk of redundancy. 

The bosses say sacking staff is essential because the university needs to make £17.9 million in savings. But as the Brighton UCU union branch pointed out, the university bosses are not penny‑­pinching, having spent £50 million on ­building projects in the last two years. 

At an emergency meeting called by the UCU union last week, ­workers said they were ready to strike. Branch chair Mark Abel told Socialist Worker that it was the ­biggest he could remember. 

“There were lots of brilliant ­contributions about the need to fight back,” he said. “There was a demand that our campaign involves a vote of no confidence in the vice chancellor. 

“The motion we put demanded her resignation as well as dismissal from the board. There were plenty of ­suggestions for campaign ideas, as well as questions on how to handle the ­forthcoming consultation meetings members are being invited to.”

“We aim to win a strike ballot quickly,” he added. “This means we can take action over the ­redundancies as well. 

“We aim to frame the dispute around both the redundancies and the promotion and contact issues which means it could continue into the new ­academic year. There’s a feeling that this is crunch time, and the vice chancellor needs to be driven out if the university is to stand any chance of surviving.” 

Workers at Brighton university are currently involved in two other disputes. The first is to hit back at bosses who have been attempting to ­implement a ­procedure which makes it much harder for staff to get promotions. And they are also taking part in a Marking and Assessment Boycott (Mab) as part of the national ­dispute over pay and conditions. 

Mark added that bosses at Brighton have tried to intimidate workers by threatening a 100 ­percent pay deduction for taking part in the Mab. Workers have requested that union leaders allow them to strike ­following this threat. 

In total workers at 17 universities face the threat of a 100 percent pay deduction, with many more facing pay deductions of 10 to 80 percent. Several UCU branches have now requested permission to strike in response to the attack, including Soas university in London and Liverpool Hope university. Every branch that is facing pay attacks for the Mab should join them.

The redundancies at Brighton and the threats of pay deductions show that university bosses will not easily bend to workers’ demands. Only more strikes and action will stop their brutal attacks.