More than 250 UNISON members working at London Metropolitan University are set to take part in a one-day strike this Thursday after the university’s continuing financial issues have left many facing the threat of redundancy.
They will be joined by members of UCU, who will be taking a second day of strike action.
Course administrators and librarians will be among those walking out.
London Met proposed the 165 job cuts, claiming that costs needed to be reduced after student numbers fell substantially for the second consecutive year. Both academic and support worker posts will be lost under the proposals.
Staff have been shocked by the scale of the cuts after the university’s finances were thought to have stabilised following a programme of major restructuring and cost-cutting over the last few years.
London UNISON spokesperson Jamie Brown said: “Going on strike is always a last resort, but staff at the university feel they have no other option. Measures to protect staff from compulsory redundancies could easily have been put in place but senior managers have refused to agree to several options put forward by the unions.”
UNISON London Met branch secretary Met Max Watson said: “We have heard from the same senior management time and time again that their proposed cuts are essential to the survival of the university.
“As a result of this failed strategy, we are witnessing a spiral of decline – one that will continue if the university goes ahead with yet more job cuts. We say enough is enough.”
Staff will be on picket lines from 8.30am at the university’s main entrances – Holloway Road, Moorgate and Aldgate. There will be a rally with a samba band outside the Women’s Library on Old Castle Street at the Aldgate site from noon.