UCU members and Reps gather to show their opposition to the College's proposals
UCU gives the "Thumbs Down!" to redundancies
UCU Branch Reps: Jude Letham and Barry Campbell
Taking the message out to others about job losses
Support for UCU's campaign against redundancies
As soon as City of Sunderland College announced the possibility of compulsory redundancies the UCU Branch began to meet and take action to fight against them.
The news came just a few weeks after the College received accolades for the excellent work of staff and students in achieving extremely high A Level and Vocational exam results and the announcement of plans for a new £8 million building http://www.sunderlandecho.com/template/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=1107&articleid=2125478
Members and Reps of UCU chose a staff development day on 2nd July at City of Sunderland College to show their anger at management proposals to dismiss lecturers and support staff through redundancies, donning T-shirts and badges as part of the protest.
Leaflets were given out to staff explaining the current situation. UCU’s requests to the management to consider options to avoid the redundancies have so far been refused. A number of staff were given awards at a lunchtime meeting with the Principal and the T-shirts would have left senior management and Governors in no doubt that their actions are unacceptable.
In an interview to Sun FM on Tuesday 3rd July, Joyce Harris from the Regional Office spoke out against the propsed job losses. She told listeners that this was "a step backwards" for staff and students as the College management were both reluctant to meet with UCU Reps and to find a resolution to compulsory job losses.
Relevant Links:
http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2662&from=2601
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=1107&articleid=2930933
http://www.politics.co.uk/press-releases/zopinion-former-index/education/ucu-sunderland-college-lecturers-will-ballot-on-strike-action-over-jobs-threats-$475474.htm
