Record turn out in ballot

University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Leeds have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.

In a ballot result released on Wednesday, 64 per cent of UCU members supported strike action and 78 per cent were in favour of action short of a strike.
    Speaking shortly after the announcement, Leeds UCU president, Professor Malcolm Povey, said: “UCU members have today delivered a clear mandate for industrial action at the University of Leeds.
    “We thank our members for participating in such large numbers and reiterate our belief that a negotiated settlement is still possible if the vice-chancellor will, at last, recognise the strength of feeling among his workforce. Our priority remains to defend our members and the quality of education experienced by our students.”
    In a statement released after the ballot result the University of Leeds said that it was still open to negotiations with the UCU, but it does not believe industrial action will solve the problem.
    A University of Leeds spokesperson said: “We share the concerns of our staff about the potential effects of public expenditure cuts on the University and indeed across higher education, and understand people are worried about their future. We have had more than a dozen meetings with UCU in the last month, including formal discussions through ACAS and we have made a series of proposals on how we can work with the union to mitigate the effects of cuts on staff and the University.”
    The UCU has disputed the University’s claim that strike action will not have an impact. Leeds UCU Press Officer Mark Taylor-Batty said: “The University insists on threatening its valued staff with compulsory redundancies. Industrial action could make this problem go away.
    “The University has imposed a sham process on the Faculty of Biological Sciences, one which is non-transparent, non-consultative and, in seemingly pre-selecting people for redundancies, potentially unlawful. Industrial action could make this problem go away.”
    Talks were held between the University and the UCU on Thursday in a bid to resolve the situation, but Leeds Student understands that these broke down because the University could not guarantee that there would be no compulsory redundancies as a result of its ‘economies exercise.’
    Speaking after hours of talks, Povey said: “Frankly, I was shocked by the attitude adopted by the University management. We cannot agree to compulsory redundancies. The precedent it sets for the rest of the university undergoing the formal reviews and the cost cutting economies exercise is simply frightening.”
    In a letter sent to staff yesterday, University of Leeds Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur said that the University would “listen, share information and be open” with the UCU, but expressed disappointment with the situation.
    Professor Arthur wrote: “I am bitterly disappointed that concerted and intensive efforts to negotiate with the UCU through ACAS have been unsuccessful. We have responded constructively to the union’s concerns and have tried to secure the union’s agreement to work with us in resolving difficulties.”
    Arthur said that the University was keen to continue talks with the UCU, but reiterated the stance that there could be no guarantee that compulsory redundancies would be avoided.
    He said: “There appears to be no further scope for discussions through ACAS following the UCU’s demand for a guarantee that there would be no compulsory redundancies, ever, in the faculty of biological sciences. Whilst we have been prepared to repeat out undertaking to do everything we can to avoid compulsory redundancies in FBS and across the University, no responsible employer could give an undertaking of this kind, in particular at a time of massive public expenditure cuts and in a recession.”
    The UCU described the University’s response as ‘unacceptable’ because of the negative effect that job losses will have on the University’s ability to function as a high quality institution. Arthur himself has admitted that cuts will have a “devastating effect” on staff and students.
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “The University should be working with us to oppose the government’s savage cuts to higher education and must immediately put plans to axe 700 jobs on hold. Now is the time for fresh negotiations and for Michael Arthur to seize the opportunity to win back the trust of the marvellous staff at this university.”
The turnout in the vote was 66 per cent, the highest ever in a UCU ballot. The UCU believe this demonstrates the strength of feeling towards the University’s handling of the situation.
Taylor-Batty said: “The figures here are incredible. The University has now to recognise and listen to this, effectively the most comprehensive, cross-campus vote of no confidence in their management of the ‘economies exercise.’”
Mike Gladstone, LUU Education Officer, said: “We remain hopeful that the university and UCU will resolve the dispute without the need for industrial action.
“We are extremely concerned that students, as before, will end up the unfair losers of industrial action so we will continue to work with both the university and the UCU to ensure that any action taken does not have a negative impact on students.
“We are working hard, as students have asked us to do, to minimize the impact of cuts on students and are taking steps to ensure students in are properly consulted about possible changes. We want to ensure the impact on students is minimal and we are committed to passing as much information to students and opposing anything deemed by students to be too damaging.”
However, other parts of LUU have shown their support for strike action by staff. On Wednesday, the ‘Really Open University’ staff and student group handed University security staff with a letter of support for strike action.
FBS Appeal
In addition to possible strike action, the University is facing a formal challenge to the manner in which it implemented a restructuring plan for the Faculty of Biological Sciences (FBS).
The UCU is supporting a member of staff in the FBS, who claims the University broke its own rules by failing to consult the Senate, the body responsible for the academic mission, during the early stages of restructuring.
The challenge has come in the form of a petition sent to the official ‘visitor’ of Leeds University, Lord Mandelson, due to his position as Lord President of the Council.
The petition was submitted on January 29 and claims that the University’s Council and Executive do not have the power to alter the academic mission without the Senate’s consent. UCU claims they failed to do so in the case of the FBS.
Hunt said: “Our universities spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and it is right and just that there is proper scrutiny of how they spend that money and why certain decisions around their academic missions are taken.”
The University has denied any wrongdoing during the restructuring and plans to defend its’ actions if necessary.
A University of Leeds spokesperson said: “We believe UCU’s appeal to be wholly misconceived and will be mounting a robust defence. Its timing – in the middle of arbitration talks through ACAS – is deplorable.”
The UCU believe they have a strong case, but do not expect an immediate decision from Mandelson.
Taylor-Batty said: “There isn’t a question of Mandelson siding with the UCU, but of him deciding that the evidence of the University having broken its own rules is compelling or not. We think that evidence is pretty watertight.”
The UCU feels the situation is similar to that at Keele University in September 2008. In that case Keele’s ‘visitor’ agreed that the University was in breach of its’ charter and statutes when it bypassed the Senate during planning to replace the School of Economics and Management Studies with a new business school.
Taylor-Batty commented: “The comparison with the Keele case is very close. If Mandelson comes to the same conclusion, the University council and Senate will have to discuss the ramifications of this breach of governance procedures and, together with the unions, put in place mechanisms to ensure no-one abuses their power in this way again.”
In addition to challenging the restructuring of the FBS, the petition has also asked for the ‘Economies Exercise’ to be put on hold until Mandelson reaches a decision in order to prevent the same error being made.
Hunt said: “No institution can, or can be seen to be, circumnavigating its own governance procedures and an urgent investigation needs to happen so everyone can have full confidence in how Leeds is conducting itself. It is quite right and proper that any further job loss exercises should be put on hold until this situation is properly cleared up.”
Anti-cuts groups
900 anti-cuts campaigners attended a conference in Manchester last Saturday which focused on fighting the imminent cuts facing the public sector.
The Right to Work Conference was attended by trade unions but also included many other student representatives from universities facing arguably less extreme and extensive cuts than those in Leeds.  
Leeds University Against Cuts (LUAC) took a leading role in discussions and workshops which focussed on education cuts and pledged to help student groups at other universities facing similar problems. There was widespread condemnation of LUU’s recent emailing tactic as part of their ‘Education First’ campaign which was criticised as divisive and resembled ‘spamming’ practices.
On Tuesday evening LUAC hosted a talk with Deitmar Meister, a student involved in the occupation of Vienna University in 2009. In that same year many European universities faced similar threats to higher education as those now faced by British institutions.  
The meeting was well attended with discussions focussing on the nature and state of British higher education as well as on effective tactics to oppose cuts – tactics which had seemingly worked in many other European countries.

Related posts:

1. Support Staff, support the strike University Management is not listening – so studets must support strike action to save staff from job cuts. The ‘Education First – Vote No’ email...
2. Staff and student unite in protest Unions will fight job losses Over 250 lecturers, support staff and students have been protesting against the proposed job cuts at the University. Protesters burnt...
3. Staff braced for cuts Budget cuts to annual university expenditure will effect staff. Plans to reduce the University’s annual budget by £35 million have sparked concern among staff and...
4. Lecturers’ union to strike Record turn out for ballot The University and College Union (UCU) voted in favour of strike action as well as action short of a strike....
5. National condemnation for anti-strike stance Leeds University Union under attack from Anti-cut campaigners Anti-cuts campaigners have hit out at a Leeds University Union (LUU) campaign that aims to persuade lecturers...