Join the Campaign - UCU & UNISON leaflet

Read the full post with comments!

BBC London TV News coverage of our Lobby on 28th

BBC London TV News came and covered our demo last night. You can watch their report again, go here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7857190.stm
Read the full post with comments!

City Campus Campaign Meeting: Fri 30th, 1-2pm, all staff welcome

UCU and UNISON OPEN MEETING - ALL STAFF WELCOME:

Friday 30 January Moorgate Building City Campus 1pm - 2pm Room MG1-17

'How to find us' map:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/library/p12848_3.pdf

Join UCU or UNISON now - and bring your work mates if they're thinking of joining. OPEN TO ALL STAFF.

Come to the campaign update meeting (tomorrow lunchtime) to find out the latest, and bring your ideas on where we go next. As well as local union reps and London Met members, we will also have Sally Hunt, general Secretary of UCU, (right) and the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, (NUJ), Jeremy Dear (left).

Get involved, get active - join up, join in... see you tomorrow.
Read the full post with comments!

George Galloway solidarity message

George Galloway provided a message of solidarity to the staff, students and campus unions at London Metropolitan University.

To the staff, students and campus unions at London Metropolitan University

28 January 2009

Congratulations on your protest today, which has my wholehearted support. I am sorry that I cannot be with you today.

I am at a prearranged series of events in Edinburgh raising material aid for the people of Gaza and campaigning for the post of Lord Rector, at the behest of large numbers of students. Among the issues I am campaigning on are student finance and ending the chaos that surrounds university funding, which itself is all too inadequate.

I am both angered and shocked that London Met plans to cut £18 million from the teaching budget and that the HEFCE is clawing back £38 million from the university.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt and your local union officers have written to me explaining that other universities in a similar position have responded in a more restrained way than London Met. I have written to the university governors today asking them at the very least to do likewise.

But there is an obvious parallel here. The government boasts of its "fiscal stimulus" and "counter-cyclical" actions in the face of the deepening economic recession. However late, limited and hobbled by deference to the banks and big business those measures are, the principle of state action to stave off economic collapse is sound. Why then for banks and not for jobs?

What logic is there in piling on the public debt by handing money to the City while cutting public spending or allowing it to be cut in vital areas such as education?

These cuts would be crushing anywhere, but speaking as the MP covering the Tower Hamlets site of London Met they will be devastating. Large numbers of local students study at the university. It makes a vital contribution to the community in the borough helping to raise young people's expectations in one of the most deprived areas in Britain.

I am confident that any attempt to push through cuts and job losses on anything like this scale will be met with strong opposition not only from campus staff and unions, but from the wider community in east London. Neither will we tolerate any attempt to play off one part of the university against another. We oppose cuts in north London as strongly as in east London, and in Parliament Jeremy Corbyn and I will work as one to back your campaign.

In solidarity,

George Galloway MP

Thanks to everyone who has sent their solidarity messages and who came to our demo yesterday. Keep them coming and keep the pressure up.

Email us your messages of support and solidarity, and let us know if you DON'T want them made public as we will continue to post them online as they come in, to help show we're not alone.

Read the full post with comments!

Goldsmiths UCU message of support

To: London Metropolitan UCU,

Goldsmiths UCU gives its full support to colleagues at London Metropolitan faced with cuts and victimisation. There should be no room for managements who compensate for their own failures by taking it out on their staff; but apparently there is. There should be no need for redundancies when we have a government dedicated to increasing access; but apparently there is. There should be no rights for managers to victimise trade unionists for offering their support to other trade unionists; but apparently there are. Finally, there should be no way that a College has the right to attack both its staff and undermine the quality of education for students; but apparently, in a marketized system, there is. We stand with you and wish you success on all fronts.

Sincerely,

Goldsmiths UCU

http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/ucu/

Read the full post with comments!

JOINT STATEMENT ON LONDON METROPOLITAN - UCU, UNISON and NUS

UCU, UNISON and NUS agree with the government's view that education and training will play a vital role in softening the impact of economic recession and giving people the skills that can underpin a sustainable economic future. We are rightly proud of our education and training systems and our view is that government funding should be directed toward sustaining and expanding our high-quality public provision in further, adult and higher education. We are concerned that cuts to educational provision in any of these areas will undermine the government's own objectives in alleviating poverty, increasing social mobility and building for renewed economic prosperity.

With this in mind, we note with great concern that London Metropolitan University is proposing a programme of redundancies which could result in at least 330 job losses, following an £18 million funding cut imposed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for inaccurate returns on student completion rates. We believe that London Metropolitan University plays a key role in delivering on the government's widening participation agenda in the capital. We also believe that the staff at all levels have delivered highly successful in-house services, academic programmes, student support and research outcomes. We consider that the cuts proposed punish staff as well as constituting a grave threat to the viability of the university. UCU, UNISON and NUS are united in calling on HEFCE to provide an emergency funding package that will ensure the institution's immediate sustainability. We are also calling on London Metropolitan's management to work with unions and staff in a transparent way in order to set the university's finances and governance on a sound footing for the future.

Sally Hunt, General Secretary, UCU Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON Wes Streeting, President, National Union of Students

Read the full post with comments!

More media coverage: keep the pressure up

The 'Londonist' has also covered our story:

Up to 500 jobs are at risk and courses could be cut at London Metropolitan University. The university has been underestimating the number of students who drop out to such an extent that it's had £38m in funding it wasn't entitled to since 2005. Now HEFCE wants it back, and has also slashed London Met's budget by £15m. Vice-chancellor Brian Roper has already talked of “rationalisation of academic provision” (we suppose this means making lecturers redundant). Staff and students are holding a protest in Holloway Road this afternoon.

http://londonist.com/2009/01/london_met_funding_blunder.php

UPDATE: More press coverage, in Socialist Worker:

by Mark Campbell, UCU national executive (pc)

Workers at London Metropolitan university are fighting a serious attack on jobs after management announced it wants to lose 330 full-time equivalent jobs.

Management want an initial round of voluntary redundancies, but state that there is not enough money to guarantee voluntary redundancies terms for all the proposed job cuts, and that the shortfall will be made up of compulsory redundancies paid at the legally minimum amount. Management refuse to guarantee those rejected for voluntary redundancies will not then be made compulsorily redundant.

And a mention in the Scotsman:

'London Metropolitan University is cutting 330 jobs, including cleaners and catering workers, because of funding cuts.'

All this press and media interest is very positive for our campaign. We need to keep the pressure up and show the world we're not paying for the failures of our incompetent managers. We won't put up with being bullied, threatened or forced job cuts. LMU senior management cannot continue to ignore our demands -- we insist on full and meaningful negotiations.

Please send any more messages of support, photos or reports from our demo, and links to any more media/ press coverage of our struggle to Save London Met. And now pass this link on to your work mates and friends.

Read the full post with comments!

NUS: Staff and students to protest against university job cuts

From the National Union of Students website:

Students and lecturers will today (Wednesday) picket a governors’ meeting at the London Metropolitan University as they protest against the possibility of hundreds of job losses.

Demonstrators will gather outside the Tower Building on Holloway Road to demand that the university’s finances are properly scrutinised and that it seeks sustained funding to ensure no redundancies or further damage to the institution’s reputation.
Funding cuts

The University's funding has been cut by £18million a year due to the discovery of inaccuracies in the number of students completing their course and a further £38million is currently be repaid for previous years' over-funding.

The University and College Union (UCU) has warned that up to 500 members of staff could be made redundant as the university desperately seeks to try and make savings. The union has also complained about sanctions being made against UCU activists for some trade union activities.

Widening participation

“London Met has been one of the best institutions at widening participation in higher education and it is essential that HEFCE and the government adopt an understanding and constructive approach to solving the university’s financial problems," says NUS President Wes Streeting.

"If staff numbers are slashed, then London Met students will inevitably suffer from a lower standard of education. This must not be allowed to happen.”

Crucial

“The situation at London Met is critical," says UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt. "We all need to sit down and open the books and put together a proper sustained package to ensure the university can survive. We want HEFCE and the government to consider their positions.

"We do not believe that in these tough economic times an institution such as London Met, that does so much to further the government’s widening participation agenda, can be allowed to fall by the wayside.”

Protestors will meet at 4.00pm ahead of the 5.00pm protest.

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/News/News/Staff-and-students-to-protest-at-beleaguered-London-university/
Read the full post with comments!

Morning Star: 'UNISON and UCU join forces to slam London Met job cuts'

From the Morning Star:

UNION leaders slammed plans by London Metropolitan University to axe more than 330 jobs on Wednesday and urged the government to provide emergency funding to avoid the cuts.

Support staff union UNISON joined the University College Union and the National Union of Students in condemning the "complete incompetence" of the university's senior management.

They also criticised education ministers' decision to slash the university's funds by £18 million, which has been used to justify the job cuts.

In a joint statement, the unions said that they stood "united in calling on the Higher Education Funding Council for England to provide an emergency funding package that will ensure the institution's immediate sustainability.

"We are also calling on London Metropolitan's management to work with unions and staff in a transparent way in order to set the university's finances and governance on a sound footing for the future."

UNISON leader Dave Prentis sent a message of support to staff at the university who are facing the cuts.

"It cannot be right that more than 330 staff at London Met are being forced to pay the price for the complete incompetence of the university's senior management team," he stormed.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/unison_and_ucu_join_forces_to_slam_london_met_job_cuts

Read the full post with comments!

G. Galloway: I am angry £18m is being snatched from university budget

I AM angered and shocked that London Metropolitan University plans to cut £18 million from the teaching budget and that the Higher Education Funding Council is clawing back £38 million.

I congratulate the students on their protest this week, which has my wholehearted support.

Among the issues I am campaigning on are student finance and ending the chaos that surrounds university funding, which itself is all too inadequate.

The Government boasts of its ‘fiscal stimulus’ and ‘counter-cyclical’ actions in the face of the deepening economic recession. The principle of state action to stave off economic collapse is sound—however late, limited and hobbled by deference to the banks and big business those measures are.

Why, then, for banks and not for jobs?

What logic is there in piling on the public debt by handing money to the City while cutting public spending or allowing it to be cut in vital areas such as education?

These cuts would be crushing anywhere. But they will be devastating for the Met University which makes a vital contribution to the community in Tower Hamlets, helping to raise expectations in one of the most deprived areas in Britain.

I am confident any attempt to push through cuts and job losses on anything like this scale will be met with strong opposition from campus staff, unions and the wider community in East London.

Jeremy Corbyn and I will work as one in Parliament to back the students’ campaign.

George Galloway (Respect)

Bethnal Green & Bow MP

From the 'East London Advertiser': http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/postbag/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=postbag&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=postbagela&itemid=WeED28%20Jan%202009%2023%3A35%3A29%3A817

Read the full post with comments!

Hundreds Lobby Board of Governors, despite threats from HR

Hundreds of staff and students turned out today for our lively demo outside the Board of Governors meeting. More reports on that coming soon. There was a large turnout from union members and non members alike, despite the following threat from an HR manager designed to intimidate us into staying behind our desks:

I have been asked to contact you in relation to an email circulated in recent days inviting staff and students to lobby the Board of Governors meeting this Wednesday 28 January. You will appreciate that staff should not be expected to leave their work before the appropriate time, in most cases 5.00pm, and I would therefore ask that you circulate a further message indicating this as soon as possible.

Union members are united on this: we will not be intimidated nor threatened into submission. LMU management are clearly worried about the level of support for our cause - from staff, students, the public, unions, the press and some politicians. If they continue to refuse to negotiate meaningfully with us on these redundancies then we'll be soon be turning up the heat.

If you were at the demo today, send us your reports, ideas, photos etc and feel free to comment below.

Read the full post with comments!

Message from Gen Sec to UNISON Members at London Metropolitan University

MESSAGE from the GENERAL SECRETARY to UNISON members at London Metropolitan University

Colleagues,

I was extremely concerned to learn of the current crisis you face at London Met. Although I understand that the basis leading to this point has been clearly known for sometime, it is only in the last week or so that the potential loss of jobs has become known.

To state that 320 redundancies will have to be made in this financial year alone is difficult enough to comprehend but to be told that two thirds of these redundancies will involve support staff posts; makes our task in UNISON all the more urgent; our role in representing your interests so much more important.

The first step must be to be provided with the required formal notice of redundancies that will begin to clarify where and which posts are under threat; the methods the University intend to use to select those at risk; the ways in which they will seek to reduce this potential number of jobs being lost and in doing so, avoid compulsory redundancies. And through the period of consultation that will follow this notice being served, we will do all in our power as a union to hold them to this.

I am reassured to know that you have a strong team of local representatives acting on your behalf within the University and playing their part in the wider campaign to protect the learning opportunities afforded to your students. I know they will have the full support of UNISON’s Greater London Region. I also welcome the way in which we will be standing shoulder to shoulder in the campaign ahead with our colleagues in the UCU.

I will be writing to the Higher Education Minister, David Lammy, seeking his intervention both in lessening the financial burden imposed on London Met by HFCE and in dealing with the University’s senior management team who have clearly lost your and the entire workforce’s confidence given the staggering incompetence they have shown in the build up to this crisis.

I wish you well in the difficult times ahead and rest assured that UNISON will be with you every step of the way.


Dave Prentis
General Secretary, UNISON

http://www.unison.co.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=5129

Read the full post with comments!

Message of support from UNISON Tower Hamlets

To UNISON and UCU London Met University

I am writing on behalf of UNISON Tower Hamlets Local Government Branch to offer our support for your campaign to save jobs.

We believe that it is totally unacceptable that academic and other staff, many of whom will be low paid support staff should pay for financial mismanagement by senior staff.

These cuts will have a devastating impact on the staff affected, and can only have an adverse impact on students. London Met provides vital educational opportunities for working class students in Tower Hamlets.

Whilst your management appear to have a heavy responsibility for financial mismanagement we also believe that the government should not be imposing the full cut in funding. When banks have been brought to the edge of ruin by financial mismanagement this government has provided staggering amounts to bail them out. A tiny fraction of that kind of support would remove the need for any compulsory redundancies and enable trade union and student bodies to engage in constructive discussions with the University governing bodies about future funding.

Jobs and educational opportunities in Higher Education also need and deserve to be protected in a time of recession.

We hope to have a delegation on your protest tomorrow and wish you a great success with it.

Please keep us informed on the progress of your campaign and of any assistance we can provide.

In solidarity,

John McLoughlin
Branch Secretary
Tower Hamlets UNISON

Read the full post with comments!

PA: 'Unions fight university job cuts'

From the Press Association (PA):

Union leaders pledged to fight plans to axe 330 jobs at a university, including cleaners and catering workers, because of funding cuts.

Unison, the National Union of Students and the University and College Union hit out at the cuts planned by London Metropolitan University, warning they could undermine the Government's aim of tackling poverty and build for renewed economic prosperity.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: "It cannot be right that more than 330 staff at London Met are being forced to pay the price for the complete incompetence of the universities senior management team.

"These job losses are difficult enough to comprehend, but Unison is very concerned that two thirds of these will be made up of support staff posts."

The three unions issued a joint statement which read: "We note with great concern that London Metropolitan University is proposing a programme of redundancies which could result in at least 330 job losses, following an £18 million funding cut imposed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England for inaccurate returns on student completion rates.

"Staff at all levels have delivered highly successful in-house services, academic programmes, student support and research outcomes.

"We consider that the cuts proposed punish staff as well as constituting a grave threat to the viability of the university."

The unions called for emergency funding to avert the job cuts.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jCzYq5MeC7NNiXFt_I5CqmeFpb_g

Read the full post with comments!

Standard: "400 university jobs must go after £50m 'blunder'"

From the London Evening Standard:

LONDON Metropolitan University is to axe up to 400 jobs after being awarded more than £50million in funding it should never have received.

Major problems with records on student dropouts resulted in the Government overpaying the university.

London Met's governors face protests from staff and students when they meet today to discuss the crisis. Lecturers have been warned they are facing "large-scale compulsory redundancies".

Problems were discovered after the Higher Education Funding Council for England audited London Met's student data returns and found major discrepancies. Funding is tied to student numbers and it is thought the university overestimated how many were successful in completing their courses.

In a letter this month, university vice-chancellor Brian Roper told staff the funding council was "minded to recover in full" the overpayment it gave London Met between 2005 and last year.

"It is likely to be a very substantial amount and will be a one-off cost," he wrote.

The final amount will not be known until next month. But sources suggested London Met had received £38million between 2005 and 2008. In addition, the annual budget has been slashed by £15million this year as a result of the problems.

Mr Roper's letter added: "I have alerted you to the possible need for large-scale compulsory redundancies. I very much regret that this is now no longer a possibility but a very real requirement."

London Met, with sites in east and north London and the City, has about 34,000 students and 2,300 full-time-equivalent staff. It has already embarked on voluntary redundancy schemes but students and lecturers are concerned it could make a rash decision to axe jobs and courses that incur high costs.

A protest by students and staff was to be held outside the governors' meeting in Holloway Road this afternoon. A spokeswoman for London Met said: "The details of any redundancies are being worked through in consultation with our unions."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23630148-details/400+university+jobs+must+go+after+50m+%27blunder%27/article.do

Read the full post with comments!

BBC News: University's 'future in doubt'

BBC coverage of our story:

MPs have warned that the future of a university is in doubt as it faces the repayment of over £50m, after an audit found "incorrect data" on students.

London Metropolitan University has admitted that this puts more than 300 jobs at risk - and unions are planning a campus protest on Wednesday.

The funding council says the deduction of income follows an audit showing inaccurate reporting of drop-out rates.

A university leader says there could be further cases of such "gotcha audits".

The audits have been carried out by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) - which found discrepancies in the figures showing the number of students who had not completed courses.

'Substantial overfunding'

The "incorrect data" meant that there had been "substantial overfunding" of London Metropolitan since 2005.

The University and College Union says that for London Metropolitan University, attended by 34,000 students, this will mean "unprecedented cuts" which would threaten course closures.

In an early day motion, MPs say that the university faces the loss of £56m - an £18m reduction in teaching budgets and £38m in claw-backs for previous years.

"This scale of cuts throws the future viability of the university into doubt at a time when education and training are vital to the capital's economic health," says the motion before the House of Commons.

The university says that the teaching budget loss will be £15m - and that the retrospective reductions will be "substantial".

Hefce says that there are negotiations over a repayment schedule, with a meeting set for next month.

'Perverse'

The University and College Union and the National Union of Students are to stage a protest outside a meeting of the university's governors on Wednesday. ...

Read the rest, and comment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7853203.stm

Read the full post with comments!

Open letter to London Met Students

Save Our University

A Fresh Start for London Met

In the summer the Vice Chancellor, Brian Roper, announced that the University was in severe financial difficulties. Having discovered discrepancies in the University’s official statistics on student completion, management have informed us that the Higher Education Funding Council has cut our grant by £18m / year and is asking for restitution of £38m in overpayments over the past three years.

Senior management have responded by threatening to cut staff numbers. In the last week they have announced that they are looking to cut the equivalent of 330 full-time posts. In practice, this could mean that up to 4-500 people (between 12 and 20% of the current workforce) lose their jobs. There may be even more in the near future, precipitating a spiral of decline.

If this is allowed to go ahead, it will inevitably have a massive impact on students, including:

• Fewer specialist courses, fewer module options
• Fewer lecturers able to make best use of their subject specialist knowledge
• Larger classes, less time in class, and less individual contact time with staff
• An over reliance on web-based learning mechanisms such as WebLearn
• The likelihood of fewer specialist librarians and in-house IT staff
• A reduction in specialised focused support from in-house units such as the LDU
• Fewer, more stressed and overworked staff across the whole of the university including Reception, Registry and Student Services

London Met UCU and Unison believe that the current senior management have no idea how to rescue our university and that as a result their current strategy of cutting jobs and courses is at best a deflection from their own failings and at worst a recipe for our university’s terminal decline.

No one is denying that there are real problems within our university that desperately need to be
addressed. However, management’s ill thought out slash-and-burn attempts are not the way to do so.

What we need is a radical overhaul of how our university is managed. We have every confidence that between us, staff and students can not only correct past mistakes but also learn from them and position the university for a more assured future. However, to do this first requires the current university management to abandon their plans and for government to step in and provide sufficient funds for us to reclaim and reenergise our university. The money is there. If the government can spend billions of pounds bailing out rich bankers it can certainly find a few million to rescue our university, its students and its staff.

How you can help

• Join our protests and demonstrations (see savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com for regular updates)
• Sign our petitions on www.lmuucu.org.uk
• Write to your MP (see www.writetothem.com for details)

Read the full post with comments!

Ask your MP to support EDM 575 & 1763

On this website are two 'model letters' that staff and students can send MPs asking them to support the 'Early Day Motion' 575, which supports our case to stop the job cuts and save London Met Uni. Use these template, or personalise your own (better if they're not all the same). You can click on the following link to find your MP www.writetothem.com to send a letter to them via email, or you can write to them via their constituency office, details of which are available at the following link: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/members/mps_contact.cfm

See the Text of EDM 575 here.

UPDATE (July 2009): There is a new EDM 1763, see this post.

And go to the parliament website to find out if your MP has signed already.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37609&SESSION=899

UNISON members might also be interested in the list of Labour MPs that are supported by our union. You can see who has and has not not signed our motion here.

See also the London Met Wikipedia page :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Metropolitan_University

They've got a section on 'notable alumni' you might want to write to as well. Kate Hoey MP, for example, apparently studied at London Met. So if anyone is in Vauxhall constituency...

UPDATE (March): Kate Hoey has now signed to EDM 575. Pressure on MPs does have an effect if enough people write.... Keep it up.

There are two (updated March 2nd) template letters. One for students to sign, here. And another for staff to sign here.

It is always good to make the letter personalised, even if only a sentence or two of your own to introduce it. And check if they've already signed the EDM; if they have, thank them for their support rather than ask them to sign it...

Read the full post with comments!

Early Day Motion 575 - reverse the job cuts at LMU

Jeremy Corbyn, MP (Lab) has tabled a motion to Parliament in support of our campaign to save London Met. The text is below. It's important we get widespread support for this, so contact your MP ASAP and ask them to sign up (see next post on this).

EDM 575

LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

26.01.2009

Corbyn, Jeremy

That this House notes with concern that London Metropolitan University is facing a reduction of £18 million in its teaching budget and a claw-back of £38 million in past funding as a result of inaccurate returns on student completion rates; further notes with deep concern that university managers have responded to this crisis by stating that they are seeking to cut at least 330 jobs and by failing to consult meaningfully with staff or unions about the crisis or the future of the university; considers that this scale of cuts throws the future viability of the university into doubt at a time when education and training are vital to the capital's economic health, as well as further undermining efforts to widen participation in London's higher education institutions; calls on the Government, through the Higher Education Funding Council for England, to fund London Metropolitan adequately; and urges the university management to emulate the conduct of other London higher education institutions facing funding cuts by reversing the current policy of cutting staffing and committing themselves to a thorough exploration of all potential non-staff savings through meaningful consultation with staff and campus unions.

See who has signed our EDM here, and get your MP to sign up to support:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37609&SESSION=899

Read the full post with comments!

UCU briefing on dispute

UCU Briefing on current dispute:

Current Threat

* 330 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) jobs to go as soon as possible (between July and September). Could mean up to 500 individuals, though more likely to be 350-400. (between 14%-20% of the current staff)


* Management intend that this should be divided into roughly 1/3 academic staff and 2/3 PSD staff, in line with current proportions in the university


* Appears that figure plucked out of the air: no vision of the university of the future (will they axe departments or spread the cuts widely? No answer). No idea how to achieve the financial savings and no evidence that they have seriously looked for other forms of savings.


* Perhaps will be achieved by voluntary redundancies first, then compulsories but governors ‘might decide to go for 330+ compulsories because this would be much cheaper’


* University to tear up current redundancy scheme and offer only statutory redundancy pay for compulsories.


* University will not undertake to accept all those who apply for voluntary redundancy because have only enough money for a few (possibly 50 or so but HR refuse to tell us the budget). Nor will they rule out the possibility that someone who applies for voluntary redundancy and is turned down would then be selected for compulsory redundancy


* Indications that there might have to be more redundancies in the future.

Read the rest, including a bit of background and the likely impact of these threats here.

Come to the Lobby on Wednesday:

Wed 28th January, 2009
4.00-6.00pm
Tower Building
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/tower-building.cfm

Bring banners, placards and your workmates. For more information please contact Justine Stephens.

Read the full post with comments!

500 JOBS AXED AS CASH CRISIS HITS CAMPUS

From the Camden New Journal/ Islington Tribune:

Union voices fears for future of university reeling from £18m cut

LONDON Met University is to become Islington’s biggest victim of the recession so far with up to 500 redundancies announced this week.

Shocked staff have been told that job los­ses will be made equally between academic, administrative and support staff over a year following an £18million cut in the univer­sity’s government funding.

Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn is seeking urgent talks with higher education minister David Lammy amid claims by union officials of “financial mismanagement”.

Mr Corbyn said: “I will be seeking to save jobs as well as receive a commitment for the future of the university.”

Up to 500 full-time and part-time jobs, ­representing 14-20 per cent of the workforce, could disappear.

Staff will be asked to volunteer for redundancy this month but a large programme of compulsory job losses is expected later this year.

Unlike in the past when generous redundancy packages were agreed, staff are being told that only the basic statutory entitlements will be paid.

Read the rest (and comment) on the Camden New Journal/ Islington Tribune here.

Read the full post with comments!

Questions to London Metropolitan University Senior Managers

The following are an initial set of requests for information put to London Metropolitan University senior managers by the joint trade unions representing university staff:

With regard to financial issues:
Questions to the Director of Finance

Requests for the following:

• The accounts for 07/08

• Monthly returns stating the university’s position subsequent to April 2008

• The financial documents that accompanied the Strategic Plan sent to HEFCE.

• Figures for the sums paid out under PADAS (and to how many individuals?), bonuses (and to how many individuals?), various performance-related pay schemes (and to how many individuals in each one?) and market supplements (and to how many individuals?)

• How much was spent on outside consultants and which ones in 2007/08? What consultants are currently (2008/09) operating in the university? At what cost?

• A copy of the letter from HEFCE informing London Met management of its decision to reduce the grant by £18 million for 2009/10

• An urgent meeting with yourself to discuss the figures in the material above.

An explanation of the following:

• How HEFCE arrived at a figure of £18 million for 9/10 (is the figure linked to any projection of monies from student fees anticipated for 2008/09?)

Confirmation of the following:

• Whether it is correct to state that there will have been a combined shortfall of £33 million from HEFCE grants for 2008/09 and 2009/10 arising from HEFCE’s re-determination of London Met’s student figures and that this £33 million shortfall is separate from the £38 million that HEFCE allege the university should not have received for the preceding years, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08?

• Whether HEFCE have or have not stated that they are minded to recover the full sum of £38 million for those preceding years?

• Whether HEFCE are currently imposing consultants to make decisions with regard to the future shape and structures of the university and if so, whether she could facilitate a meeting between these consultants and the unions?

• What avenues have been explored to increase revenue? What were the results?

With regard to University Strategy/Strategic Plan
Questions to the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic

Requests for answers to the following:

• Which parts of the strategic plan were accepted and which rejected?

• Whether the university was being required to submit a revised plan?

• Which parts of the strategic plan were approved by Price Waterhouse Cooper (consultants brought in by HEFCE) and which bits were not?

• Why, if the Strategic Plan was approved by PWC consultants (and this approval was a condition of it also being approved by the board of governors as stated by the DVC (Academic) at an earlier meeting), it was not accepted by HEFCE?

• Who at London Met was involved directly in the consultation and final drafting of the Strategic Plan that HEFCE appears not to have accepted?

• Why if HEFCE are not prepared at this moment to invest in the future of the university, the university is not prepared to use capital assets to fund such investment?

• Whether senior management have developed a strategic view of how the university will look in the future? Will management be looking to cut courses or sections or to maintain them all with fewer staff? Will all courses remain viable?

• What methods will senior management use to tap into staff expertise and to provide meaningful consultations with relevant staff on academic and professional matters?

With regard general staff issues and other external relations:
Questions to the Vice Chancellor

Requests for answers to the following:

• Given the stated level of financial crisis in your email of January 8th, when and by what means are you or the university executive proposing to meet staff?

• Could a timetable of such meetings with departmental staff (academic and professional departments) be put on ‘Message of the Day’?

• Has London Met management requested information from HEFCE or from other institutions regarding similar reductions in grant elsewhere in the sector?

• Have you any plans to meet DIUS ministers or local MPs or members of the Education Select committee?

• Have you any plans to meet other Vice Chancellors in London or beyond to develop a joint strategy in favour of fully funded higher education?

• Do you accept that at the time of credit crunch any cut in education provision is by definition unjustifiable? If so, how do you plan to take forward your own concerns and campaign in support of London Met and in support of fully funded education?

• Would you be willing to meet with national representatives of the NUS and a deputation of students from London Met?


With regard to staffing issues
Questions to the Director of HR

Request for the following information:

• Staff turnover, broken down into retirement, redundancy, voluntary severance and other reasons for 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 and projections for 2008/09, 2009/10

• Numbers of hourly-paid staff (or estimates thereof) for 2007/08 and 2008/09

• Whether the 330 FTE redundancies mentioned to union representatives include the three recent redundancies in LGIR and the 15-18 FTE posts to be lost in the new Registry department?

• Whether there is a freeze on new appointments while current staff are under threat of redundancy? This freeze should include all posts not already offered to individuals, including those for which interviews are scheduled, those advertised this week in the Guardian and those advertised in previous weeks.

• Whether her department has carried out full impact assessments on all the proposed redundancies and job cuts?

• Whether her department is carrying out a full skills audit of the university to provide information for bumped redundancies, should this become necessary?

• Whether she is prepared to pursue with a sense of urgency negotiations on a university workload allocation model to which she agreed some time ago?

Read the full post with comments!

Facebook event - Lobby the board of governors 28th Jan 4pm

If you use Facebook, (and UNISON blogger doesn't), then you can find our Lobby of the board of governors as an 'Event' here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=45204069356

See you on Wednesday outside Tower Building -- tell everyone at work about it, and finish early to be there. Say you've got an important meeting to attend.

Spread the word: through the internet, pick up the phone, and talk face-to-face with everyone you know at the uni ... and if you're on Facebook, invite them to this event.

Save the link to this blog and pass it on to all your workmates, put it in your email 'signature'.

Make this your homepage to keep in touch with the latest on the campaign.

Get involved, get active, get in touch with your ideas for further actions. Call you local paper, write them a letter. Come on Wednesday with your ideas and your anger. Let's make this as big as it ought to be.

Save London Met Uni!

Read the full post with comments!

BBC news online: "It's just disgraceful"

'London's Biggest uni in big trouble' says the BBC.

(This news story that was on the BBC News iPlayer that we linked to has been removed now).

One student put it like this:

"It's the university's fault, but not the people who work here's fault at all. So that is a bit unfair."

Another said:

"It shouldn't cost staff their jobs. It's just disgraceful."

The BBC end their report by mentioning the lobby on Wednesday (4pm outside Tower Building) -- let's make sure this demo as big as possible to show them what we think of their attempts to make us pay for their mistakes.

• Save London Met Uni!
• No Job Cuts!
• No Outsourcing!

If anyone should go, it ought to be Brian Roper and his team. Sack the managers -- they got us into this mess, not us staff who keep LMU going.

Read the full post with comments!

"BRIAN ROPER- THE £276K MAN"

Save London Met Uni bloggers are pleased to be able to link up with another activist blog for students and staff at the Sir John Cass institute (part of London Met Uni), called The Cass Crisis: http://www.thecasscrisis.blogspot.com/

See below part of an impassioned plea to join the demo on Wednesday:

We are currently informing the press and media of the situation.WE NEED YOU to attend this demo and make your voice heard. You CAN play an active part in the future of your university. On Wednesday the 28th of January, the Board of Governors will be meeting to discuss the future of the university at the Tower Building, Holloway Road. Several relevant members of the teaching staff have implied that the meeting should have a demo in front of it and are keen to join the students.

This is a case of STUDENTS and STAFF uniting to steer the university away from demise and towards a brighter future, which is currently looking increasingly bleaker and bleaker.It is time for you to step up to the mark and say NO, we do NOT WANT TO LOSE OUR TEACHERS. We do NOT WANT TO LOSE OUR UNIVERSITY. We expect to see you at 4pm, outside the Tower Building of London Metropolitan University, making your voice heard, sending your message to the governors. There will be banners and signs- please bring your own- along the lines of "DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS", "BRIAN ROPER- THE £276K MAN", "SAVE THE MET!", "SACK ROPER!", "LONDON'S BIGGEST UNI GOING UNDER!" etc.

BRIAN ROPER

Brian Roper is the Vice Chancellor of the University- the main man. He is the most highly-paid Vice Chancellor in the country, making £276k a year (before bonuses). If he wants to axe our staff, let him be the first. One of our main agendas will be to call for the immediate resignation of the Vice Chancellor. He has put a rope around our necks and by trying to remove it he is merely tightening it.Many members of staff will be protesting alongside us. Do not fail your teachers, and do not fail yourselves- BE AT THE DEMO AND MAKE YOURSELF HEARD.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Protest Signs:Any long piece of scrap wood or a bamboo stick will do, get TWO same-size pieces (per sign) of large, sturdy card (A2 probably best size) and paint a SHORT and CLEAR slogan/phrase on BOTH pieces of card. Staple the pieces of card together at the corners so that the phrases are effectively on both sides, then slide the wood/stick between them. Finally, staple the sign at the top and bottom to the wood/stick.It will also help to wear tshirts with slogans, or anything memorable and eye-catching.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Read the full post with comments!

Join the mass lobby of the London metropolitan governors' meeting

On Wednesday 28 January the Governors of London Metropolitan will be meeting at the Holloway Road campus, Tower Building (link to map and directions)

UCU and UNISON are planning a joint mass lobby. Please do everything you can to join them from 4pm – bring your banners, bring your colleagues. For more information please contact Justine Stephens.

Read the full post with comments!

London Metropolitan University - petition

Please note the two petitions (see below, linked here and here), have been consolidated into the following petition. Please sign the new petition below.

Petition text:

'We the undersigned, note that the future of London Metropolitan University is now under threat arising from the reduction in their teaching grant by £18m / year and claw back £38m in over-payments as a result of inaccurate returns on student completion rates. We reject the management's response to this crisis of insisting on a minimum of 330 redundancies across the university within months. Reductions in staffing will erode the institution's ability to offer high quality education to Londoners and will inflict damage on the prospects of the students who pursue their studies, often at great cost. In a recession, we should be investing more, not less, in education.

'We call upon the management to reverse its current cuts policy and commit themselves to:

• no redundancies
• no deterioration of terms and conditions or workloads
• no victimisation of union members
• meaningful consultation with staff unions over alternative cost savings as a matter of urgency
• setting up with immediate effect departmental working groups with full staff and union involvement to conduct thorough analysis of potential non-staff related cost savings
• if management wish to run a voluntary severance scheme, it should only go ahead after thorough and meaningful consultation and be fully funded and run in a transparent and equitable fashion.

'We call upon the government to:

• intervene with HEFCE to secure London Metropolitan's funding, governance and future.

'Finally, we believe that the crisis within this university can only be solved through serious engagement with the staff unions by the management rather than seeking to bypass or even penalise UCU and Unison representatives. We therefore call upon the vice-chancellor, management and governors of the university to:

• abandon the contemplated large-scale redundancies that, if implemented, will place in serious jeopardy both the education of current students and the existence of the institution
• work with the recognised trade unions in facing the current crisis
• withdraw threatened proceedings against trade union reps.'

Sign the Petition, go to:

https://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3678
Read the full post with comments!

Save London Metropolitan University

UCU and UNISON are campaigning to save London Metropolitan University from management plans to cut at least 330 jobs.

London Metropolitan University has recently had a cut of £18 million in its teaching budget and HEFCE has confirmed that it intends to 'claw back' £38 million in past funding as a result of inaccurate returns on student completion rates.

London Metropolitan's managers have responded to this crisis by stating that they are seeking to cut at least 330 jobs. So far, they have also failed to consult meaningfully with staff or unions about the crisis or the future of the university.

UCU members at London Metropolitan are outraged that managers at London Metropolitan, who previously attempted to de-recognise the union, are now planning to punish staff for what appear to be massive management failings. We also note that London Metropolitan's response compares unfavourably with that of other London higher education institutions who have sought to deal with serious cuts in funding, for which they were not responsible, without slashing staff jobs.

UCU believes that the proposed programme of job cuts would throw the entire future of the university into doubt at a time when education and training are seen to be vital to the capital's economic health, as well as further undermining efforts to widen participation in London's higher education institutions.

We are calling on HEFCE to ensure London Metropolitan's funding and on the University management to reverse the proposed job cuts and engage in meaningful consultation with staff and unions to explore the options for savings that do not involve redundancies.

The core objectives of the campaign are:

• a fresh start for London Met - including a thorough and independent review of current governance
• open the books - a thorough investigation into the current financial crisis
• seek sustained funding
• no redundancies
• no deterioration of terms and conditions or workloads
• no victimisation of union members

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Join the mass lobby of the London metropolitan governors' meeting
   
   On Wednesday 28 January the Governors of London Metropolitan will be meeting at the Holloway Road campus, Tower building. UCU and UNISON are planning a joint mass lobby. Please do everything you can to join them from 4pm – bring your banners, bring your colleagues. For more information please contact Justine Stephens.
   
   location map
2. Sign the petition
   
   please sign the joint UCU/UNISON petition now

From the the UCU website: http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3680
Read the full post with comments!

London Met - a history of disputes with staff

This is by no means the first time management at LMU have attacked their staff. And this is not the first local website to reflect the fight back from union members. See the LMU-UCU website for some more details on this and older disputes: http://www.lmuucu.org.uk/

Read the full post with comments!

London Met may cut 500 jobs, UCU claims

Latest from Rebecca Attwood, writing for Times Higher Education:

As many as 500 jobs could go at London Metropolitan University as the university faces a clawback of more than £50 million of funding - according to the lecturers' trade union.

Members of the University and College Union at London Met received a message from their branch that says that between one in five and one in seven of all staff jobs could go to help meet the £15 million reduction in the university's grant from 2008-09.

Read the rest here, including comments, such as: "HEFCE have invited Brian Roper to resign"... can it be true?

Read the full post with comments!

Sign the petition against job cuts at London Met Uni

To: The UK Government and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) We, the undersigned, call on the government and HEFCE to ensure that funds are available to London Metropolitan University to avert threatened redundancies.

HEFCE has reduced London Metropolitan’s teaching grant by £18m / year and is clawing back £38m in over-payments as a result of inaccurate returns on student completion rates. London Metropolitan’s management are now insisting on 330 redundancies across the university within months.

Reductions in staffing will erode London Metropolitan University’s ability to offer high quality education to Londoners and will inflict damage on the prospects of the students who pursue their studies, often at great cost. This is nonsensical: in a recession, the government should be investing more, not less, in education. If billions of pounds are available to bail out private banks and their rich shareholders, then there is certainly funding available for education. We call on the government to step in to save the university so that staff and students do not pay for the incompetence of others through job cuts and course closures.

Go here to sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/nojobcut/petition-sign.html

Read the full post with comments!

Defend Amanda Sackur, London Met UCU Chair

To: London Metropolitan University Management

We the undersigned wish to protest the disciplinary proceedings that have been instituted against Dr. Amanda Sackur, Chair of the UCU Coordinating Committee at London Metropolitan University, for attending a meeting at Nottingham Trent University in her capacity as a member of the UCU’s National Executive. They are totally unjustified and appear designed to intimidate or worse, force her out of her job for steadfastly representing her colleagues at a time when the University is facing the gravest financial crisis in its history. We call upon the Vice-Chancellor, management and governors of the University to act immediately to withdraw the proceedings against Dr. Sackur, work with the recognized trade unions in facing the current crisis, and abandon the contemplated large-scale compulsory redundancies that, if implemented, will place in serious jeopardy both the education of current students and the existence of the institution.

Sign the petition to defend Defend Amanda Sackur, go here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/defendas/petition.html

Read the full post with comments!

Get Involved - Join our Campaign

Get involved:

1) Join your relevant union (for academic staff, join UCU here), and for support staff, join UNISON here).

2) Get in touch to find out how you can help this campaign, email UNISON or UCU .

3) Pass on the link to this website to your work mates and friends, watch this space for updates soon, and sign our petition here.

And let us know your thoughts and ideas on this campaign by clicking on 'COMMENTS' below.

Read the full post with comments!

Save London Metropolitan University!

This website has been set up to campaign to Save London Met University! The threatened job cuts (550 and counting); the continued outsourcing and privatisation of in-house services; the attacks on union reps, and management refusal to enter meaningful negotiations; all of the above will mean the beginning of the end of London Met Uni (LMU).

For some background, read the Times Higher Education article online, 'Hefce's cash clawback hits battered London Met':

The financial woes facing London Metropolitan University are intensifying as the funding council confirms plans to claw back the full amount of money the university has been overpaid since 2005.

Read more and feel free to comment on the article. For some hypocritical posturing by our Vice Chancellor, go here and you can also comment.

London Met staff refuse to pay for our management's failures. Union members and non-members alike are furious at these attacks on our jobs and on our education. So UNISON and UCU branch executives have formed a campaign committee to fight these cuts with the following demands:

• SAVE LONDON MET UNI!
• NO JOB CUTS!
• NO OUTSOURCING!

We decided to set up this joint website, to communicate news of our campaign to London Met staff, to management, and the wider world. This is not just about LMU, this is about provision of education in this country. It's about priorities: if the government can write a blank cheque for the banks, why can't they find money to save struggling universities like ours?

Get involved: for a start, join your relevant union (for academic staff, join UCU here), and for support staff, join UNISON here). And get in touch to find out how you can help this campaign, email UNISON or UCU . Pass on the link to this website to your work mates and friends, watch this space for updates soon, and sign our petition here.

And let us know your thoughts and ideas on this campaign by clicking on 'COMMENTS' below.

Read the full post with comments!