Save London Met University!

Why are the unions striking over proposed changes to our pensions?

2011-11-14T12:27:00.002Z

UNISON and UCU would like to invite all staff and students to the following open meetings to explain:

“What are the proposed changes to our pension schemes – why are the unions striking?”

NORTH
Wednesday 16 November 2011
13:00-14:00
Room: TG-30, ‘Henry Thomas Room’

CITY

Thursday 17 November 2011

13:00-14:00

Room: JSM-34 (Jewry Street Lecture Theatre)

The government has proposed significant changes to public sector pension schemes that London Met staff are members of (LGPS/ LPFA, USS and TPS). The government want us to pay more, work longer and get less.

Public sector unions (including UNISON and UCU) are in dispute with the government over these detrimental (and in our view unnecessary) changes and, after balloting all relevant members, announced the first day of strike action on 30th November.

Come to these open meetings (all welcome) for up to date info and find out how this will affect YOU…

For more info, contact: unison@londonmet.ac.uk

or go here: http://www.londonmetunison.org.uk/

UNISON - Fighting for decent pensions

2011-11-14T12:24:00.002Z

UNISON members will be taking action on 30 November to defend their pensions, after they voted overwhelmingly to join the TUC co-ordinated day of action .

Pressure from UNISON, including the ballot of more than a million members, has seen the government move significantly from its original proposals.

But at the moment, all the government has spelled out is outline principles - there are no detailed offers for the different public service pension schemes that members can make a decision on.

UNISON will continue to negotiate on our members' behalf right up until 30 November and we will consult members when any firm offer is received.

Until we have a firm offer, we need to keep up the pressure and proceed with our plans for action on 30 November alongside other public sector unions and the TUC.

Resources and information to help your branch plan for action are available on these pages.

Your pension is under attack - join us in defending it.

Pensions: busting the myths

#N9

2011-11-06T20:43:00.005Z

On Wednesday 9th November, thousands of students from all over the country will march through London against the government’s plans for universities.

Assemble: 12 noon at the University of London Union (ULU) on Malet Street

See the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149127191852123

Strike action at London Metropolitan University (Reel News short film)

2011-08-04T14:54:00.000+01:00

London Met Sounds of Resistance: March against the Privatisation of Education!

2011-06-11T14:13:00.002+01:00

Wednesday 22nd June

Join London Met students and staff in our fight against massive job cuts and course closures. There are currently plans to cut 70% of courses – including Performing Arts, History, Caribbean Studies and Philosophy – and we already have 200 proposed compulsory redundancies in motion.

What is happening at London Met is a sign of what is going on in all our public services: mass privatisa…tion.

And these cuts are the tip of the iceberg at London Met: if we accept these we will see them coming back for more and more.

Say ‘no’ to job cuts, course cuts and massively reduced and restricted provision of services to students.

Say ‘Yes’ to Education, work and widening participation.

This is a direct attack on the students, staff and the whole London Met community, and furthermore an attack on the ethos and principles that we hold dear: of widening participation and the value of educational opportunities and the pursuit of critical thinking that universities should provide for all.

We believe that arts and humanities subjects should be for all, not just for those who can afford £18,000 a year at privatised. The fight to save humanities starts at London Met and does not end at the elitist New College of Humanities.

Assemble at 2-3pm to march to London Met Tower Building, Holloway Road

Speakers include:
Mark Serwotka, PCS General secretary
Denise Bertuchi Assistant National Officer, UNISON Education and Children's Services
Mark Campbell, UCU NEC
Max Watson, Unison NEC
Clare Soloman, ULU President
Mark Burgfield NUS NEC
Claire Locke, London Met SU
and others to be confirmed

Sounds of Resistance:
* Live MCs
* Samba Band
* London Met Performing Arts
* London Met Cheerleaders
* T-shirt painting
* Banner/placard Making

See the Facebook event

Lobby the London Met Board of Governors

2011-05-16T10:00:00.004+01:00

Lobby the London Met Board of Governors

2011-05-08T18:15:00.005+01:00

Event address:
84 Moorgate
London
EC2M 6SQ

Facebook event

See the We Are London Met Blog

We are London Met, not Easy Met!

2011-05-06T17:44:00.001+01:00

In April 2011 London Metropolitan University announced the closure of 70% of its courses, including Performing Arts, History, Caribbean Studies and Philosophy.

This proposal to massively reduce and restrict provision is a direct attack on the students, staff and the whole London Met community, and represents an attack on widening participation and the value of educational opportunities and the pursuit of critical thinking that universities should provide for all.

For more information about the campaign to save London Met, please visit:
www.londonmetunison.org.uk/ and www.londonmetsu.org.uk/

Sign the petition here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-london-metropolitan-university.html

The announcement by London Met University to slash 70 percent of its courses is a direct attack on the students, staff and the whole London Met community, and furthermore an attack on the ethos and principles that we hold dear: of widening participation and the value of educational opportunities and the pursuit of critical thinking that universities should provide for all.

These unprecedented cuts stem from a government whose cabinet is comprised of millionaires who were nearly all Arts and Humanities students who received their university degrees for free, paid for by the state.

Yet London Met students from non-traditionally academic backgrounds are being told that Arts and Humanities subjects do not help to ‘build careers’.

Professor (of Music) and Vice Chancellor of the University Malcolm Gillies has done very well so far in his career. Peter McCaffery, newly appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor studied History, yet his vision for London Met is one that has no history.

Philosophy too will be chopped, deemed unprofitable. The British Philosophical Association Director, Helen Beebee, has said recently:

“Philosophy has been taught in universities for over 900 years. It addresses questions that continue to be central to our understanding of the world and our place within it. The core aim of any self-respecting university should be the pursuit of knowledge; but philosophy is unique in addressing the question of what knowledge itself is.”

Arguing against the closure of Philosophy at Greenwich University, Beebee contends that the subject should be available as widely as possible:

“The new universities [...] play a vital role in this. They have broad access to parts of the community where the appeal of the ‘old’ universities is very limited; moreover, philosophy is a subject that can be studied from a wide variety of educational backgrounds.”

These attacks amount to telling working class and poor students that these subjects are ‘not for the likes of you’, and we reject this absolutely. In making these cuts, London Met management are publicly embracing government policies singling out the arts, humanities and social sciences for attack.

We believe the government’s attacks on education should be resisted, not embraced. We believe that higher education should provide working class and non-traditional students with a full range of well resourced, appropriately taught and supported academic courses, rather than a narrow set of under-resourced and 'cheaply' delivered so-called 'vocational' degrees.

We don’t believe in a ‘No-Frills’ education, provided on the cheap, with buildings but no staff. We are London Met, not EasyMet!

We believe fundamentally that higher education is a public good that benefits the whole of society as well as that of the wider economy. We further believe that universities should be run democratically as local community academic assets - with full student, staff, and community involvement. We do not accept the argument that you can have 'too many' people educated to degree level, or that we should ration educational opportunity to a minority that believe they can financially afford it.

The fight to defend publicly-funded HE is not over and we do not accept the defeatism of the University’s management over fees and provision – it is a local and national struggle.

We therefore resolve to do everything in our power to fight these cuts, including as appropriate, lawful industrial action, protests, and demonstrations – we will do everything in our hands to stop this educational vandalism. We will continue to campaign for free higher education open to all and call on the whole community to sign up to this statement.

Signed,
Max Watson, London Met UNISON Chair, & NEC
Mark Campbell, London Met UCU Chair, & NEC
Claire Locke, METSU President-elect
Cliff Snaith, London Met UCU Secretary
Allan Pike, London Met UNISON Branch Secretary
Mary Davis, TUC Women’s Committee, ex-London Met UCU
Paul Mackney, NATFHE General Secretary/ UCU (1997-2007)
Jeremy Corbyn MP, Islington North
Sian Moore, UCU, WLRI Reader in Industrial Relations

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-london-metropolitan-university.html

Student Union Response to London Met Transformation

2011-04-26T15:19:00.003+01:00

The proposal to cut 70 per cent of the Undergraduate portfolio at London Metropolitan University (London Met) will have a huge impact on the past, present and future students of London Met. The proposed reduction in courses coupled with the budget fee levels put forward by the university could mean that London Met is perceived to be the no frills university as it will provide a bare minimum of services and resources to its students. This would be disastrous to London Met students in terms of how the value of their degree is perceived by both the university and industry sector. This would also have an adverse impact on the London Met student experience.

Many of the areas affected by the proposed cuts at London Met not only have a high intake of students, but also achieve high scores in many surveys that reflect student satisfaction. The Students’ Union would like detailed information about what will happen to the existing students whose courses are deleted as the proposal to transfer students to other universities was put forward as an option on the Undergraduate Review Board.

Along with the recent proposed course reduction, London Met will be closing the Learning Development Unit, which is an area of excellence, the Writing Centre, a service that not only provides students with learning support but also employs London Met students who will now have to find alternative employment to support their studies.

London Met currently has contracts with external providers for cleaning, security, catering and maintenance. There have been recent proposals to outsource the Print Centre and the Disability and Dyslexia Service. The Students' Union would like to know whether the university has plans to outsource any of the other internal university services to private companies during the reshaping of the university. The history of outsourcing services at London Met has not had a positive impact on the university. This has even been acknowledged by senior members of the university.

The Students' Union believes that this transformation of the university is in direct contradiction to the ethos of London met. We change lives and of this we are proud. Many of the students who will be affected are single parents and come from the most deprived areas of London. We enable people to develop and progress towards their future. We are commended on the high standard of teaching as reflected in both the National Student Survey and the Opinion Panel. The Students’ Union would like to formally request access to the equality impact assessment.

The Students' Union has deep concerns over the future of the university. What will the university be able to offer students in terms of service, support, choice and quality? And how much will the London Met degree really be worth?

The Students' Union does not accept this transformation as necessary. Furthermore, we will actively support our students who will be directly and indirectly affected by these damaging plans.

Call for an emergency Board of Governors meeting regarding course closures

2011-04-17T18:53:00.002+01:00

We the undersigned call on Clive Jones, as Chair of the London
Metropolitan University Board of Governors, to invoke an emergency
all-Governors' meeting.

The role of the Board of Governors is not (and never should have been) to "rubber-stamp" the decisions of the Executive (we thought those days had gone). It does include overseeing the Executive and ensuring the appropriate use of funds.

As stated in the draft minutes of the Board of Governors' meeting on 16 March, the meeting of Academic Board held on Thursday 14 April was "to approve proposals on undergraduate courses and tuition fees to underpin the submission of the Access Agreement to OFFA on 19 April."

It was agreed that "a small group of Governors would be convened for one meeting to approve the final proposals on behalf of the Board". It was surely not envisaged that "proposals on undergraduate courses" would imply slashing the undergraduate course provision to such a savage extent. Cuts of this severity cannot be left to a sub-committee of the Board of Governors as these entail a major change in strategy and policy.

No financial justification for these cuts has been put forward. The severe reduction in the undergraduate portfolio leaves London Metropolitan University vulnerable to takeover and asset stripping from competitor institutions (where higher tuition fees are being proposed than at London Met).

We call on the Board of Governors to meet immediately to demand an explanation from the VC and the London Met Executive's proposal for undergraduate provision, and to ensure the survival of the university by its reversal.

The Governors are accountable to the wider community of London Met. Given the previous history of governance at London Met, this Board of Governors has a unique imperative to listen to and respond to that community, and address their very real and serious concerns. It is vital that the Board of Governors insists that the University is able to honour the pledge made in the strategic plan: transforming lives, meeting needs, building careers. The current proposals satisfy none of these criteria.

Please call the extraordinary meeting as soon as possible, and in your capacity as Chair suspend immediately the decisions regarding the undergraduate portfolio until the meeting has taken place and inform OFFA accordingly.

Signed

Kay Dudman (Elected Staff Governor)
Yeashir Ahmed (President, London Met SU, Student Governor)
Claire Locke (President Elect, London Met SU)

Islington Strikes Back!

2011-02-10T00:15:00.003Z

Some lively local anti-cuts groups are emerging and mobilising in our communities - like IHOOPS, who organised this excellent demo last Saturday, 5th Feb, of over 1,000 people marching against the cuts. Power to the People!

Some selected speeches from the rally at the end, starting with George Binette, of Camden UNISON branch:

... Jeremy Corbyn, MP, Islington North, Labour:

And finally, my favourite, Billie Tomlinson, student occupier from London Met:

Lobby the London Met Board of Governors!

2011-01-20T18:02:00.003Z

Lobby the London Met Board of Governors!

Download the leaflet in English from here.

Y en Español desde aqui.

- 26th January 2011 -

4.30-5.30pm @ entrance to ‘Tower Building’- 166 Holloway Road, N7

London Living Wage!
No job cuts!
No more outsourcing!

On 26th January, the governing body of London Met University meets to agree our future direction. Staff and students, through our unions, are calling for: the London Living Wage (£7.85) as a minimum for all staff, including cleaners caterer and security guards; no compulsory redundancies, save the Education & Learning Development Units, no more outsourcing & the privatisation of Education (bring our services back in-house).

Join us & show your support—together, we can win!

Don't write off the LDU

2010-11-18T13:12:00.006Z

The Learning Development Unit and Writing Centre could be closed by the end of the academic year as 44 redundancies have been announced.

What can you do to help?

Post messages of support on the Don’t write off the LDU blog

Sign the Petition

Join the Don’t write off the LDU Facebook group

Send this editable email to the VC

The SU is also holding two open meetings next week for students to come and find about the local and national cuts and to find out what steps we can take to oppose them.

* Monday 22nd November: 5pm, Henry Thomas room, Tower building, North campus.
* Tuesday 23rd November: 5pm, Calcutta house Atrium, Goulston st, City campus.

Staff are also welcome to attend either or both of these meetings.

Save London Met! Education for all! Demonstrate!

2010-11-08T10:54:00.001Z

A crucial time is upon us and we are asking for your support. Jobs, student places, funding for teaching and access to education itself are at risk from the Government. Together we must take a stand to defend ourselves, our values, our communities and education for future generations. The Coalition Government announced:

• £9,000 tuition Fees
• 40% cuts to University funding
• Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will lose ALL funding support

What does this mean for us?

London Met could lose 80% of its teaching grant. We could be closed down completely at worst: Education will no longer be affordable or a right, but a privilege for the few. At best it will mean: 

• More students crammed into lecturer theatres,
• Widespread course closures,
• Large scale redundancies,
• Buildings such as libraries and computer room

What can you do?

In the future you or someone you know will look to enter further or higher education. We need to unite now to push for a new, more sustainable way of funding education. The National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and College Union (UCU), with UNISON support, are jointly organising a national demo, ‘Fund Our Future: Stop Education Cuts’ on Wednesday 10 November 2010, in central London. The demonstration aims to shake the unity of the Coalition Government by highlighting to MPs that education funding is an issue that resonates strongly within society, as well as students and their families. So join us as we tell this government: “No ifs, no buts - no Education cuts!”

Join Us on the National Demo!

Assemble: 9am-10.30 am at ‘The Rocket’ or ‘The HUB’, then Travel to Embankment (11am). Demonstrate under the ‘Save London Met’ banner, with UNISON and UCU banners. Meet in Victoria Embankment Gardens, Embankment Tube: 11.30am

London Met University UNISON / Students' Union/ UCU joint statement on the Browne Report and Spending Review cuts

2010-10-25T10:21:00.003+01:00

Last week, the Government announced unprecedented cuts to Higher Education budgets as a whole (40%). The Browne report came out the week before that, recommending a removal of the cap on tuition fees. These policies would be utterly destructive.

The government appears to be hell bent on dismantling the welfare state, public education and health. If Lord Browne has his way, families could have to shell out between £76,000 and £136,000 to put two children through university. Browne, who made himself rich as an oil Baron for BP, could afford that. Could your family?

His recommendations would be as disastrous for Higher Education as BP’s oil spillage was for the Gulf of Mexico.

These cuts are categorically unacceptable, unfair and unnecessary. The political elite can afford to waste billions on fighting in Afghanistan, an ageing nuclear defence programme, and an aircraft carrier that has no aircraft to carry … but cannot educate its own children.

Arts, humanities and social sciences are degraded as no longer ‘priority’ subjects – they could losing government funding altogether. Art is a crucial part of our economy and an essential fabric of London life and culture. What would happen to John Cass, the college of Music, or Arts College - non-science subjects will become privileged hobbies for millionaire private schoolboys like Cameron, Clegg and Cable. Universities like ours could shut down altogether.

Meanwhile, at London Met, we’re still recovering from the cuts of 2009 caused by funding scandal not of our making. The immediate impact of a hike in fees at London Met is obvious and does not need to be spelt out. There is no alternative but active opposition and active resistance.

United, we staff and students fought back against the cuts last of 2009 – we refused to pay for the incompetence of our old management and their crisis, we demanded and eventually saw the Governors’ mass resignations, we saved 200 jobs and we stopped outsourcing.

Now we’re being told to pay for the banker’s crisis – and again, we say: ‘no, we shall not pay for their crisis!’ We saw the back of the Governors at London Met – we’ll see the back of this government too.

The three unions - support staff in UNISON, lecturers in UCU, and the Students’ Union - pledge resistance to these cuts to education. We pledge to do all we can to:

save the welfare state from these vandals;
defend education from market madness; and to
protect all public services from parasites and privateers.

We call on all staff to join the unions in our campaign – and those who are not members of the unions to join up and join in.

We call on senior management - and the Vice Chancellor in particular - to declare their opposition to these cuts and support our pledge of resistance. We call for:

a day off from lectures and from work on 10th November 2010, so we can:

Demonstrate against cuts to Education
http://www.demo2010.org/

Come to a joint-union

Campaign launch Party at 'The Rocket', Holloway Road

4th November 2010, starts at 6pm.

Speakers from all three unions, music afterwards

To find out more and how to get involved - to check everyday for activities and events, meetings and demonstrations, letters to write to your MPs, subscribe to our mailing list... go to the re-launched ‘Save London Met’ website:

http://www.savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com

London Met University UNISON, UCU, Students’ Union

Statement to remuneration committee

2010-09-29T15:59:00.003+01:00

The recent financial crisis at LMU has resulted in a mass reduction in staff, services and resources. Thus causing substantial reviews across the university that are due to take place in academic year 2010/11. One of these reviews addresses the pay and reward scheme currently in operation. The PRP scheme alone which is paid out to approximately 200 senior members of staff currently costs the university around £1m per annum. This is not considered to be a productive avenue of expenditure and therefore should be suspended with immediate effect to prevent any further financial wastage.

Such wastage in the present economic climate along with LMU’s current financial position is unacceptable. The number of student facing staff has been massively reduced causing a negative impact on the students. However, student numbers are still over 25,000. Departments have been merged and reduced having a significant impact on the operations of the university, its facilities, students and staff. We are also concerned that the hygiene standards at LMU have greatly deteriorated since the cleaning services have been outsourced. If LMU can afford to spend around £1m on PRP, why can they not afford good hygiene?

The financial expenditure that has been allocated to staff bonuses could be better utilised. For instance, providing an increase in the wage of those staff currently receiving the minimum wage thus bringing their salary in line with the Living Wage of £7.85 per hour. Such an increase would improve staff morale resulting in improved quality of services delivered to LMU, as opposed to causing animosity or creating a class division amongst the staff members by wasting money on awards for already highly paid staff.

Ordinarily a business or organisation which has undergone significant change (as has happened at LMU) the management structure is generally de-layered. This involves reducing senior roles and/or reducing the number of pay grades and salary ranges to create a cost effective, productive management structure that fits the new shape of the organisation. This would be the logical move for LMU.

Met SU, UCU and UNISON fully support the remuneration review and requests that all staff bonus schemes be suspended with immediate effect pending review. We also request that the case for paying the minimum Living Wage to those staff members receiving the minimum pay rate be heard and taken into consideration at the review. Finally, we request that the LMU management structure including at faculty level also be reviewed in the coming academic year.

Joint Statement on London Met 'Bankruptcy' rumours from UNISON, UCU and LMSU

2010-09-26T21:13:00.002+01:00

BBC Radio News reported on Saturday 25th September that London Met was one of three institutions at risk of bankruptcy (the others being Cumbria University and the University of Gloucestershire). A repeat report appeared on Sunday 26th in the Telegraph. We believe such reports are based on rumour, exaggeration and ill-informed inference drawn from well-worn stories that were already within the public domain.

In no case did the reports derive from any recent comments from the institutions themselves nor, to our knowledge, were the institutions requested to report on their financial health.

The timing of these stories is unlikely to be an accident. Coinciding with the start of a new academic year and in the run up to the Comprehensive Spending Review, the reports are at best irresponsible and at worst have been put forward by groups opposed to public funded education as disinformation intended to alarm staff and students currently at London Met or the other institutions and to discourage future students.

We believe such rumours are part of a much wider 'softening-up' of the public in an attempt to create an 'inevitability' around mass cuts to higher education provision and to justify the ideologically-driven encroachment of private sector for profit companies into higher education.

UCU, UNISON and the LMSU invite London Met management and all supporters of London Met to engage in a joint campaign by all supporters of London Met to make the case for fully funded Higher Education and in defence of institutions such as London Met that provide vital training and educational provision to what are highly diverse and culturally mixed local populations at a time of recession and increasing unemployment.

£1m in bonuses for senior LMU managers

2010-08-16T10:41:00.001+01:00

An email from the HR department at LMU has revealed that senior managers are paid in the region of £1m in bonuses per year, whilst only £100k is paid in "Merit Awards" to support staff.

Read an article on the findings here.

Whitewash as senior London Met bosses avoid disciplinary for financial scandal

2010-05-19T09:56:00.002+01:00

Two senior managers at London Met involved in the financial incompetence that led to the university having to pay back £36.5 million in funding will not face any disciplinary charges after they were cleared in a report produced by the legal firm Eversheds. The full report, which has not yet been made publicly available, recommended that the managers not be held responsible for the failures committed under their leadership.

Read an article on the subject from the East London Advertiser.

Parents and staff rally to save their nursery

2010-03-10T07:09:00.007Z

Staff and students of London Metropolitan University rallied yesterday to save their nursery at Hornsey Road.

Parents were with their children carrying balloons that read 'I love my nursery', and staff held placards reading 'Save our Nursery'.

Members of both trade unions, UNISON and UCU, called for the Vice Chancellor to keep the nursery open, and hundreds more signatures on the petition were collected.

The group chanted: "What do we want? To save our Nursery! When do we want it? Now!"

The petition, with close to a thousand signatures collected in the last few weeks, was handed in to the Vice Chancellor's office. Representatives of London Met UNISON branch are meeting this morning to discuss alternative proposals on keeping the nursery open.

See here (film) and here for background and read comments on the online petitition here. More photos of the rally below:

RALLY TO SAVE HORNSEY ROAD NURSERY

2010-03-05T14:55:00.001Z

Tues 9th March, 4.00-5.00pm Tower Building, 166-220 Holloway Road, N7 8DB

This is our last chance to save nursery provision at London Met. Students and staff have worked on alternative proposals on keeping Hornsey Rd Nursery open, and will present to the new VC on Wednesday 10th to discuss. At this rally we will hand in our petition and show the level of support for our nursery. (Photo (c) Islington Gazette)

Please be there to support us!

Watch our film on the nursery here:

http://tinyurl.com/nursery-film

Sign our petition here.

Press reports add pressure to keep nursery open

2010-03-03T12:38:00.005Z

Local paper, the Islington Gazette, featured a report on the protest at Hornsey Road nursery on Thursday 25th Febraury. You can read the full report on their website here.

Picture copyright Islington Gazette

There is also a report in the Morning Star here.

Save Hornsey Road Nursery

2010-02-25T12:25:00.010Z

The last remaining nursery at London Met University - at Hornsey Road - is threatened with closure, leaving students and staff who are parents without a local nursery. We're campaigning to keep this vital service open. Watch our short film (6 min.) below and pass this on:

Please see our petition here,* (there is also a Facebook group, type 'SAVE HORNSEY ROAD NURSERY' into the search) sign and return petitions to UNISON Office, London Met University, 31 Jewry St, London EC3N 2EY, before March 10th.

*UPDATE: ONLINE PETITION HERE: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/34393.html

You could also (politely) email Prof Malcolm Gillies, the new VC, asking him - in your own words - to reconsider and keep Hornsey Road Nursery Open: m.gillies@londonmet.ac.uk

Letter regarding London Met from Paul Mackney, former General Secretary of NATFHE, to Times Higher

2010-01-11T12:42:00.005Z

Read Paul Mackney's letter to the Times Higher Education Supplement here

The scale of management failures at London Met "is unprecedented in higher education in this country"

2009-12-18T14:25:00.003Z

Further news coverage follows the forced resignation of the Board of Governors. You can see reports in the Guardian here, and the Independent here.

Board of Governors announce their resignations

2009-12-17T14:11:00.002Z

The resignations of the Board of Governors has today been announced, via a Joint Statement between London Metropolitan University and HEFCE.

You can view the statement here:
http://bit.ly/6CHDvt

News coverage follows major protest outside Board of Governors meeting

2009-12-17T10:10:00.003Z

A major protest organised by staff and students outside the Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday evening, urging them to accept culpability for their handling of the university's financial crisis and resign, has provoked national press coverage. You can see reports in the Independent, the Times Higher Education Supplement, the BBC, and the Guardian

VIDEO: Lobby of London Met Governors 15th Dec 09

2009-12-16T09:49:00.000Z

Protest Board of Governors - 15th December - resign now!

2009-12-08T15:33:00.004Z

The Board of Governors of London Metropolitan University are meeting on 15th December to consider their response to the recent reports into the financial fiasco they got us into. Both staff unions, UNISON and UCU, and London Met students union, are now calling for their resignations and for a Fresh start at London Met.

We will be presenting them with our petition. Come and join our final lobby/ rally/ protest for 2009 and give them a last push:

Tuesday 15th December,
4.00pm Moorgate Building, (see map)

Note change of time to 4pm start - get there early; 3.45pm

Download the student union leaflet.

Sign the on-line petition.

This is now a matter of survival - the government has threatened to close London Metropolitan University if they don't go. Bring banners, placards, tell everyone you know to leave work/ lectures early - this is our university, we value it highly, and they've got to go. They've done enough damage already, it's time for a Fresh start for London Met!

Join the Lobby - please forward to all your contacts.

Joint petition between students and staff

2009-12-07T20:13:00.003Z

The students union at London Metropolitan University is now supporting the call for resignations.

Download the new petition here.

Uncensored version of Deloitte report

2009-12-07T16:56:00.002Z

The uncensored version of the Deloitte report has also been published by Wikileaks in full. Go here to download as a pdf. See the summary of this report here by Sir David Melville.

Joint union petition calling on London Met Governors and Exec to resign now

2009-12-07T09:27:00.003Z

Both unions have launched a petition demanding the board of governors and exec group resign immediately. If you work or study at London Metropolitan University, print this petition, sign it, pass it round to everyone you know, and return it to a union rep ASAP.

The government, meanwhile has issued an ultimatum:

London Met warned that it could be closed

Governors' refusal to resign over university's £36m 'scam' could lead to funding being withdrawn

The university accused of a £36m scam involving false funding claims for thousands of students was told by ministers last night to take "urgent" action after its governors refused to resign.

Read the full article here in the Independent.

Read the letter from London Met Uni staff and union reps published in the Independent.

Melville Report summary 'Wikileak'

2009-12-03T14:12:00.005Z

'Wikileaks' have published the report here. Download as a pdf.

We feel completely vindicated in our position that the management at London Met must take responsibility for this crisis: not front line staff. What we have said about a bullying management culture at London Met is backed up by this report which describes the widely-held perception of:

“A highly centralised and dictatorial executive led by the vice-chancellor, which was incapable of listening to what was going on in the university, discouraged or ignored criticism and made decisions without consultation.”

We notice that nobody has yet resigned over this, and that the deadline given by HEFCE (last Friday) has not been met with the expected response. If the funding body has no confidence in the management, we the staff have no confidence, who on earth does? When will heads be rolling over this?

Watch this space for the results of a vote of no confidence organised by both unions. A petition is already being circulated calling for resignations and a 'Fresh Start' for London Met.

It's worth asking why, when the Nursery in Hornsey Rd got a 'Good' or 'Outstanding' in their OFSTED report of 2008, do they have to close down in 2010? Compare that to the Board of Governors and senior staff at London Met getting a 'no confidence letter' from HEFCE: can some one explain why they're all still in place?

National press coverage follows publication of the Melville Inquiry

2009-11-25T09:21:00.004Z

The publication of the Melville report into the financial crisis at London Met has provoked national press coverage. In addition to the article in The Independent below, the report, which is highly critical of ex-Vice Chancellor Brian Roper and the senior management team, has been reported in The Guardian, The Telegraph, the Times Higher Education, the London Evening Standard, the Press Association and the BBC. More in The Independent here and here. See also commentary in The Tribune Blog.

University accused of £36m student scam

2009-11-23T08:34:00.001Z

University accused of £36m student scam

Governors urged to quit after college falsely claimed for thousands of undergraduates

The body which funds English universities has taken the unprecedented step of calling for the mass resignation of governors at a university accused of misusing public money.

A letter seen by The Independent from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) to the chairman of governors at London Metropolitan University calls on members of the governing body and senior staff to "consider their position".

Read the rest here...

We got our enquiry, now we want the results

2009-11-21T14:24:00.006Z

In the long campaign for a public enquiry into the mess of London Met finances, we've finally got the report we wanted. See here and here for reports on the 'Dictatorial management style', vindicating the unions' position on who is to blame for the crisis.

It's worth remembering not only that we had been campaigning for all this to come out into the open, but that there have been several attempts to suppress previous, similar reports by repeatedly threatening legal action in the past (sometimes successfully) They have a habit of clinging on regardless of these damaging audits and reviews.

So the question now is what will the new VC, Malcolm Gillies, do about all this? Listen to the report and talk to the unions to try to move on? Or let management try to bury this and carry on with the cuts regardless? Answers on a postcard (or a 'comment' below) please ... More importantly, what can we do to make sure management don't get away with this all over again?

'Financial shambles' at university (PA / BBC news)

2009-11-21T10:58:00.002Z

Cash-crisis university criticised

A financial mismanagement report on a London university has found board members were aware unfair funding claims were made for the institution.

London Metropolitan University (LMU) was ordered to repay £36.5m after issuing false data on student numbers. (BBC News Online).

...

'Financial shambles' at university

Senior officials at London Metropolitan University must take responsibility for a financial shambles which has left the institution paying back millions of pounds of public funding, according to an independent review. (UKPA)

Gillies to lead London Met

2009-11-20T17:15:00.004Z

Former head of City named as new vice-chancellor

19 November
by Rebecca Attwood in Times Higher Education

Malcolm Gillies, who resigned as head of City University London in July, has been appointed the new vice-chancellor of troubled London Metropolitan University.

London Met has been forced to repay more than £36 million to the Higher Education Funding Council for England after major inaccuracies were discovered in its student-completion data.

Hefce has also reduced the university’s recurrent grant by £15 million.

The previous vice-chancellor, Brian Roper, left in March, and reports into the crisis have criticised the way the institution was managed and governed.

Last night, London Met’s board of governors appointed Professor Gillies to the role.

Read the full article here...

London Met’s board bears responsibility (THES)

2009-11-20T15:23:00.001Z

London Met’s board bears responsibility

20 November 2009

By Rebecca Attwood

Report into overpayments to university finds top officials were aware of problems but took no action. Rebecca Attwood reports

Brian Roper, the former vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University, presided over a dictatorial management regime and must take “the major responsibility and culpability” for the fact that the university has been forced to hand back tens of millions of pounds in cash.
That is the conclusion of a review by Sir David Melville, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, commissioned by London Met to investigate how the university came to massively overclaim from the Higher Education Funding Council for England after submitting inaccurate data about its students.

............ Read the rest here.

It's worth remembering our guide to commenting on the media here before getting too wound up by some of the strange comments over there.

Lobby Board of Governors - 18th November

2009-11-13T11:59:00.004Z

Students and Staff rally on 15th Oct. Photo (c) Guy Smallman

The Board of Governors meet on Wed 18th November - Tower Building, Holloway Road - 5pm

They are expecting to appoint a new Vice Chancellor for London Met. We need to make clear to the new VC and the Board our demands remain:

No job cuts!
No outsourcing!
No course closures!
Save our nursery!

Press and support for strike on 15th and 16th October 2009

2009-10-20T10:20:00.023+01:00

See below for a collection of articles and messages of solidarity for the joint UCU/Unison strike action at London Met on 15th and 16th October 2009 in protest at redundancies and further cuts to student services.

East London Advertiser...

Islington Gazette...

Socialist Worker...

Socialist Party...

Tower Hamlets Council...

Education Solidarity Network...

UCU...

International support from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and a link to the copy of the letter sent by CAUT to the London Met Vice-Chancellor, Alfred Morris...

For more individual messages of support, see our Messages of Support page...

More photos, reports and videos of Oct 15th-16th strike

2009-10-17T10:30:00.015+01:00

Staff and students on strike at London Met University, 15th-16th Oct in protest against massive job cuts. Read our report here, and see other press articles here, here, here and here. See more photos by clicking on the link 'Read the full post with comments', and more photos here and here. Also, watch videos of the rally held on Thursday here, and on Friday here and here. Guy Smallman's Photos can be seen here.

More to come. Please send us your reports, videos or photos of the strike to:

Videos: rally, Thursday 15th Oct

2009-10-17T10:25:00.001+01:00

Tina, London Met Student
See more speeches at rally by clicking on the link 'Read the full post with comments' (below).

Max Watson, London Met UNISON

Kay Dudman, London Met UCU

Megan Redmond, London Met UNISON

Claire Locke, London Met Student

Cliff Snaith, London Met UCU (pt1)

Cliff Snaith, London Met UCU (pt2)

Cliff Snaith, London Met UCU (pt3)

Alisdair Ross, London Met UCU

London Met staff walk out

2009-10-17T10:14:00.003+01:00

Staff at London Metropolitan University in Tower Hamlets have begun two days of strike action against cuts and redundancies.

The action follows a strike in July and other protests by staff and students against the cutbacks ordered by the university’s authorities

Lecturers, represented by the Universities and Colleges Union, and non-teaching staff, represented by Unison are on strike until Friday 16th October.

The ongoing campaign by staff and students at LMU began last year when university management announced 550 redundancies and closures. The cuts are being made to pay for a £38 million “claw back” of funds by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE). The “claw back” was announced by the funding council last December when it discovered misreporting by LMU of student drop outs had led to a £58 million overpayment.

Read the full article here (East London Lines).

LONDON MET UNIVERSITY STRIKE ACTION

2009-10-17T10:02:00.000+01:00

OVER 100 staff, students and lecturers rallied outside London Met University yesterday lunchtime, to vow to halt the wave of hundreds of sackings taking place at the institution.

Students eagerly took leaflets from pickets and joined the rally.

Two sites of the university were shut down by the support of staff and students for the 48-hour strike by Unison and the UCU that concludes today.

Naomi Bicharri, a business student, told News Line: ‘I don’t agree with the cuts and I feel all students should have equal opportunities to go to university.

Richard Cryan, a Unison library assistant, said: ‘We’re striking to save jobs and save the university.

‘What we’re hearing is the sector as a whole is facing cuts. But it is not the time to be cutting education.

Read the rest here (WRP).

VIDEO: Joint UNISON / UCU London Met Rally (2)

2009-10-17T09:59:00.000+01:00

VIDEO: Joint UNISON / UCU rally at London Met (1)

2009-10-17T09:58:00.002+01:00

More photos Oct 15th Strike

2009-10-16T00:46:00.011+01:00

See more photos, click on 'see full post...' below.

Photos from Strike 15th Oct

2009-10-16T00:22:00.005+01:00

See more photos - click on 'see full post with comments' below.

First day of London Metropolitan University strike (Press coverage)

2009-10-15T23:45:00.005+01:00

Coverage of today's strike:

University jobs cut protest
Islington Gazette

University lecturers walk out today over job cuts
East London Advertiser

First day of London Metropolitan University strike
Socialist Worker

Strong support for today's joint union strike

2009-10-15T16:19:00.005+01:00

Staff and students rallied today outside Tower building, after a very successful day of strike action this morning.

All buildings had active picket lines and were respected by the vast majority of members. Ladbroke House was closed down completely after students walked out en mass and joined staff on the picket lines. A spokeswoman for the Ladbroke students reflected the anger felt by many students at the attack on their education that they are already beginning to experience as the inevitable result of staff cuts already enacted and is only likely to get much worse with the further cut backs proposed by management.

Jewry St was also closed following a fire alarm* (see correction at end). The few not on strike were evacuated by agency staff who are inadequately trained in health and safety, as all appropriately trained unionised full time staff were on strike.

Students who were turned away due to cancelled lessons were very receptive and appreciative of our argument that we are striking not to disrupt their lessons but to save our university from terminal decline. Thousands of leaflets were gratefully received by students and many of those students then joined our picket lines.

Students were angry to hear how much the Vice Chancellor earns – nearly £300,000 – and when they heard that Brian Roper was still being paid the same - despite not being on university premises since February, they were outraged. As one of the student speakers at our rally said - "We could keep the nursery open by simply getting rid of both of them".

We realise some of our members had their doubts about taking action today but after this morning most of those who had expressed uncertainties decided that they’d much rather respect the picket line than break the strike.

Thanks for all those members who came in to help out on the pickets – and to our students too. Hundreds signed our petition and many gladly took more leaflets to hand out to their classmates.

We’ll be rallying again at the Tower building at lunchtime tomorrow, 1-2pm.

We invite all staff to join us tomorrow, it’s not too late to change your mind and do the right thing. Today was a major success - let's make tomorrow even better.

Pickets start at 8 at every building. If you stayed at home today, come into join us. Pass this on to non-members and encourage them to join UNISON or UCU – it’s not too late. Today, both Unison and UCU recruited a number of new members on the picket lines!

United we stand, divided we fall. Today we stand shoulder to shoulder - staff and students united, and we stand up tall.
--
* We've been asked to correct what someone saw as inaccurate reporting:

"The building was NOT "closed following a fire alarm". The building was evacuated and the fire brigade called as per standard procedures. Occupants were allowed back in once the brigade gave the all clear and the fire alarm reset. If anything the fire alarm demonstrated that the agency staff on site were adequately trained and acted properly with respect to occupants safety. There was a delay in re-opening the building as the agency staff were not familiar with the re-setting procedure but this is not a safety issue."

It should be noted that the strikers were not responsible for this fire alarm being set off, as of course we were all outside the buildings...

Statement of support from Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary

2009-10-14T22:42:00.003+01:00

(Click on image for a larger view)

More publicity for London Met dispute

2009-10-14T12:24:00.003+01:00

Follow the links below for a series of articles on the proposed cuts at LMU, and support for the union action.

Times Higher Education...

New Statesman...

Jon Rogers union blog...

Socialist Unity...

Support our strike, join the pickets Thurs 15th and Fri 16th

2009-10-11T10:34:00.004+01:00

Come and support the strike by joining/ visiting our pickets on Thurs 15th and Fri 16th: UCU and UNISON members will be at all the university building entrances from 8.00am. You can see maps to all the university buildings here: http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/find-us.cfm

There are two campuses, North and City.

The key buildings to picket are:

CITY CAMPUS

The main building is Calcutta House
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/calcutta-house.cfm

Next door is The Women's Library:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/the-womens-library.cfm

There is another key entrance to Calcutta House, around the corner, on Gouslton St: http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/goulston-street.cfm

Just opposite the Whitechapel Art Gallery is Central House;
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/central-house.cfm

And further around the corner is Commercial Road;
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/commercial-road.cfm

Slightly separate from the grouped buildings above is the Moorgate Building:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/moorgate.cfm

North Campus:

The main building in the North is The Tower on Holloway Rd here:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/tower-building.cfm

Just across the road is Stapleton House:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/stapleton-house.cfm

Around the corner is the Learning Centre:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/learning-centre.cfm

A little further down the street is the main admin block, 'the Rocket' (where the senior exec group mostly work): http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/the-rocket.cfm

Also in the North, but nearer to Highbury tube, is Ladbroke House:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/ladbroke-house.cfm

Your support will be appreciated - our fight is your fight! Come and show your solidarity. If you can't come to any pickets, send a message of solidarity by emailing us or leaving comments here.

We will soon announce further plans for a rally and a social.

Staff and students - strike against job cuts and closures!

2009-10-08T14:08:00.004+01:00

Staff in UNISON and UCU are on strike on Thurs 15th and Fri 16th October against savage job cuts this year.

The chaotic scenes during enrolment say it all: we lost over 350 jobs last year and you can already see the difference. Management want to make another 100 - 200 redundancies and won't tell us exactly who is for the chop.

They even want to shut down the last of three nurseries without considering any options.

Staff and students at London Met are sick of being told it is us who have to pay the price for their incompetence. (Photo: 'px' - indymedia)

There was an independent inquiry into the financial crisis at London Met. Why don't the Governors wait until that reports before they announce any further job cuts?

Why not negotiate properly with the unions?

UCU and UNISON have been trying to negotiate: we even offered to go to ACAS to try to resolve this. Management won't budge.

This is our last resort: to strike during teaching. We realise this can cause massive disruption to classes. We apologise to students and other staff but feel if cuts of this scale continue the damage will be much worse.

These are our immediate demands: Join us on strike - support our campaign to Save London Met!

Our demands:

Withdraw the compulsory redundancies to nursery staff.
Voluntary severance for those made compulsory redundant.
Moratorium on redundancy announcements until 28 days after the publication of the Melville Report.
Any further redundancies announced after that to be subjected to new s.188 notice and formal and meaningful negotiations with the trade unions.

LOBBY BOARD OF GOVERNORS - SAVE LONDON MET - CUT BONUSES - NOT JOBS

2009-09-28T11:02:00.002+01:00

Lobby the Board Of Governors Wed 30th September

Tower Building, Holloway Road, 5.00 p.m.

Students and staff, members of both UCU and UNISON, have fought for months to stop the devastation of our university. As a result the threatened job cuts have been significantly reduced, Sir David Melville is conducting an inquiry into the reasons for the financial crisis that led to this situation in the first place, and we have stopped the threatened outsourcing of IT and media services.

But significant numbers of staff still face compulsory redundancy and whoever is to blame for the financial mess management have made it clear that they want more job cuts next year. The unions have made it clear to management that as long as compulsory redundancies are threatened we will continue to do all we can to stop them.

Last week UCU’s General Secretary, Sally Hunt, told UCU members that if we stop compulsory redundancies now it will be more difficult for management to push them through in future so “now is the time to keep up the pressure”.

Meetings of both unions have voted that if management don’t withdraw the compulsory redundancies we will step up the action at the beginning of the new semester.

We also are demanding that the Governors agree to cut the £2m in bonuses paid to London Met’s senior management each year and use the money to save jobs.

No compulsory redundancies
No fat cat bonuses

Join the lobby on Wed

30th Sept – keep up the pressure!

STOP PRESS: VICTORY FOR TOWER HAMLETS ALL-OUT STRIKERS
The 4 week all-out strike at Tower Hamlets College has ended in victory. The strike has stopped all compulsory redundancies and prevented cuts to courses. London Met staff were amongst thousands who supported the strikers by visiting picket lines and donating to the strike fund. Tower Hamlets is a brilliant example of how to fight against cuts and redundancies. Speaker from Tower Hamlets invited to lobby.

George rallies to the lecturers’ jobs cause

2009-09-22T10:54:00.000+01:00

University board member a target for union action

GEORGE Galloway is expected to rally lecturers and staff of London Metropolitan University outside the offices of one of its board members today (Friday).

The Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow has been invited to join a demonstration outside the Kingston Smith city accountancy firm in Devonshire House, Goswell Road, Angel, from 1pm.

See here for demo details.

See here for rest of article.

‘FIGHT FOR JOBS!’ – London Met delegate tells Congress

2009-09-18T11:29:00.000+01:00

‘FIGHT FOR JOBS!’ – London Met delegate tells Congress

Delegates applauding the demonstration by Vestas sacked workers who were demanding that the plant be nationalised

THE TUC Congress in Liverpool was brought alive yesterday by a passionate call to fight for jobs with occupations by Mark Campbell of the University and College Union at London Metropolitan University.

He was speaking in support of Composite 3: Jobs, the Recession and Redundancy Rights.

Campbell said: ‘Redundancies should not be the cheap option for employers, yet for many employers they are often the first and only option they consider.

‘And it’s not just compulsory redundancies – we also have massive numbers of non-voluntary “voluntary redundancies’’, which are often reluctantly accepted when workers are threatened with the likely alternative of the paucity of statutory redundancy pay.

‘If that is not bad enough, some employers including my own, London Metropolitan University, have gone one step worse.

‘Staff are targeted and selected for compulsory redundancy (often on the flimsiest and most unreasonable grounds) and are then offered their actual weekly wage instead of the £350 a week statutory pay.

‘But only on the basis that they sign “gagging’’ orders and accept “compromise agreements’’.
‘This needs to be halted now.

‘We need actual weekly pay to be the minimum in terms of the calculation for statutory redundancy pay, and it needs to be available from day one of employment, not only after two years’ work.

‘However, UCU believes the strongest and most important statement of the motion is that noted by the TSSA amendment: “Congress congratulates those workers fighting to keep their jobs, including those taking action such as the occupation of workplaces in order to raise awareness and stop closures.

‘I would therefore like to use the remainder of my speech to offer my union’s heartfelt thanks to the following: the Vestas occupiers, the Thomas Cook occupiers, the Visteon occupiers, the Waterford Crystal occupiers and especially to our own members, now on their 14th day of all-out strike action, at Tower Hamlets College in east London.

‘All of these workers have taken the brave decision to stand up not just for themselves but for their communities.

‘So yes, we need to support this motion.

‘We need to make it harder and more expensive to make workers redundant.

‘But we need to take inspiration from those who have begun the fightback to save jobs.

‘We need to get off our knees as a trade union movement and match the resolve of those occupiers and strikers who have given a real lead to our movement.

‘And if Gordon Brown feels comfortable with using the “C’’ word, isn’t it time we felt comfortable using the “S’’ word and the “O’’ word.

‘Strike and occupy – save jobs, defend our community,’ he concluded to enthusiastic applause.

The motion was moved by Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley.

He declared: ‘Spivs and speculators have made millions of pounds taking our economy over the edge, sacking bank workers and factory workers but putting little back into the economy to protect jobs.’

He demanded the government ‘nationalise the banks completely, not part nationalisation but take them over.’

He did not however demand the nationalisation of the Ellesmere Port and Luton GM factories where thousands of jobs are under threat, as well as the tens of thousands of jobs that depend on them.

Woodley called for short-time working for when the recovery begins.

He claimed: ‘The free market is in the past. Start intervention, public intervention.’

He concluded: ‘That’s the sort of Labour we are all proud of. Listen Gordon, before it’s too late.’

Earlier, Congress voted for Composite 1: Posted Workers Directive.

This was supported by the General Council with reservations concerning the Lisbon treaty.

Battle continues at London Met

2009-09-17T13:18:00.000+01:00

Workers at London Metropolitan University look set to take further strike action in their fight against job cuts.

The cuts would slash up to a quarter of the posts at the London Met – putting the future of the university in jeopardy. Lecturers in the UCU union informally supported further strikes at union meetings last week and are due to meet on Wednesday of next week to decide on future action.

Lobby Michael Snyder - LMU Board of Governors

2009-09-14T20:29:00.003+01:00

Speakers: George Galloway MP (invited), Tower Hamlets College striker, Sasha Callaghan (Former President UCU).

Friday 18 September 1 pm Outside Kingston Smith, Devonshire House, 60 Goswell Rd., London EC1M 7AD. (nearest tube Barbican).

Michael Snyder is the LMU Board Member who told us in 2007 that ‘City Fat-Cats Deserve Their Pay and Our Respect’. And now he’s one of those telling staff and students at London Met that we should pay for the mess that’s been made of the university finances with our jobs.

Join the lobby outside Michael Snyder’s office and let him know that we won’t go without a fight and that it’s the board and their friends in senior management who should pay for the mess they’ve landed the university in.

Organised by LMU UCU and UNISON Branches.

Official "grey-listing" of London Met announced

2009-09-08T12:29:00.001+01:00

Email from Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU, to all members 01/09/09

Dear colleague,
As you will know, I seldom email you directly and only do so when I feel that a situation is extremely important to our union. As such, it is with regret that I write to you today to formally notify you of the greylisting of London Metropolitan University (LMU). Those of you who have been in the union since its inception or were in one of the predecessor unions, AUT or NATFHE, will be aware that this is the most serious sanction available to us and this will be the first time in UCU's history when greylisting has been formally implemented rather then threatened (such as at Keele University and Nottingham Trent University).

As of today, 1 September, UCU will be asking colleagues across the country, other trade unions, labour movement organisations and the international academic community to support our members at the university in any way possible, including:

* non-attendance, speaking at or organising academic or other conferences at LMU
* not applying for any advertised jobs at LMU
* not giving lectures at LMU
* not accepting positions as visiting professors or researchers at LMU
* not writing for any academic journal which is edited at or produced by LMU
* not taking up new contracts as external examiners for taught courses.

Read the full email here...

Campaign to "grey-list" London Met continues

2009-09-08T11:11:00.003+01:00

from the East London Advertiser, 31/08/09

A NATIONWIDE campaign to boycott London’s biggest university over the threatened 550 redundancies is being launched this morning (Monday).

The UCU lecturers’ union is declaring the London Metropolitan the first university to be ‘grey listed’ in the embittered nine-month dispute.

The beleaguered institution was told by the union in June that it would become the first to suffer an academic boycott following deadlocked negotiations.

Resolving the matter before tomorrow (Tuesday) looks unlikely, the union said today, as the dispute at Aldgate, Whitechapel, Moorgate and the main campus in Holloway drags on into its ninth month.

So it is pushing ahead with its ‘grey listing’, asking colleagues across the country and the international academic community to support the boycott.

The London Met, which has 34,000 students, was hit by a £15 million reduction in its yearly Whitehall grant at the end of last year, while repayment demands totalling £36m were made by the Government’s Higher Education Funding Council. It followed incorrect submissions of student completion records by the university.

Read the full story here...

Indefinite strike action goes ahead at Tower Hamlets College

2009-08-29T10:47:00.003+01:00

UCU, 26 August 2009

Tower Hamlets College faces indefinite strike action from tomorrow (Thursday 27 August) after eleventh hour talks failed to resolve the ongoing row over job losses and cuts to English language courses.

Despite attempts from the UCU to negotiate with the college, the union said today that its members at Tower Hamlets have been left with no alternative but to walk out indefinitely.

Read the rest of the press release here. And read more reports here, here and here.

London Met Uni UNISON members went to join the pickets on the first day of the strike to show their solidarity and pledged to support the strike every way they can: "Our fight is your fight - an injury to one is an injury to all."

What you can do
Submitted by AWL on 27 August, 2009 - 12:12.

What you can do to help:

1. Picket lines all day
Visit picket lines from August the 27th
Poplar E14 0AF
Arbour Square E1 0PT
Bethnal GreenE2 6AB

2. Take a collection at work:
Strike fund: c/o Keith Priddle UCU THC Treasurer
Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square Site, E1 0PT.
Sort code 089299
Account number 65252262

3. Send urgent messages of support to:
Richard McEwan (Branch Sec) 07532364638 richmcewan@hotmail.com
Alison Lord (Branch Chair) 07805819605 lallylord@hotmail.com
John Budis (Branch Sec) 07967893664 johnbudis@gmail.com

4. Write to the Principal Michael.farley@tower.ac.uk

5. Public support meeting:
Invited local MPS, Councillors, Speakers invites to ESOL students, UCU, NUT, FBU, UNISON, CWU, PCS. Speakers tbc.
5pm - September 3rd
St. Mathias Church
off Poplar High Street.
Nearest Tube Poplar DLR.
Speakers tbc.

6. Sign: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/THCollegefunding/

7. For up to date info, video and photos join the Facebook group: ‘Tower Hamlets - Stop the Cuts!’

8. Write to your MP: www.theyworkforyou.com

9. Demand Jobs and Educations for All. Join UCU sponsored lobby of the Labour party conference September 27th in Brighton.

HEFCE release documents relating to London Met

2009-08-19T09:44:00.002+01:00

Due to public demand, prompted by the unprecedented scale of the financial clawback, HEFCE have released a number of documents relating to the funding issue at London Met.

View all the documents here...

Management of London Met acted 'blindly', audit says

2009-08-06T10:25:00.002+01:00

Times Higher Education Supplement, 6 August 2009
By Melanie Newman

London Metropolitan University was "operating blindly", with key decisions being made by managers and governors in the absence of solid facts, according to an independent auditor's report into incorrect student-data returns at the institution.

The auditor's conclusions are disputed by London Met, which says its senior management team was fully aware of the facts and denies any suggestion of recklessness.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England commissioned BDO Stoy Hayward last year to review London Met's approach to student records after inaccuracies were discovered in its student-data completions.

The institution is repaying £36.5 million after Hefce found that its student non-completion rate was 30 per cent, rather than the 3 per cent or so it had reported. A further £15 million has also been held back from London Met's recurrent teaching funding.

The university admitted including in its data returns students who did not fit Hefce's definition of completion, but said that it had "deliberately and consciously applied a certain interpretation of (Hefce's) rules on (reporting student non-completions), which it had signalled to Hefce in advance of its application and had been encouraged by Hefce to pursue".

Hefce said it never approved the university's interpretation of its non-completion rules, and added that it raised problems with completions data during two audits.

BDO was asked to audit the university's data returns for 2006-07 and to assess the extent to which the findings of two Hefce audits for 2003-04 and 2004-05 had been acted upon. The BDO auditors, who reported in January this year, found that the university's processes for compiling, reviewing and authorising data returns were ineffective....

Read the full article here

The Guardian raises questions over equality impact of LMU's job cuts

2009-08-05T10:03:00.003+01:00

from The Guardian, 04/08/09

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, REDUNDANCY
Are universities failing to assess the impact of job cuts on equality and on the gender and ethnic balance of staff?

Universities across the country are planning drastic job cuts and as many as 6,000 university staff face the axe. The umbrella group Universities UK (UUK) insists that institutions "have a good track record in handling staffing changes in an open and fair way". But union officials claim that half of those planning job cuts are breaking the law by failing to assess what impact the decisions will have.

Three laws – the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2006 – require universities to assess the impact of their current and proposed policies on race, disability and gender equality. But many still struggle to meet their obligations, with institutions often lacking the systems in place to do impact assessment at the initiation of a policy, rather than after it is impossible to change it.

"The public sector duties require institutions to promote equality," explains Rachel Curley, head of equality at the University and College Union (UCU). "The specific duty to assess the impact of policies and procedures is an important instrument in achieving this objective. The English funding council, Hefce, gave universities guidance on the issue in 2004, so it is disturbing that so many institutions are still not compliant."

According to UCU, of the 43 institutions which have indicated that jobs will be lost, at least 21 have failed to produce adequate impact assessments.

One institution raising serious concerns is London Metropolitan University (LMU), which plans to make 550 voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

Read the full article here

Full scale of university nursery cuts exposed by Unison

2009-08-03T15:12:00.003+01:00

By Catherine Gaunt, Nursery World, 29 July 2009

UP TO 20 nurseries on university and college campuses are facing closure, the union Unison has revealed.

The figures come from preliminary findings of a survey of Unison members, which have revealed the high number and pace of the nursery closures.
The union said universities and colleges are facing funding cuts of up to £400m and that nurseries are bearing the brunt of a cost-cutting exercise.
It warned that nurseries are essential amenities and that their closure will mean that many parents will not be able to continue their studies at further and higher education level, which goes against the Government's 14-19 agenda to open up access to young people, especially young parents.

Cuts will also have an impact on retraining and skills development during the recession. Many of those further and higher education institutions that have earmarked their nurseries for closure offer childcare qualifications.

They include London Metropolitan University, Sheffield University, the University of the West of England, Goldsmiths at the University of London, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, Bridgwater College, Somerset, Ebbw Vale College, Middlesbrough College, Manchester College and Grantham College.

Last week Nursery World revealed that Unison and nursery staff at the University of Westminster are campaigning to save the university's two nurseries, which are due to close in September (News, 23 July). The union has warned of a crisis for college and university nurseries and has launched a joint campaign with the National Union of Students and the teaching unions to fight the closures.

The 'Meet the Parents' report by the NUS highlighted the shortage of campus childcare, which was often oversubscribed (News, 30 April). Unison has written to ministers and the higher and further education funding councils and will shortly meet David Lammy, Minister for Higher Education.

Ben Thomas, Unison national officer for children's services, said, 'Because teaching and learning have to be prioritised, essential but non-core services such as nurseries are suffering. This is a tragedy for children and nursery staff. The nurseries provide a vital service for students. Workplace nurseries are a key tool in allowing colleges to meet government targets on increasing participation in education and on re-skilling the workforce at a time of recession. Closing nurseries may provide a short-term cost saving but will have a long-term impact on the ability of these institutions to attract and retain the students they are meant to be targeting.'

Read the article at Nursery World here

MP attacks government over uni jobs

2009-08-03T15:07:00.002+01:00

from The Islington Tribune

ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn has berated the government in the Commons over the planned redundancies of 500 staff at the London Metropolitan University in Holloway.

Speaking in a debate on education cuts, Mr Corbyn described it as “unacceptable” that rather than discuss the subject, Ministers keep referring him back to the national funding council. Mr Corbyn said: “I have raised this matter in an Adjournment debate, in parliamentary questions, in early day motions and in correspondence with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and with the relevant Ministers of State. They have all referred me back to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. How very convenient.”

He called on ministers to intervene to prevent jobs from being lost and to protect courses and student numbers. The university is being asked to pay back £39.5million, meaning more than 5,000 student places could be lost as well as jobs. “The situation is grim,” Mr Corbyn said. “The university faces the possibility of the loss of more than 500 jobs, the closure of a number of courses and a reduction in student numbers in the long-term. It cannot be the government’s intention that so many people should lose the opportunity of going to university or that so many experienced, effective teachers should lose their jobs.”

Read the article here

More publicity for London Met strike

2009-07-28T11:23:00.006+01:00

from Naomi Byron, Socialist Party

Support and admin staff, technicians and lecturers organised a solid strike at London Met University on 14 July against massive cuts. Dozens of people from all departments are threatened with losing their jobs by the end of this month.

A library worker said: "Everyone in the library is on strike except top management. The cuts are a disaster for students - many of their courses will no longer be available, even ones they've already signed up for. There is talk of reducing the number of libraries to two, but this will lead to job cuts and a much poorer service for students. Most of the buildings students study in have a library, but if this happens they will have to go to Holloway Road or Calcutta House."

Read the full article here

'Greylisting' threat hangs over university

2009-07-28T11:13:00.002+01:00

from The Islington Tribune, 24/07/09

LECTURERS and staff at crisis torn London Metropolitan University (LMU) are threatening management with the ultimate sanction available to them: “greylisting”.

The move, rarely instigated in this country, amounts to a total academic boycott of the Holloway Road university. Unless university bosses scrap plans to axe a quarter of its workforce in July 2010, they will be shamed as operating a “rogue institution” that lecturers should not work for.The University College Union (UCU) has agreed to “greylist” London Met – which has proposed making 550 full time job cuts – from September 1.Barry Jones, UCU’s regional official for London, said: “Grey listing is an academic boycott of an institution. We will be asking people to not get involved on any basis with the university. This includes conferences, applying for jobs, external examinations – anything really.”He added: “It will be hugely embarrassing for the university if we go ahead in September. We are doing this to put pressure on management to stop the redundancies.”

Read the rest of the article here

Mark Campbell (UCU) addresses London Met Strike Rally (14/07/09)

2009-07-19T10:41:00.000+01:00

Campaign Social // Fundraising party // 23rd July

2009-07-17T14:59:00.008+01:00

Click on the thumbnail image above for larger, full page view of this flier.

Please forward to your contacts and friends, and confirm attendance by emailing: c.phillips@londonmet.ac.uk

UCU reaction to Prime Minister’s promise of extra university places

2009-07-17T11:27:00.004+01:00

UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU)
PRESS RELEASE

date: Thursday 16 July 2009

The University and College Union (UCU) today (Thursday) said that it
welcomed the promise from the Prime Minister that there would be extra
student places at universities this year. However, the union warned that
extra places alone could provide more challenges for the beleaguered
higher education sector.

The government originally said it would be capping student numbers this
summer but, with applications to university at a record high, it has now
reversed its decision. The news comes on the back of a report from UCU
that revealed job cuts are being threatened across higher education. The
union warned today that just cramming more students into universities
whilst getting rid of staff would result in more trying to be delivered
for less, with a damaging impact on the quality of UK higher education.

Read the rest here

Right to Work Conference - Cliff Snaith - London Met UCU

2009-07-16T16:28:00.002+01:00

Speech at the Right to Work Conference by Cliff Snaith, London Met UCU, in June. If more Youtube clips are available let us know.

The countdown to greylisting begins

2009-07-16T16:22:00.002+01:00

UCU will be instigating the greylisting of London Metropolitan University on 1 September 2009.... the clock is ticking.

Union strike virtually shuts down London Met

2009-07-15T15:05:00.012+01:00

London Met University came to a virtual halt yesterday as hundreds of workers went on a UCU/ UNISON co-ordinated strike in protest at continued job cuts and outsourcing.

Workers and students honoured the picket lines at every building in both campuses and a lively rally was then held at the Central House building.

Following the rally a delegation then went to hand in a letter and petition to Peter Mandelson urging him to step in and save London Met University.

Speakers lined up to condemn the government, HEFCE and the local management for their failure to keep London Met’s finances in order – and trying to make staff and students pay the price.

See more photos from 'px' on indymedia here.

The pickets were solid throughout the day – and both unions recruited several new members on the picket lines. Postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) refused to deliver post to any London Met buildings, honouring the picket lines, and fellow trade unionists from UNISON and UCU branches from SOAS, Tower Hamlets, Birkbeck, Royal Free Hospital, City & Islington College UCU, Barnet Unison and Carshalton college, among others, came to show their solidarity on the day.

Despite management’s attempts to keep it open, the Women’s Library had to close completely after a successful picket and recruitment of new member on the day shut the building.
Despite a few strike-breakers – mainly contracted staff – pickets reported many non-union members also stayed at home, taking annual leave or calling in sick. Students coming in to use the libraries also turned away to show support for the strike’s cause.

The level of solidarity on display reflects the anger at the senior management of the university. Max Watson, of London Met UNISON Branch, introduced the speakers at the rally of over a hundred pickets and supporters. Voicing the anger of staff at London Met, he said:

“How dare they talk about cuts, when they waste millions every year on useless consultancies? How dare they talk about cuts when not a single senior manager or HR director is being made redundant? How dare they talk about cuts when they're paying £276,000 a year for the ex-Vice Chancellor, Brian Roper just to keep quiet. Is that value for money? It’s money for Old Roper, that’s what it is.”

Echoing the widespread feelings of the need for more action, Mark Campbell, Chair of London Met UCU branch, warned management that if they don't rescind the compulsory redundancies that are currently being threatened, then there'll be 'total war' in the new term (watch his speech in full here). Ben Whitham, London Met UNISON communications officer, also said: “We’ll keep taking strike action until the cuts are put on hold and the unions get some input into the running of the university.”

Sasha Callaghan, of UCU, passionately spoke against cuts in education at a time of recession. Cuts at London Met will mean cuts for all workers and the poor of London’s East End.
Jon Richards, national Higher Education UNISON official, also spoke in support of the strike action on behalf of Dave Prentis, General Secretary. He highlighted the irony of a recent book that was published by researchers at London Met on the detrimental effects of restructuring, following a seminar he attended, titled: ‘Restructuring is bad for workers health’.

Richards said: “If only the management of this university had read their own researchers’ work – they’ve not implemented a fraction of the recommendations in this book.”

The BBC News and some others covered our strike (see here, here and here for example). And as usual, plenty of solidarity messages came through (see here), including from ‘Feminist Fightback’ – a member who had come to use the Women's Library was happy to find it closed and to hear that her sisters were all on strike.

The rally closed with chants: ‘They say cut back; we say fight back!’, which continued at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Peter Mandelson’s private secretary came to receive the letter and petition (watch video here).

A new letter was also handed out to all at the demo to send to their MPs and the strikers vowed to return in the new term with further action: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Demo outside BIS - 14th July 2009

2009-07-15T15:04:00.001+01:00

Strike at uni over threat to axe staff (Islington Gazette)

2009-07-15T15:03:00.002+01:00

A UNIVERISTY was brought to a standstill on Tuesday as staff went on strike in an ongoing battle to save more than 500 jobs.

London Metropolitan University (LMU), which has a campus in Holloway Road, Holloway, has been hit with repayment demands totalling more than £36million by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) after the university inaccurately reported the number of students taking courses.

Mark Campbell, who works in the computing facility of the Holloway Road campus, said: "They want to cut 550 full-time posts or the equivalent which could actually be up to 800 jobs cut in the next year. That's more than a quarter of the university staff. It will be the students who ultimately suffer. We want a full independent inquiry into how we got into this mess."

A delegation also handed over a petition with more than 3,500 signatures to the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills demanding the public inquiry and a halt to the job cuts.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: "The situation at London Met is a nightmare and members don't want be taking industrial action, however, it is not acceptable for management to punish the staff for their mistakes."

Read the rest here.

Petition handed over to Peter Mandelson at Department for Business Innovation and Skills

2009-07-15T11:38:00.002+01:00

(tilt your head to begin with!)
More reports, videos & photos coming soon...

London Met University Strike (John's Labour Blog)

2009-07-15T07:51:00.003+01:00

Posted by John Gray - John's Labour Blog

Today I went to the picket line in Whitechapel to support UNISON members of London Metropolitan University and their UCU lecturer colleagues who are on strike today over the threat of hundreds of compulsory redundancies.

(Picture of UNISON branch secretary Alan Pike, a super picket and UNISON regional organiser, Harry Lister, behind a banner asking the Minister, David Lammy, for the enquiry he promised into London Met finances)

The sad sorry tale of utter financial incompetency and impropriety (or even worse) by some senior managers in the past has resulted in the funding council HEFCE trying to reclaim millions of pounds of grants. The arguments actually put forward by the University to justify sacking people and “outsource” services to save money seem pretty desperate and frankly daft.

It makes you wonder (despair?) about the governance arrangements for the University. Who is responsible for the mess? Why was this allowed to happen? What is being done to make sure this will never, ever, happen again? (Or at another university or college)?

As far as I can see there is still open warfare between London Mets management and the Funding Council. How is this going to help things now and in the future? They are both responsible for this chaos and should deal with the problem without sacking loads of staff or getting rid of students.

There is a wider question about the Boards of governors, trustees, commissioners or whatever, of our traditional British public institutions. Do the so-called “great and the good” of our society who tend to populate these boards have the necessary skills, life experiences and even gumption to challenge the day to day management and give proper strategic guidance and oversight?

On the present day evidence - I think not.

It is a pity that some minor management stooges have tried to wreak the day by trying to score sectarian points and attacking the union. But I suppose that like rubbish management this is something we just have to deal with.

Solid strike at London Met (Socialist Worker)

2009-07-15T07:47:00.002+01:00

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=18473

Hundreds of workers in the UCU and Unison unions at London Metropolitan University took joint strike action on Tuesday this week against a vicious plan to axe up to a quarter of the workforce.

Members of both unions joined pickets at all the main sites of the university. Unison members at several picket lines reported people joining the union on the day to support the strike.

The receptionist at the Women’s Library joined Unison so that she could take part in the action, forcing management to shut the building.

Ben Whitham, the communications officer for London Met Unison spoke to Socialist Worker from one of the picket lines at the Holloway Road site in North London.

He said, “We’ve had a strong turnout and we’re definitely having a big impact. Already a couple of people who were going in have joined the strike instead.

“Now we have to keep fighting to get the interim Vice Chancellor to drop the failed ‘recovery’ plan.”

Ben added that part of the university’s problems stem from the way it has increasingly been run as a business, instead of as an education service.

He added, “We’ll keep taking strike action until the cuts are put on hold and the unions get some input into the running of the university.”

This is the second strike by UCU members at the university. UCU rep Yaz Djebbour said, “This strike is as strong as last time, despite the holidays. We need to keep the campaign going.”

The strikers and their supporters held a joint union rally at lunchtime and went on to hand in a 3,500 strong petition to business secretary Peter Mandelson.

Lecturers take protest to Mandelson after halting colleges (East London Advertiser)

2009-07-14T18:12:00.001+01:00

14 July 2009
By Gemma Collins

SIXTY lecturers who brought their college campus to a standstill today in London’s East End have just held a protest rally in the street before taking a petition against job cuts to Whitehall.

They warned university bosses during the 30-minute rally which ended a few minutes ago outside the London Metropolitan’s campus in Whitechapel that “there will be more action to follow.”

STANDSTILL

They have now joined lecturers who have walked out at the university’s other campuses in a delegation to hand a petition in to Peter Mandelson at the Department of Business & Skills.

The campuses at Whitechapel, Aldgate, Moorgate and the main site in Holloway have all been brought to a standstill today in a joint action by the lecturers’ union UCU and public service union Unison.

The university has been hit by ‘repayment’ demands by Whitehall totaling £36 million and is responding with plans to axe 550 posts.

The unions are calling for a public inquiry.

Fund row lecturers strike again (BBC)

2009-07-14T18:03:00.003+01:00

Irritatingly, the BBC seem to have missed half the story completely: that UNISON members were also on strike today. *Note to editors* - not just 'lecturers' keep the universities running, and the core staff were also on strike today...

Fund row lecturers strike again (BBC)

Striking lecturers are threatening to bring a north London university "to a standstill" in a row over job cuts.

Staff at the London Metropolitan University (LMU) in Holloway want Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to hold an inquiry into redundancy plans.

More than 300 of LMU's 4,612 staff will be asked to take voluntary redundancy, and strikers say up to 550 posts will eventually be cut.

The university has said it aims to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.

LMU says it needs to cut costs after being told to repay £50m when it emerged more students dropped out than thought. The university has previously said strikes are "not the answer".

Those responsible for the current mess must be held accountable, not the staff
Sally Hunt, UCU

But Sally Hunt, of the University and College Union (UCU), said: "The situation at London Met is a nightmare and members don't want be taking industrial action.

"However, it is not acceptable for management to punish the staff for their mistakes."

She said: "Those responsible for the current mess must be held accountable, not the staff, and once again I call upon the Government to hold a fully independent public inquiry."

University staff to strike over crisis job cuts (London Paper)

2009-07-13T22:31:00.002+01:00

Staff at London Metropolitan University are to go on strike tomorrow in protest at 550 job losses and will call on Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to launch an inquiry into the institution's financial crisis

by: Lara Deauville

STAFF at London Metropolitan University are due join picket lines tomorrow as they strike over job cuts.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and Unison said they would bring the institution to a standstill, before delivering a petition to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson calling for a public inquiry and a halt to the redundancies.

The unions said the university had been hit by repayment demands totalling more than £36m and had responded by announcing plans to axe more than 550 posts.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "The situation at London Met is a nightmare and members don't want be taking industrial action. However, it is not acceptable for management to punish the staff for their mistakes.

"Those responsible for the current mess must be held accountable, not the staff, and once again I call upon the Government to hold a fully independent public inquiry.

"Ministers cannot put this off any longer. The proposed job cuts would be a disaster for students and the local area.

"Any inquiry which does not examine closely the full failings at LMU will be a wasted opportunity to provide a brighter future for its beleaguered staff and students."

Jon Richards of Unison added: "We have tried hard to work with management to avoid redundancies since the university went into financial crisis, but have been left with no choice."

Lecturers war against university losses (Morning Star)

2009-07-13T22:28:00.001+01:00

Monday 13 July 2009

Lecturers at London Metropolitan University will step up their fight against huge job cuts tomorrow with another one-day strike.

UCU and UNISON union members voted overwhelmingly earlier this year to take industrial action after their bosses insisted on making almost a quarter of the university's entire workforce redundant and had already shut down London Met in a strike in May.

UCU union rep Mark Campbell explained that, "as the threat of job cuts - including compulsory redundancies that management wants to make at the end of July - has not been lifted, we have decided to escalate our action.

"London Met's insistence on the loss of 550 full-time education posts, which could end up being as many as 800, needs to be opposed," he stressed.

UNISON assistant branch secretary Max Watson pointed out that management had tried to use the threat of legal action against the unions to postpone the strike.

"Management is clearly scared of our action," he said.

"There is a clear strength of feeling among our members, as nearly 72 percent voted for action, but management's attempt to stop the strike have made people even more determined to fight," Mr Watson revealed.

Mr Campbell added that the demands for job cuts at London Met were "only the tip of the iceberg."

"University and college management are trying to attack staff to make us pay for their self-induced crisis and to use this crisis to remould educational institutions as they want.

"This is, therefore, not simply our fight, but one of the first salvoes in a much bigger fight for the kind of education system that all of us - staff and students - deserve," he insisted.

Staff to strike again at London Met (UCU)

2009-07-13T17:40:00.003+01:00

13 July 2009

London Metropolitan University (LMU) will be brought to a standstill on Tuesday 14 July as members of UCU and Unison go on strike as part of their ongoing fight to save hundreds of jobs.

The latest action comes just two months after staff walked out in May.

Staff will be on picket lines from 8am at each of the main campus buildings at Holloway Road, Moorgate, Aldgate East and Whitechapel (see here for more details).

All staff will then head to a mass rally from 12-1pm outside the Central House Building (just opposite Aldgate East tube station), before sending a delegation to the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to hand in a petition with over 3,500 signatures demanding a full public inquiry and a halt to the job cuts at London Met to Peter Mandelson.

LMU has been hit by repayment demands totalling more than £36 million and has responded to the crisis by announcing plans to axe over 550 posts. The union is furious that the majority of the university's bosses remain in place and has called for all compulsory job losses to be suspended until a full public inquiry in to the current financial mess has been held.

UCU has consistently warned that the losses at LMU could represent the thin end of the wedge with further job losses being announced with alarming frequency across the UK. The union is preparing a report of the full extent of the cuts it is currently aware of, which it will release later this week – contact the press office for more details.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The situation at London Met is a nightmare and members don't want be taking industrial action, however, it is not acceptable for management to punish the staff for their mistakes. UCU and Unison members at LMU have the full support of the national union in their actions and can rest assured that we will be fighting the dangerous redundancy plans all the way.

'Those responsible for the current mess must be held accountable, not the staff, and once again I call upon the government to hold a fully independent public inquiry. Ministers cannot put this off any longer. The proposed job cuts would be a disaster for students and the local area.

'Any inquiry which does not examine closely the full failings at LMU will be a wasted opportunity to provide a brighter future for its beleaguered staff and students. We must have a transparent review in which all stakeholders are fully involved and we urge LMU to halt its redundancies plans to allow that inquiry to take place.'

LMU has over 34,000 students and is the largest university in the capital. It has a proven track record when it comes to widening participation and has been at the forefront of the government's strategy to open up university to more students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds.

London Metropolitan University – a pioneer for widening participation:

* 97.3% of LMU students come from state schools or colleges (31st highest in the UK)
* 42.9% come from lower social economic groups (26th highest in the UK)
* 51.9% of students at LMU are mature students (5th highest in the UK)
* there are 3,565 part-time students at LMU (18th highest in the UK).

Alex Rossiter
press@ucu.org.uk|
Tel:020 7756 2598
Mobile: 07977 562 686
Fax:020 7756 2501

Support our pickets Tuesday 14th

2009-07-09T22:36:00.008+01:00

Come and support the strike by joining/ visiting our pickets on Tuesday 14th. UCU and UNISON members will be at all the buildings from 8.00am, but the main ones to go and support are:

CITY CAMPUS

Central House, where we will have a lunchtime rally from 12.00-1.00pm
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/central-house.cfm

A delegation will then go to the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) to hand in a petition with over 3,500 signatures demanding a full public inquiry and a halt to the job cuts at London Met to Peter Mandelson.

Also in the City campus is Calcutta House
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/calcutta-house.cfm

And Gouslton St:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/goulston-street.cfm

Moorgate Building:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/moorgate.cfm

North Campus:
The main building is the Tower on Holloway Rd here:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/tower-building.cfm

Just across the road is Stapleton House:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/stapleton-house.cfm

And a little further down is the main admin block, 'the Rocket':
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/the-rocket.cfm

Also in the North, but nearer to Highbury tube, is Ladbroke House:
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/ladbroke-house.cfm

Your support will be appreciated - our fight is your fight! Come and show your solidarity. If you can't come down in the morning, come to the lunchtime rally at Central House. If you can't come to any, send a message of solidarity by emailing us or leaving comments here.

Model letter to MPs - sign new EDM 1763

2009-07-09T11:55:00.003+01:00

Go here to see the EDM 1763, to find out who is your MP and how to email them the following letter (amend as necessary, and if preferred print and sign as a letter):

House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear ******** ******* MP,

As your constituent, and a member of staff/ student [delete as appropriate] at London Metropolitan University, I am writing to ask you to act urgently to save the university from the prospect of very damaging cuts.

We fear that these cuts will begin a spiral of decline from which the university will not recover. At a time of recession, London needs more educational opportunities, not fewer. As a widening participation university, London Met is very well placed to offer those opportunities to the students who need it most.

What is more, it remains very unclear how this situation has arisen. Given the conflicting stories about what happened, an independent inquiry is vital, in order to establish the lessons to be learnt for the future. Please ask the Minister for Universities, David Lammy, to set one up as a matter of urgency.

In the meantime, we are urging management to declare a moratorium on further job losses at least until the implications of the inquiry have been absorbed and a proper recovery plan drawn up. We know that there is money available to keep the university running until that point. If this does not happen, the scandal will damage the university beyond repair and the cuts will erode what is left of the university’s reputation.

Please sign the EDM no.1763 (from 29.06.09) and write to the Minister, David Lammy, and to HEFCE, urging them to intervene (formally or informally). There is very little time left to make a difference.

I am very grateful for your help.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

For further information please see:

Time Higher Education: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=407156

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=407117

Adjournment debate: Hansard HC Deb, 20 May 2009, c435WH

EDM 1763 29.06.09 Jeremy Corbyn

http:///www.savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com

Brief history of current problems (attached)

Brief history of the current problems

London Metropolitan University was found to have returned inaccurate statistics about student completions which resulted in significant overpayment of grant by the funding council, HEFCE. HEFCE are now asking for the repayment of £38.5m and have cut London Met’s annual grant by £15m. London Met’s executive blame HEFCE for the problem. The managers who had presided over this fiasco were then charged with coming up with a recovery plan. Their plan was approved by the Board of Governors despite the fact that it was produced without consultation and was entirely unrealistic. Not surprisingly, HEFCE rejected it. We have since learnt that neither HEFCE nor DIUS had any confidence in any of the people concerned.

Despite rejection by HEFCE, the university management are continuing to implement the plan. In January they announced that they intended to cut the equivalent of 550 full-time posts, around a quarter of the staff. Needless to say, despite this shrinkage, no management posts will go. The cuts involve the loss of significant areas of expertise: French, Civil Aviation, Silversmithing, Caribbean Studies, Theatre Studies, English, Asia Pacific Studies, Musical Instrument Making, Furniture; in non-academic areas there are plans to close the nurseries, outsource IT on the un-researched “assumption” that it would save money, and abolish the famous Widening Participation Unit. These are, in many cases, subjects in which London Met has an international reputation.

Even where courses manage to survive, the impact will be considerable. Staff will be asked to cover for the colleagues who are being dismissed, a clear sign that even if dismissed they are not really ‘redundant’. Students will face less choice of modules, larger classes, less contact time with staff, fewer librarians, IT and media staff, possibly more stress, fewer resources generally.

Both staff and students have tried to make representations to management but management will not listen. Alternative suggestions are treated with derision, consultation has been a sham, governors do not even read our letters. Management do not even seem to respect the statutory guidelines, equality legislation or the terms of our contracts. Recently the Human Resources department announced compulsory redundancies to take effect in three weeks’ time.

Staff are outraged that the people who were responsible for the financial problems of the university remain in place and refuse to accept any blame while those who had no part in it – staff and students – are bearing the costs. Staff have been on strike and will be on strike again next week. Students have organised demonstrations and occupied part of a university building in protest. However, neither engagement with management, nor protest has made a difference. Political intervention appears our only hope.

UNISON / UCU all members meetings Thus 9th

2009-07-08T12:23:00.003+01:00

What happened last week with our strike? Come and find out...
What is going to happen next? Come and find out, debate and get involved...
Thinking about joining the union but aren’t sure? Come to meet union members and talk face to face with other reps ...

North Campus:
Date: Thus July 9
Time: 1-2pm
Location: SHG-01 Stapleton House

City Campus:
Date: Thus July 9
Time: 1-2pm
Location: CM2-18 Calcutta House

Come and get involved - this campaign is your campaign!

Your union is what you make it!

NEW STRIKE DATE SET FOR LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (UNISON press release)

2009-07-08T12:09:00.002+01:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8 JULY 2009

NEW STRIKE DATE SET FOR LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

More than 300 UNISON members at London Metropolitan University will finally take to the streets next Tuesday (14 July) in a day of strike action over job cuts.

University management had put a stop to the strike on 2 July, as they denied receiving legal notification of the action.

But the UK’s largest public sector union will push ahead with protest plans after a strike ballot - held after negotiations to avoid compulsory redundancies broke down - showed that 71.5 per cent of members wanted industrial action.

The university is set to make 330 posts redundant by July 2010 and has approved just 113 applications for voluntary redundancy, leaving 226 posts facing the axe.

A further 200 vacant posts are to be lost over the same period, taking it to a total of 500 jobs, or 25 per cent of the staff.

The move follows the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) announcement that there would be a £15 million funding cut.

The university had inaccurately reported the number of students taking courses and the HEFCE is demanding £36.5 million worth of overfunding back.

Jon Richards, UNISON’s Head of Higher Education, said:

“London Metropolitan University put a stop to our plans to strike, but we refuse to step down and ignore their deplorable actions.

“The fact we had to cancel action on 2 July to be certain workers would not be victimised has further fuelled our fight.

“We have tried to work with management to avoid redundancies since the university went into financial crisis, but have been left with no choice.

“Even though hundreds of workers are set to lose their jobs the university failed to implement a proper voluntary redundancy scheme.

“We are working hard to protect staff and students and believe that the funding council and the Government should be doing the same.”

UNISON has 328 members at London Met who work as clerical and admin staff, as technicians, library staff and in the facilities department.

The union is working with UCU and NUS in the campaign to challenge the cuts.

Ends

For more information please contact the UNISON Press Office on 0207 551 1255.

Industrial Action – Tuesday 14th July

2009-07-07T15:37:00.005+01:00

Make your voice heard

UNISON members in London Met voted overwhelmingly to take strike action, to show our anger and frustration to an employer who simply isn’t listening. An employer who ground itself deeper and deeper into debt. An employer whose management won’t be paying the price for this incompetence and mismanagement – WE ARE!

An employer who is intent to carry on regardless with the largest number of redundancies faced by the Higher Education Sector in the country – no matter what.

We asked for the voluntary severance scheme to be extended – they said NO

We asked for proper and meaningful consultation where our concerns could be heard and listened to – they said NO

We asked for intervention from HEFCE and education ministers – they said NO

We even tried to take strike action last week, they falsely claimed not to have been notified properly, they misled you – and then they said NO

Now, we are the ones saying NO

NO more redundancies until we’ve seen the equality impact assessments on the redundancy plans, they have a legal duty to do this

NO more redundancies until our alternatives have been listened to properly, what’s the point in entering into negotiations if they don’t intend to listen

NO more redundancies until we can be guaranteed that those facing compulsory redundancies are offered the same as those who took voluntary severance

All members are called to take part in the strike action on 14th July. Pickets will be arranged by the branch committee and each workplace will have a senior rep.

All members are expected to attend picket lines on the day.

We didn’t cause the current financial problems they are facing – but we will be expected to pay for them – with our jobs!

Make your voice heard

See here for UNISON's press release.

And see here for details of where the main pickets will be.

Govenors held to account over job cuts at London Met

2009-07-03T08:00:00.006+01:00

2nd July lobby of Peter Anwyl

Students and staff today lobbied the Chair of London Met University’s Board of Governors, to protest against job cuts (photos from 'px', indymedia).

The protest was aimed at Peter Anwyl, Director of International Student House (ISH), who has consistently refused to meet or talk to the unions. A delegation from both UCU and UNISON went to present a letter protesting at the cuts in staff at LMU.

London Met Board of Governors approved the plan to make 550 redundancies last month, refusing to consider union proposals to ease the damage done to the staff at London Met.

Before handing in the letter, Allan Pike and Cliff Snaith, representing UNISON and UCU, said that the Board must take responsibility for their actions: governors should either reverse the plans to cut jobs or resign. The letter reminded Anwyl of his responsibilities in empowering a discredited management to implement a plan rejected by the funding council and of government criticisms of the Board of Governors’ “lack of oversight”. It ended by inviting him to complete his own Redundancy Selection form.

Jeremy Corbyn MP, (left), spoke at the rally, outlining and reaffirming his support for London Met University and the campaign to save it. He said: “David Lammy agreed to our call for a public enquiry, and I intend to hold him to account on that.”

Corbyn announced that he has also tabled another Early Day Motion, and has asked numerous questions in Parliament: “Government ministers have said it’s not up to us, it’s down to HEFCE... Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not good enough. The government sets the budget and allocates the money. At a time of a recession, mounting unemployment and rising applications for university places, there needs to be proper investment in higher education from the Government.”

UCU immediate ex-President, Sasha Callaghan (right), also spoke in support of the fight to save London Met, calling the management’s plans to cut so many jobs a ‘disgrace’.

Up to 50 staff and students chanted: “Peter Anwyl hear us say, London Met staff are here to stay!”, and, “they say cut back; we say fight back!”

Dozens of leaflets were given out to the bemused staff and students at ISH, who wondered why there was a protest about London Met Uni on their doorstep.

Mark Campbell, from UCU, told the crowd: “We’ll be back!” A new day of strike action and further protests outside the workplaces of members of the Board of Governors are being planned.

MP calls on Mandelson to shield London Met 'innocents' from crisis (THES)

2009-07-02T17:18:00.002+01:00

MP calls on Mandelson to shield London Met 'innocents' from crisis

2 July 2009

By Melanie Newman

Parliamentary motion demands protection for students and staff. Melanie Newman reports

An MP has called for "innocent students and staff" to be protected from cuts at London Metropolitan University, which is embroiled in an ongoing funding crisis.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, has tabled a parliamentary motion demanding that Lord Mandelson, the First Secretary, intervene "to protect the university and innocent students and staff from the funding row".

Read the rest here and to get your MP to sign the new EDM, go here .

Letter to Chair fo Board of Governors, Peter Anwyl

2009-07-02T17:15:00.002+01:00

Dear Mr Anwyl,

We are writing to you today to ask you to reconsider the impact of decisions made by the Board of Governors of which you are Chair. It is unfortunate that we have to do so in such a public manner but since you have consistently refused to meet us or respond to our letters, we have no option but to do this.

We did not expect you to agree with everything that we put forward but we did believe that as reasonable governors you would wish to listen to as many sources of information as possible before making decisions that threaten the viability and academic integrity of the whole institution. We now know, however, that through its ‘lack of oversight’, the Board of Governors has already brought London Met to the brink of closure. We fear that, in a very different way, you will be doing it again.

The loss of so many posts, and the race to impose the first wave of jobs by the end of this month in such an obsessively hurried and ill-thought-through manner, threatens much of the best of London Met. Our reputation has already suffered near-terminal damage: revelations about management and reporting failures have made us a laughing stock. Nonetheless, we retain a high reputation for widening participation and for many of our courses. This academic reputation is now threatened by the race to get rid of staff regardless of impact and the cavalier disregard for quality assurance.

What is more, the job losses appear to be based on the risible and thoroughly discredited ‘strategic plan’ drawn up in secret by management last summer. The authors of this plan are precisely those in whom DIUS, HEFCE, staff and students (indeed, everyone except yourselves and Alfred Morris) have expressed a complete lack of confidence. It is not surprising that HEFCE refuses to fund it, that students are protesting about it and that staff see no point in sacrificing themselves in order to see it implemented.

We have finally established some dialogue with Alfred Morris and we still cling to the hope that you and he will see fit to halt all redundancies planned for the end of July. However, at the moment, staff are facing horrendous questionnaires asking them to ‘justify their existence’ in order to retain a job. We wondered whether governors were prepared to undergo a similar exercise. To that end, we enclose a questionnaire about your own activities on behalf of London Met.

We would be delighted to meet you to discuss the future of the university at any time.

Yours sincerely,

Cliff Snaith (UCU)

Amanda Sackur (UCU)

Mark Campbell (UCU)

Allan Pike (UNISON)

Max Watson (UNISON)

Encl.

Early Day Motion EDM 1763

2009-07-02T17:08:00.003+01:00

Early Day Motion

EDM 1763

LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (No. 2)

29.06.2009

Corbyn, Jeremy

That this House calls on the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills urgently to intervene to protect student places, courses and staff positions at London Metropolitan University; and recognises that the dispute over past Higher Education Funding Council for England funding is not the fault of the staff the university is trying to make redundant, the students currently studying at the university or the next generation of students who will be denied university education.

See who has signed this here.

Write to your MP asking them to sign this new EDM.

Use this model letter to send to your MP.

University workers call off strike (PA)

2009-07-02T07:44:00.001+01:00

University workers call off strike

12 hours ago

A planned strike by hundreds of university workers has been called off after employers denied receiving legal notification of the action, it was announced.

Members of Unison at London Metropolitan University were due to walk out on Thursday in a row over jobs.

Unison official Vicky Eaton said: "The employer is insisting that they were not notified of the strike, even though we contacted them correctly.

"We have done our best to ensure that we have complied with the legal procedure, but we cannot be certain our members will not be victimised, so have had to cancel."

RALLY - Picket Board of Governor's Chair, 2nd July 1pm

2009-07-01T08:25:00.002+01:00

RALLY

1pm-2pm, Thurs 2nd July 2009
International Student House
Save London Met
Defend jobs, defend education

Jeremy Corbyn MP and Mark Serwotka (Public & Commercial Services union General Secretary), among others, will be speaking.

Why there?
Peter Anwyl, who is the Director of International Student House, is Chair of the Board of Governors for London Met Uni. That's the Board that oversaw this whole fiasco. See comments from HEFCE in the last report here:

“The author of the DIUS memo, whose identity is withheld, reveals that a Hefce-commissioned report provided by consultants BDO that scrutinised data handling at London Met was “extremely critical” of the institution’s processes and its governing body’s lack of oversight....

“This report was considered so incendiary by London Met that lawyers acting for Brian Roper, its former vice-chancellor, and a number of the university’s governors threatened to sue Hefce for defamation if it was published, the documentation reveals.

“The memo from the DIUS official, dated January this year, says the BDO report “will strengthen the [Hefce] board’s lack of confidence” in London Met’s management.”

Map & directions to International Students House, where we will meet:

How to find ISH

International Students House is located at the north end of Great Portland Street at the junction with Marylebone Road. The nearest tube is Great Portland Street which is opposite ISH.

United strike action at London Met Uni on 2nd July

2009-06-28T10:19:00.002+01:00

Photo (c) Guy Smallman

UNISON members vote 71% in favour of strike action
UCU members to take further strike action in coordination with UNISON
2nd July set for combined union day of action
Pickets all morning set to close down London Met Uni for a day
Rally at Lunchtime (with this space for details)

We are still all reeling from the recent announcements from management that our governors are refusing to listen to staff views and that in consequence they are giving permission for management to impose compulsory redundancies. However, our anger needs to be targeted. The redundancies are not a fait accompli and we have every reason to continue to fight. As we discussed in branch meetings and via email communication, there are still several weapons in our arsenal. The news in the Times Higher Education that HEFCE may be more implicated in the fiasco than we realised, offers yet another reason to maintain our principled position against rushed and ill-planned job losses.

One of the main strengths of our campaign to save jobs and defend education at London Met is that we have been united from the start. When UCU took strike action in May UNISON stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them and provided the maximum amount of solidarity we legally could pending our own industrial action ballot. And when students occupied their department bulding over course closures, both UCU and UNISON supported their legitimate protest.

It is with satisfaction that we are able to report that UNISON members have now overwhelmingly (over 71%) voted for industrial action and have announced to members that they will be taking strike action on Thursday July 2nd.

As a result of that decision, and in line with UCU’s ballot mandate, and the position unanimously passed at recent UCU members meetings, UCU notified management that their members will join UNISON colleagues. They we will also be taking strike action on Thursday 2nd July (see UCU press release). UNISON and UCU have chosen this date to avoid hitting student assessment in order to enable our students to join us. Please urge your students to support our strike, to join us in collecting signatures outside the main doors of most buildings and to participate in our rally at lunchtime on Thursday (details here).

Please also bear in mind that to be effective, we need to make as much noise as possible. We need members outside each entrance all morning and at the rally at lunchtime.

Please pass this on to your union contacts, to your friends and family and urge them to join us and show solidarity with our strike. Our fight is your fight.

Contacts us via UCU or UNISON, and come to our pickets and rally on Thursday to show your support.

Hefce considered ‘nuclear option’ over London Met (THES)

2009-06-28T10:12:00.002+01:00

26 June 2009, By Melanie Newman

Dissolution was considered by funding chiefs as a ‘last resort’. Melanie Newman reports

Funding chiefs considered plans to take the “nuclear option” and dissolve London Metropolitan University during the ongoing crisis engulfing the institution.

Times Higher Education has obtained copies of ministerial correspondence that show that the Higher Education Funding Council for England considered closure, albeit as the last resort.

Read the rest of the article, with comments, here. Whoever is to blame for this mess - whether HEFCE, management of LMU, or a combination of both - it shouldn't be us staff and students who have to pay the price. If you do comment on this piece, remember our guide to writing to the media & commenting on websites here.

Further strike action at London Met (UCU press release)

2009-06-28T07:25:00.004+01:00

UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU)
PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 25 June 2009, for immediate release

London Metropolitan University will be brought to a standstill on Thursday July 2 as members of the University and College Union (UCU) and Unison take a day’s strike action as part of their ongoing fight to save hundreds of jobs. Classes will be cancelled for the second time in two months following earlier industrial action by UCU in May.

The unions have accused the university of trying to sneak through redundancy plans that could see staff rejected for voluntary redundancy sacked on vastly inferior terms. UCU today repeated its call for London Met to come clean about why it was announcing 226 compulsory redundancies when people had been rejected for the voluntary redundancy scheme.

In total the university has announced 330 redundancies by July 2010. It has approved just 113 applications for voluntary redundancy (equivalent to 104 posts), leaving 226 posts facing the axe. The union said it knows more than 113 people applied for voluntary redundancy and is demanding to know why staff happy to leave had been rejected, leaving others to face the sack.

The union also demanded to know who was at risk, when any cuts would be made, what plans were in place to ensure the delivery of future teaching and for the university to be far more transparent with its plans. The announcement of 226 compulsory redundancies in the next 13 months was described as ‘another slap in the face’ for staff at the beleaguered institution.

There has been no guarantee from the university that individuals rejected from the voluntary scheme will keep their jobs and many may find themselves sacked with a vastly inferior redundancy settlement. The union said today that LMU’s senior management needed to assure staff they would not be victims of a ‘cynical ploy to circumnavigate good employment practice’.

The union has already called for an independent inquiry into the current mess at the institution and today voiced concerns that there is no evidence of a strategy for the delivery of teaching in the next academic year, despite a potentially vastly reduced workforce.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “The situation at London Met is bad enough as it is and industrial action was the last thing we wanted to see. However, the institution’s failing management has left us with no other option. It is absolutely outrageous that staff at the institution who entered the voluntary redundancy scheme in good faith may find their application rejected and then be sacked anyway.

“This looks like little more than a cynical ploy to circumnavigate good employment practice and we will not stand for it. We need a guarantee now that no staff will suffer this fate and a further guarantee that the university will commit to proper consultation before any further rounds of redundancies. UCU and Unison members at LMU have the full support of the national union in their action and can rest assured that we will be fighting the dangerous redundancy plans all the way.”

The university has been hit by funding cuts and repayment demands totalling millions of pounds following inaccurate reporting of the number of students completing courses. Its funding was cut by £15million a year and a further £36.5million has to be repaid for previous years' over-funding. The university’s response to the crisis was to announce plans to axe at least 550 posts, which equates to 800 staff actually at risk (one quarter of the workforce).

contacts:

Alex Rossiter t: 020 7756 2598; m: 07977 562 686; e: arossiter@ucu.org.uk