The METSU does not support this campaign website

 

UNISON and UCU have been asked by London Met Students Union to remove their logo from this website because there is no formal position to support this campaign against 165 job cuts. So we are archiving this website and will no longer be using it.

 

We cannot remove the logo from this website but we trust by publishing this statement there is no implication that METSU is supporting this current campaign. 

 

Before we shut it down, though, please find a statement signed by student activists, hosted on the 'Students Assembly Against Austerity' website.

 

And for further information you can still go to the London Met UCU or the London Met UNISON websites. You can also sign a new joint-union statement to 'Stop the job cuts at London Met', which was launched at our rally and which is hosted on the national UCU website.  

 

Thanks to the METSU for drawing this to our attention. We are naturally disappointed that the student union feels unable to support this campaign at this moment in time but we hope to work together in the future on common ground. 

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HANDS OFF LONDON MET – DEFENDING JOBS AND EDUCATION: RALLY, 28 APRIL, 6.30PM

25 April, 2015

Staff and students alike have been shocked by the Vice-Chancellor’s recent announcement of further imminent widespread redundancies planned for both academic staff and professional service departments. We believe that these cuts threaten the future survival of London Met as we know it. Our concern is shared by many outside the university and we believe that our campaign to stop these cuts can galvanise wide support in the larger community.

That’s why we’ve organised a public meeting “Hands Off London Met: Defend Jobs-Defend Education” at London Met on Tuesday 28th April.

The meeting will take place at 6:30pm in Room TM1-83 of the Tower Building of North Campus on Holloway Rd. The meeting will be addressed by

• Jeremy Corbyn MP,
• Liz Lawrence {President of UCU},
• Jon Rogers {UNISON National Executive Committee},
• Aaron Kiely {London Met student and National Union of Students National Executive Committee} and
• Sean Vernell {UCU National Executive Committee}.

The meeting is open to members of the community and we expect attendees from other HE institutions within London.We strongly urge all UNISON members within London Met to come along to the meeting. We attach a PDF copy of a flyer for the meeting, please print and distribute to as many of your colleagues as possible.

PLEASE FWD - SPREAD THE WORD

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UNISON URGE ‘YES’ VOTE IN BALLOT FOR STRIKE ACTION TO DEFEND JOBS

25 April, 2015

It’s official – UNISON are balloting for strike action UNISON officials informed London Met University we are to ballot all our directly employed members for strike action and action short of a strike (work to rule), on Friday 24th April. We strongly recommend you vote yes to both questions. 

http://www.londonmetunison.org.uk/2015/04/unison-urge-yes-vote-in-ballot-for-strike-action-to-defend-jobs/

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OPPOSE THE JOBS MASSACRE - STOP THE SPIRAL OF DECLINE

OPPOSE THE JOBS MASSACRE

STOP THE SPIRAL OF DECLINE

Staff and students will be utterly appalled by the recent announcement that the university intends to slash a further 165 jobs.

UNISON and UCU stand firmly against these damaging cuts – we say: enough is enough!

The kind of cuts foreseen are enough to virtually destroy entire Faculties.

The University has said they will make compulsory redundancies – a red line for both our unions.

And they wish to do this in the minimum time frame of just 45 days and during the Easter holiday period.

This disruption to people’s lives, putting people’s future at risk in such a rushed and stressful way is unacceptable.

The scale of the threat to entire areas is unforgivable and we cannot see how a certain Dean can look their own staff in the eye and justify these cuts given their own responsibility for the strategy that led to such a drastic decline in student numbers.

Equally, the devastating loss of our overseas students in 2012 is entirely the fault of the reckless leadership of senior management – from the Governors down to the Executive Group.

We cannot accept the same senior management team demanding we pay the price for their catastrophic decisions.  

We have seen redundancies every year since 2009, when they proposed 550 job cuts. Large numbers ofS188 redundancies followed, in 2011, 2012, and again in 2013.

This ongoing slashing of jobs will mean the spiral of decline continues and the very future of the university will be threatened. Most galling, the very managers who got us into this mess are the same people now deciding whose jobs to cut while continuing to implement their own failed strategies.

JOIN US, GET ORGANISED - COME TO OPEN JOINT UNION MEETINGS*

NORTH CAMPUS: Tuesday 24^th

1-2pm Graduate Centre, Room: GCG-08

Speaker: Liz Lawrence, UCU President 

CITY CAMPUS Wednesday 25^th

12-1pm Moorgate, Room: MG102
Speaker: Sally Hunt, UCU General Secretary

* NOTE VENUE AND TIME CHANGE... Membership forms available at the door

Also: Faculty of Business & Law open meeting organised by UCU Moorgate: MG-G12, Wed 18th March 1-2pm

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Petition: No more jobs cuts - stop the spiral of decline

Dear John Raftery and London Met Board of Governors,

We are writing in response to the shocking news of your plan to implement large-scale redundancies amongst both academic and professional support staff at London Metropolitan University. We strongly urge you to reconsider these plans and join with staff and students in developing an alternative plan to grow the university. 

London Met and it’s predecessor institutions have played a vital role over past decades in providing educational opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged groups in society. We believe that the plan to dramatically reduce academic and professional support staff is unnecessary and will lead to a rapid increase in the spiral of decline that has dogged the university over the past few years. This decline constitutes what we believe to be an unacceptable threat to a vital element in the educational provision within London.

We find it impossible to disagree with staff and students at London Met who point to the series of disastrous policies and strategies adopted by former Vice Chancellors and supported by the institution’s senior management that have resulted in a series of financial crises, critical damage to the university’s international reputation and a dramatic decline in both the breadth and quality of the service offered to students. It is these disastrous policies that have resulted in falling student numbers at the university, it is a scandal that those who have formulated and implemented these policies and who are ultimately responsible for the university’s decline have profited substantially from their own ineptitude.

It is our belief that London Met  can continue to play an important role in providing higher education in London. But to continue the disastrous strategy of cutting back of staff can only result in a decline of the service offered to students with the inevitable result of a continuing decline and possible eventual demise of the institution as a whole. The loss of London Met would be a loss for the whole of London, we again strongly urge you to turn away from your current strategy of weakening the university and to join with staff and students in developing a plan for growth of London Met.

Sign here: https://www.change.org/p/london-met-uni-no-more-jobs-cuts-stop-the-spiral-of-decline

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

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/

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UNISON - Fighting for decent pensions

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
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