Staff to walk out at Sheffield College in row over job losses

UCU members based at the college's city centre site will be on strike and on picket lines on Granville Road from 8am. The city walkout is part of a rolling programme of strikes following on from last Wednesday's strike at all the college's sites.

UCU has warned that unless a resolution can be found to college plans to axe 13 lecturers and downgrade the position of lecturer then its members will walk out at the Norton and Peaks site on Monday 22 June with further action planned at the Hillsborough site.

The union wants the college to halt plans to axe jobs and look at ways to deliver a fairer deal for staff. UCU says the college should explore voluntary redundancy schemes and redeployment options, and reduce senior management costs.

UCU members overwhelmingly backed strike action in a ballot earlier this year when 86% of members who voted backed strike action and 95% supported action short of strike, which could see staff working to contract.

UCU regional official, Julie Kelley, said: 'We warned last week that unless the college was prepared to negotiate seriously with us to try and find a solution to the current impasse over job losses and plans to downgrade the role of the lecturer then more strike action was on the cards.

'We believe the college has already made large savings this year and that staff and students have suffered enough disruption from those cuts. We want to resolve the current situation as quickly as possible so we can get back to the important task of delivering education for people in Sheffield However, we will not stand back and watch jobs and educational opportunities in the local area disappear.'