Save London Metropolitan University

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

GREYLISTING SUSPENDED

The greylisting of London Metropolitan University has been suspended, further to detail to follow.

Save Hornsey Road Nursery

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. Please watch the short film (5 min) and pass it on.

If you're on Facebook please also join the Facebook group. 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.

Board of governors protest

Staff and students at London Metropolitan University (LMU) protested outside the first board of governors meeting since a damning report laid the blame for the university's failings at their door.

London Met funding will be hit if governors refuse to go, warns report

UCU is still awaiting official news about the outcome of the meeting.

Support for London Met campaign as greylisting continues to bite

The campaign to Save London Metropolitan University continues to be buoyed by national and international support for greylisting of the institution. Organisations, conference speakers, and individuals from across the international academic and trade union community have all contacted us to say they will support their colleagues under threat by refusing to collaborate with LMU while greylisting is in force.

As well as receiving support from academic unions in Ireland and Canada (read the Canadian Association of University Teacher's letter) the campaign continues to keep up the pressure on management as events and conferences are cancelled due to non-participation by our supporters. For example the 'Qualitative Marketing Research' career development event due to take place in November has been cancelled and letters of protest written to the vice-chancellor.

The 2009 Woman Political Journalist of the year, Lesley Abdela, cancelled an appearance at London Met in solidarity with the widespread and international concern over job cuts among teaching staff at the university. The award-winning reporter and humanitarian expert was due to give a talk at The Women's Library on 26 November. However, she has told organisers she will not appear unless UCU's academic boycott has been lifted. As the university enters a second month of being greylisted by UCU, and consequently shunned by the academic community, the event has now been postponed: read the full story

We also continue to get reports that individual schools at London Met are contacting the vice-chancellor with concerns that they are unable to put together research bids, secure speakers for events or recruit external examiners.

Please keep the information coming in and please DO continue to write to the vice-chancellor at LMU, Alfred Morris (Alfred.Morris@londonmet.ac.uk) to express your concern and your support of the greylisting (please copy to jstephens@ucu.org.uk)

You can find the very latest information on the branch campaign blog.

NEWS FILE: 

• 23 November: Independent reports that HEFCE is urging board of governors to quit - University accused of £36m student scam
• 19 November: damning new report makes board pf governors' positions untenable: London Met board of governors responsible for university shambles says damning report
• 19 November: new VC Professor Gillies certainly has his work cut out: UCU responds to appointment of new vice-chancellor at London Met University
• 4 November: the THE reports on the hunt for a new vice-chancellor
• 15 October: UCU members at London Metropolitan University took strike action on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October after management failed to agree to negotiate with the staff trade unions, and in particular to withdraw the compulsory redundancy notices about to be issued to nursery staff, to pay voluntary severance to those made redundant, and to announce a moratorium on further redundancies until after the independent review of the financial crisis at London Met is published.
• 30 September: Lobby of the Board Of Governors - more here
• 16 September: 'Fight for jobs!' – London Met delegate tells TUC Congress
• 1 September: UCU instigates the greylisting of London Metropolitan University
• 31 August Time running out for London Met as academic boycott date closes in
• 6 August: Damning revelations in the Times Higher: UCU tells London Met to get its 'house in order' after damning revelations
• 14 July: London Met petition delivered to BIS
• 14 July: members of UCU and Unison go on strike as part of their ongoing fight to save hundreds of jobs: Staff to strike again at London Met
• 2 July: chair of governors lobbied about cuts: Governors must take responsibility for approving redundancies, say unions
  
  Peter Anwyl, chair of the board of governors was also presented with a letter from UCU and UNISON and  spoof redundancy selection form (.rtf) [107kb].
• 26 June: UCU and UNISON send a letter to Alfred Morris, London Met's acting vice-chancellor, calling for explanations and an urgent meeting:  UCU/UNISON letter to Alfred Morris (.pdf) [89kb]
• 19 June: university slammed for trying to sneak through redundancy plans that could see staff rejected for voluntary redundancy sacked on vastly inferior terms: London Metropolitan University attacked for underhanded sackings plan
• 15 June: board of governors protest over jobs cull
  More here: London Met protests over jobs cull
• 23 May: March and rally planned for 23 May - please support colleagues under threat
• 22 May: UCU has accused the government of misleading the public and shirking its responsibility over its refusal to have a full independent inquiry into the financial mess at London's biggest university: UCU accuses government of misleading public over London Met inquiry shambles
• 10 May: Sally Hunt and Phil Baty, deputy editor of Times Higher Education, discussed the situation at London Met on BBC Radio Five live on Sunday 10 May. You can listen to it here:  Excerpt on London Met, Donal MacIntyre show, BBC Radio Five Live, 10 May 2009 (.mp3) [10.3Mb]
• 7 May: ONE DAY STRIKE
  There were picket lines from 8am the main campus buildings and a mass rally at 1pm. Further updates posted on: www.lmuucu.org.uk
• 23 April: Public and Commercial Services Union general secretary Mark Serwotka writes a letter of support to London Met UCU in their action in defence of jobs and services:  letter to London Met UCU from Mark Serwotka (.pdf) [30kb]

• London Met's management sparked outrage with the announcement that they plan to cut even more posts than previously indicated. Managers have now indicated that they want to cut more than 550 full-time equivalent posts, which could mean as many as 700 jobs, or one quarter of the entire workforce, to pay for cuts in HEFCE funding, following allegations that the university had misreported student completion rates. UCU is calling on all members to support our colleagues at London Met in making it clear that staff must not be punished for management failures and a financial crisis. 
• UCU received formal notification from London Met of their plans for redundancies over the next two years. The formal consultation process has started, and the UCU negotiating team has made an initial response to the proposals. However, there are many more questions than answers at this stage and a programme of meetings has been agreed. 
• 28 January: BBC news report on the London Met protest

See also the campaign website set up by the London Met UCU and Unison branches for a run down of media reports and the latest news: savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com

Background

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

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

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

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

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

The core objectives of the campaign are:

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

Information and downloads

 Save London Metropolitan - campaign leaflet (.pdf) [185kb]

 Draft letter for London Met staff to use when contacting their MP (.rtf) [17kb]

 Sample letter to London Met governors from UCU, London Met UCU and Unison branches (.rtf) [66kb]

 Sample letter to MPs from UCU, London Met UCU and Unison branches (.rtf) [62kb]