Fighting fund banner

 

Barnet and Southgate College lecturers in Tuesday protests over plans to sack staff

23 June 2014

More problems for the college following vote of no confidence in senior management team

Staff at Barnet and Southgate College will be protesting outside the college's entrances on Tuesday over plans to sack staff. The protests will take place outside the college's Southgate, Grahame Park and Wood Street sites at:

Southgate 8:30am to 8:55am

Grahame Park 8:30am to 8:55am

Wood Street 12.30pm to 1.45pm

The protests come just days after members of the UCU at the college unanimously passed a motion of no confidence in principal, David Byrne, and the college's senior management.

The row centres on college plans to sack 30 staff, despite 40 taking voluntary redundancy this year. UCU has called on the college to defer any further redundancies until student recruitment numbers for the next academic year are known in the autumn.

UCU has warned the job losses will lead to:

  • some courses being withdrawn
  • shorter hours on remaining courses
  • larger class sizes
  • a sharp increase in the workload of staff who remain.

The union said that a recent consultation period with staff was meaningless as it resulted in a final version that was almost identical to the original plans.

UCU regional official, Una O'Brien said: 'Our members are not blind to the troubles facing the further education sector and realise that there are difficult decisions to be made. However, the college should hold back on any job cuts until we know what student recruitment figures are like for the new academic year.

'It makes no sense to shed jobs prematurely and risk having students on courses in September with no one to teach them. That's why UCU members have passed a vote on no confidence in the senior management and will be protesting outside the college.'

Last updated: 10 December 2015

Comments