Keele redundancies

Keele University's council has approved a plan to close most of the School of Economic and Management Studies' current programmes in management, economics and industrial relations and human resource management, placing 38 of the 67 academic staff in the school at risk of redundancy.

12 June 2008: Thank you to all for your support of members and the campaign at Keele.

We are please to report that, in no small measure due to the support of members, the branch at Keele have now reached an acceptable interim settlement around which serious negotiations can now take place.

The action short of a strike and all calls for greylisting are suspended with immediate effect.

Further negotiations

As mentioned, the situation at Keele is not over, but an agreement is now in place through which further negotiations will be taking place. Speakers and conference organisers have asked whether greylisting can be/may be re-instated again should the negotiations agreed to by management falter.

The answer to this, as with any action of this kind, is yes.

The branch and the national union are clear that the interim settlement reached should enable the university to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Should the management not conduct the detailed negotiations around the specific issues of the voluntary severance scheme and procedures with regard to decisions about future teaching programmes, in the spirit which has been agreed by themselves and UCU, greylisting can of course be re-instated.

Members should also note that the same is true of the suspension of the industrial action short of strike at Keele.

Background

Keele's university council established an unprecedented 'redundancy committee' on 6 December 2007, bypassing the normal consultation and decision-making processes at the university's senate or faculty meetings.

How the dispute unfolded:

• Staff redundancy threat at Keele University over closure plans
• Keele University faces strike action over redundancies
• Protests planned for chancellor's speech in Keele University jobs row
• Keele lecturers vote for strike action
• Keele jobs fight continues with weekend protests
• Keele University national protest rally
• Keele University told to halt redundancy plans ahead of investigation
• Friday the Thirteenth could see international boycott of Keele University
• Keele University greylisting suspended as union strikes deal

Petition

After a settlement was reached with the university, our petition opposing the plans closed with 2891 signatories. Thank you to everyone who signed.

Links

• Keele UCU