Edinburgh University staff overwhelmingly back industrial action in row over £140million cuts and job losses

In the ballot of University and College Union (UCU) Scotland members at the university, 84% of those who voted backed strike action on a turnout of 60%.  93% of members voting said that they would also be willing to take part in action short of strikes which could include working to contract, and not covering for absent colleagues, or undertaking voluntary activities.  A marking and assessment boycott could also be one of the possible forms of action short of strike.

The university principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, shocked staff at the university on 25 February when he announced that he was looking to make cuts of £140million and that cuts of that magnitude could not be reached solely by voluntary redundancies.  Since then the union has continued to push senior managers to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies but managers have repeatedly refused to do so.

The union believes that cuts of this size are unprecedented in Scottish higher education and questioned the need for them when there is no deficit at the university.  The union believes that the move is part of managers' plans* to shift from the current model of academic excellence that regularly sees the university listed amongst the top universities in the UK to a down-sized, standardised and increasingly more commercialised university.  Instead of making huge cuts and losing jobs, the union said that the university should look to cut back on capital expenditure and use its extensive reserves to mitigate job cuts.  The union noted that management plans record capital expenditure at a time when it is proposing to cut jobs.

The union said that it remained committed to working with the employer to find a solution but that the use of compulsory redundancies is a red line.  Cutting staff means larger classes and reduced course and programme choices that will inevitably harm students' education, with less teaching and support for students alongside a reduction in the breadth and depth of research.   The local branch is due to meet in the coming days to consider its next steps in the dispute.

UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said: 'Edinburgh University is hugely respected with a hard-won reputation for academic excellence.  The principal now needs to heed the repeated warnings given by staff and reverse these cuts, or he's going to go down as the man who took a wrecking ball to the university's five hundred year history and left it in a worse state than when he was appointed.'

Branch president, Sophia Woodman, said: 'This vote is a clear message from members to university management that they need to think again.  The ballot result is a mandate for industrial action, and to oppose job cuts and the use of compulsory redundancies.  We want to work with senior management to build a sustainable future, but we need compulsory redundancies to be taken off the table and for there to be an honest discussion about why management are proposing job cuts and projecting deficits while, at the same time, increasing spending on new buildings.  Staff are angry and ready to fight to defend the future of teaching and research at Edinburgh, which are currently at risk from these damaging proposals.'