Edinburgh University staff strike in dispute over £140million cuts and job losses

University and College Union (UCU) members at the University of Edinburgh are on strike today, Friday 20 June, in the first of a series of strikes over senior management's plans to cut £140million from the annual budget and refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Staff will be on picket lines across the university and will hold a rally from 11.00am on George Square in Edinburgh.

As well as striking today, to coincide with a university open day, staff at the university will also take strike action at the start of the new academic year in September.  The union estimates that cuts of £140million could see 1,800 staff lose their jobs.  The strike follows a ballot where 84% of UCU members at the university voted to back strike action and 93% to back action short of strike.  The turnout was 60%.

UCU members overwhelmingly rejected a last-minute management offer to avert the strike as too little, too late with 92% voting to reject.

UCU members will also take part in action short of strike, including working to contract and boycotting administrative work relating to implementing the cuts.  The union is also considering a marking and assessment boycott as well as telling members not to use their personal devices for work, but is, for now, holding off escalating the dispute to give senior managers the opportunity to end the dispute by ruling out compulsory redundancies. 

The union said that cuts of £140million would amount to the biggest cuts ever made by a university in Scotland, and that university senior managers hadn't made the case of why they were pursuing cuts of this magnitude while, at the same time, planning record capital expenditure.  The union also said that there were other areas where the university could make savings that didn't involve cutting staff numbers and damaging the teaching and research which are central to the university's mission.  As examples, the union cited that university senior management recently announced plans to spend £400,000 on public relations and media consultants, and the university regularly appearing towards the top of rankings on principals' and senior staff pay.  The union said it was keen to work with senior management to try and find alternative savings to job cuts that were less detrimental to the university and the student experience.

Sophia Woodman, president of the Edinburgh University UCU branch, said: "Taking strike action is the very last thing UCU members at Edinburgh want to do but the decision of the principal to press ahead with huge cuts and the refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies has simply left us no choice.  University staff are worried about the future and whether they'll have a job this time next year.  We are striking on Open Day to sound the alarm about the future of research and teaching at the university, because we care deeply about the quality of education we provide to our students.

"Staff are stunned to see university senior management pressing ahead with plans to spend vast sums on public relations consultants and increase spending on buildings while cutting the staff who teach students and carry out world leading research.  Even at this late stage it's not too late for the university to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies and end this dispute."

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: "UCU members at Edinburgh are striking to save jobs and to guarantee the future of the university.  Peter Mathieson has been warned often enough about the impact his cuts will have on staff, students and the university's reputation but the refusal not to rule out compulsory redundancies means that the fault for this strike going ahead lies firmly at his door."