Strike ballot at the University of the Highlands and Islands in dispute over job cuts

Members of UCU employed at UHI's Executive Office are being asked if they are prepared to take part both in strike action and action short of strike. Action short of strike means that members would work strictly to contract and not cover for absent colleagues. The ballot will close on Tuesday 7 October.

The ballot follows the announcement last month by university's senior management that they plan to make 16 people redundant as part of an effort to save £2million.

The union said these cuts will have a devastating blow on the individuals who lose their jobs at the university's Executive Office but also that the numbers didn't add up, and the worry is that the management will come back in future for even more jobs.  The announcement of these cuts comes two years after the last round of redundancies at Executive Office.  The union argued that university senior management should be looking at savings other than cutting staff and that it was impossible to cut staff numbers year-on-year without impacting on the quality of education and student experience the university provides communities across the Highlands and Islands. 

The union also said that the use of compulsory redundancies was a red line and called on senior managers to stop using them.  Despite the union's demand, the university principal, Vicki Nairn, and senior management have refused to use only voluntary redundancies meaning that people are being forced from their jobs.

UCU UHI branch president, Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, said: 'Obviously redundancy has a huge impact on the people who lose their jobs, but it also leaves other staff with increased workloads and the university itself less able to deliver the education students and communities across the Highlands and Islands deserve. Times are hard just now across higher education, but the answer isn't to cut staff who deliver vital services running the university and who ensure its future.  By announcing these job cuts university management are showing they've not learnt from the mistakes they've made in the past.  Despite this, it's not too late to avoid strikes and all the disruption that entails.  We're calling on the principal and senior managers to engage with union, to go through the numbers with us to make sure we're not back here again in a year's time and to work with us to identify alternative savings and, crucially, to stop using compulsory redundancies.'

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: 'Almost two years ago I stood on the picket line alongside UHI members fighting job losses and trying to secure the university's future. |To be back here only two years later it seems that management is again making the same mistakes. Sadly, we're back having to ballot for industrial action, but I've no doubt members will do the right thing to save jobs and secure the university's long-term future by voting "yes".'