7 days of strikes over Essex Uni job cuts begin Thursday

Staff at the university will down tools from Thursday 12 February until Thursday 19 February and will picket both Southend and Colchester campuses on every day of the strike.  

As well as cutting jobs, the university is planning to close its Southend Campus.

There will be a rally at 12pm on Thursday 12 February on Colchester campus, where supporters will hear from TUC general secretary Paul Nowak. Last week staff and student held a rally at the Southend Campus, joined by UCU and Unison general secretaries Jo Grady and Andrea Egan. 

Staff will also begin action short of a strike on Thursday 12 February. This will consist of working strictly to contract, boycotting exam boards and open days and not covering for absent colleagues. 

The action comes after an overwhelming 85% of participating staff backed strikes, on a turnout of 60%. The dispute centres on the university's plan to axe 200 academic and 200 professional services staff, resulting in more than one in 10 of the workforce losing their job. University management informed staff of the plan just before Christmas, wants to issue redundancy notices by May and has since announced plans to close the Southend campus over summer.  

The university has now also announced it intends to shutter its Pathways programme, which opens up access to university for non-traditional students, and axe almost 8 in 10 of the Pathways workforce. 

UCU recently launched a film with staff and local people to highlight the issues involved and outline the negative impact the plans will have on both staff and the wider local community.  

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Taking this action, however difficult, is the only moral option for Essex University staff. They are battling to save their institution from a management intent on committing terrible damage to students and the local community. 

'Decimating the staff body and shutting down the only higher education facility in the city of Southend is bad enough. But now university management wants to close Pathways, a key entry route into higher education for local working class students and axe the vast majority of its workforce.  

'Pathways opened up higher education and the hope of a better future to more than 500 non-traditional students each year. Its closure shows exactly what this management thinks of the communities who rely upon it to gain an education.'