Heriot-Watt University staff back industrial action

In the ballot of University and College Union (UCU) Scotland members at the university, 74% of those voting backed strike action on a turnout of 70%. 87% also said they would be willing to take part in action short of strike which can include working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, or undertaking voluntary activities. Following the results of the ballot, UCU members at the university will decide their next steps.

The dispute follows university senior management proposing what they call a 'right-sizing' exercise where at least 41 jobs will be lost in the university's Scottish campuses and 10 in Malaysia by courses and programmes. University senior managers have, despite repeated demands by the union, so far also refused to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies in making their cuts. As well as cutting courses and jobs, there are also plans to end the 25-year-old Scholar programme which delivers essential online learning in schools throughout Scotland.

Kate Sang, Heriot-Watt UCU president, said: 'Today's vote shows the strength of feeling against these cuts and the jobs that senior managers want to lose. Sadly, the university has refused to commit to preserving the valuable research time of staff. Cuts to research provision will harm not only the university's reputation, but the development of cutting-edge knowledge to address society's big challenges. The use of compulsory redundancies is unacceptable, and while members will now decide what action they want to take, senior managers should be under no illusion that the use of compulsory redundancies is something we will be strongly opposing. We are still committed to engaging constructively to resolve this dispute, but we need the employer to be willing to talk.'

Jo Grady, UCU General Secretary, said: 'Members at Heriot-Watt have shown their willingness to take action and defend jobs. To avoid this dispute escalating and the possibility of strikes at this busy time of year the principal needs to listen to them, sit down to talks and rule out the use of compulsory redundancies.'