8 days of strikes to hit London Met this month over jobs cull

Staff will strike on:

• week 1: Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 April
• week 2: Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 April
• week 3: Monday 27, Tuesday 28 and Thursday 29 April

Staff will also work to rule from Monday 6 April for up to six months if the dispute remains unresolved. The action comes after a 90% yes vote in a ballot that beat the 50% turnout threshold.

The dispute is over London Met's plan to restructure every academic school, delete 295 jobs and to axe up to 120 staff through compulsory redundancy by the end of the academic year (Friday 31 July). The cuts primarily impact academics and UCU believes over a fifth would go under the plans.

The union said the scale of the threatened cuts raises serious concerns about educational provision, PhD research, equality outcomes, and the university's long-term sustainability. Given where redundancies are currently being targeted, UCU believes it is unclear how sociology and fine art could continue to be delivered and that creative writing and theatre and performing arts would be in serious jeopardy of closing. UCU is calling for a halt to the knee jerk cuts and for management to begin meaningful negotiations over how jobs and student provision can be protected.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Our members will take this action if the university refuses to halt its cuts programme. Axing more than one in five academics would seriously threaten the viability of London Met as an academic institution. Several subjects would be compromised or even eliminated and there would not be enough staff left to sufficiently support students. Management has a small window of time to think again before our members are forced to cause serious disruption to campus activities. We urge it to change course.'