Redundancies at Cardiff University rejected by UCU

The university has begun formal redundancy procedures in response to funding shortfalls affecting specific activities within its Business School, its School of Nursing & Midwifery, and its School of Postgraduate Medical & Dental Education.

The proposed redundancies include 16 jobs in the eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) within the Business School, three jobs in the Macmillan Education Unit of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, and three jobs in the Health Services Management Group in the School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education.

In rejecting the proposed compulsory redundancies, Cardiff UCU president Mark Aston said: 'An institution that employs 5,500 staff and has an annual turnover of £315 million should be able to redeploy staff. The higher education sector is expanding, not contracting, and the university should look to voluntary redundancies and re-skilling instead of rushing straight into compulsory redundancies.'

Complaining about the university's treatment of staff made redundant, Psychology lecturer Todd Bailey said: 'After 10 years' service at Cardiff, a lecturer made redundant could receive as little as £3,000 and a bit of loose change. That won't go very far if they're out of work for a year or more and have to relocate to find a new job. If the university really does need to make people redundant it should give them at least a month's pay for every year of service.'

Background

• Funding for the eCIC activity which is coming to an end had been provided by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) for the Opportunity Wales project and the Broadband Wales Observatory project. WAG has failed to allocate funding to continue these projects. The university proposes to make all staff working on these projects compulsorily redundant.
• Funding for the Macmillan Education Unit (MEU) has been withdrawn by Macmillan Cancer Support following a review of their education provision. The university proposes to make all staff in the MEU compulsorily redundant.
• The Health Services Management Group has been running in deficit despite a business plan to be self-financing. The university proposes to make all staff in the Group compulsorily redundant.