Strike action at University of Arts London in job cut row

Lectures, seminars and workshops will be cancelled as UAL staff walk out and become the fifteenth UCU branch in London to take strike action in recent weeks.
 
Members of UCU will be on picket lines from 8am at the institution's London College of Communication site in Elephant and Castle. Staff will move from the picket lines to a rally outside the main entrance to Central Saint Martins College and the Cochrane Theatre on the corner of Southampton Row and Theobald's Road at 3pm.
 
The union says it has spent months seeking meaningful negotiations from UAL over a programme of restructuring and course closures resulting in job cuts across the university. With no movement from management, UCU said its members were left with no option but to take industrial action.
 
London was hit with a wave of strikes at further education colleges at the start of the month when UCU members at 11 colleges across the capital walked out. There have also been strikes at King's College London, University College London and Westminster University in recent weeks.
 
UCU regional official, Greg Barnett, said: 'This action by our members is intended to make UAL management realise that they need to take the views of academic staff seriously. We urge them to negotiate with us to avoid compulsory redundancies and to join us in striving to protect the provision of world class arts education at UAL.'
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Industrial action is always a last resort, but rest assured that UCU members at UAL have the union's full support. These cuts will have a damaging impact on UAL's reputation, its students and the quality of service they can expect from the institution. Getting rid of staff and well-respected courses will come back to haunt the institution.'