Overwhelming backing for strike action at Liverpool Hope University in jobs row
11 March 2011
Lecturers who are members of UCU at Liverpool Hope University have today voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in their ongoing row with the institution over job losses and how the institution is responding to potential cuts in funding.
Over four-fifths (83%) of UCU members at Liverpool Hope who voted, voted for strike action. The union is now considering its next options, including strike dates which could be announced shortly unless the university rethinks its approach to its hasty restructuring plans.
Over 100 jobs are at risk and the union says the university should follow the lead of the vast majority of institutions in the country, and take a measured approach to future challenges. UCU says the university is rushing in to decisions based on funding assumptions that have been made without the full knowledge of future circumstances.
The union says that, instead of pushing ahead with plans to axe jobs, the university should listen to, and work with, its staff. UCU members in departments at the university have been drawing up alternative plans to deal with the difficulties the higher education sector and Liverpool Hope face.
UCU regional official, Martyn Moss, said: 'UCU members at Liverpool Hope have made it crystal clear today that they have no faith in how the university is handling the funding problems that have beset the higher education sector. They do not think the university should be swinging the axe and chopping jobs and will be out on strike to make that point and defend their jobs if the university refuses to listen to them.'
UCU members at Liverpool University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine will be strike on Tuesday 22 and Thursday 24 March in a row about pensions. More on that dispute can be found at: First strikes over pensions look likely this month as employers refuse to talk
Over 100 jobs are at risk and the union says the university should follow the lead of the vast majority of institutions in the country, and take a measured approach to future challenges. UCU says the university is rushing in to decisions based on funding assumptions that have been made without the full knowledge of future circumstances.
The union says that, instead of pushing ahead with plans to axe jobs, the university should listen to, and work with, its staff. UCU members in departments at the university have been drawing up alternative plans to deal with the difficulties the higher education sector and Liverpool Hope face.
UCU regional official, Martyn Moss, said: 'UCU members at Liverpool Hope have made it crystal clear today that they have no faith in how the university is handling the funding problems that have beset the higher education sector. They do not think the university should be swinging the axe and chopping jobs and will be out on strike to make that point and defend their jobs if the university refuses to listen to them.'
UCU members at Liverpool University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine will be strike on Tuesday 22 and Thursday 24 March in a row about pensions. More on that dispute can be found at: First strikes over pensions look likely this month as employers refuse to talk
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