UCU to fight 150 'rushed' redundancies at Stockport College

The union claims the college has rushed into the 147 job losses without properly following the necessary procedures. The college's planned jobs cull comes following a directive from the new Further Education Commissioner that it has been living above its means, and needs to restructure and cut costs by £5m a year.

Worryingly, a letter to the union informing it of the redundancy proposals indicated that the college's consultation on the job losses will close before the end of the legally required minimum 45-day consultation period.

The letter set out how the redundancies will affect 20 departments across the college, and has given the union cause for concern that decisions may already have been taken.

UCU regional official, Martyn Moss, said: 'Stockport College appears to have rushed headlong into an enormous amount of potential job losses and we are concerned that they should follow proper procedure. We are worried by the college's apparent disregard for the minimum legal obligations to the dozens of staff facing redundancy.

'Our focus now will be to make sure the college provides the full details of its restructure plans and gives us time to have meaningful talks about job losses. We want to work with the college to minimise redundancies and the impact on staff who are facing a very difficult time.'