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Staff at Hull College Group to walk out over job cuts

8 May 2018

Staff at the Hull College Group will walk out on strike tomorrow (Wednesday) over plans to slash jobs.

Members of UCU at the college's Hull and Harrogate campuses will be on picket lines from 7am. 

In Hull, striking staff at the Cannon Street and Queens Gardens sites will run a programme of teach-outs*, with activities ranging from Tai Chi and cookery to plumbing and motor vehicle checks. 

The row centres on plans to cut 231 full-time equivalent posts across the college group's three campuses in Hull, Harrogate and Goole. UCU says the proposals would lead to around a third of the workforce being cut and fewer learning opportunities for local people. A further two days of strike action are planned for Thursday 17 and Friday 18 May.

UCU members recently delivered a damning vote of no confidence in chief executive officer Michelle Swithenbank. The union said her position was untenable after a failure to defend jobs at the college, as well as efforts to bully and then bribe staff not to attend a protest against the running of the college. It took the college four days to issue a statement backing the beleaguered head.

UCU regional official, Julie Kelley, said: 'Strike action is always a last resort, but staff at the Hull College Group feel they have been left with no alternative in order to defend jobs and educational opportunities.

'The proposed job cuts will be deeply damaging for current students and for the future availability of education for local people. To avoid further unnecessary disruption to students, the college needs to call an urgent halt to these proposals and work with UCU to explore better alternatives.'

In the recent strike ballot, 79% of the staff who voted at the college's three campuses in Hull, Harrogate and Goole backed strike action.


*Teach-out timetable for Hull College strike, Wednesday 9 May 2018

Time

Event

Location

07:00

 

 

 

 

Paint your own placard!

 

Queen's Gardens

Picket line opens

All sites

07:30

 

 

08:00

  

08:30

Teach-out - Motor Vehicle Checks

Cannon Street

09:00

Breakfast for picketers

Queen's Gardens

09:30

Speakers - National officers' welcome

Queen's Gardens

10:00

Teach-outs

10:00 - Motor Vehicle Checks

10:20 - Tai Chi

10:40 - Plumbing - making some sockets

 

Cannon Street

Queen's Gardens

Queen's Gardens

11:00

Speakers 

Queen's Gardens

11:45

Cooking demo

Queen's Gardens

12:00

Lunch - burgers, hot dogs, international food

Samba band from 12:30

All sites

13:00

Teach-outs

13:00 - Plumbing - how to fix a leaky tap

13:20 - Manicures for all

13:40 - Marxism for beginners


Queen's Gardens

Queen's Gardens

Queen's Gardens

Last updated: 16 May 2018