Staff at Goldsmiths, University of London have voted to strike over an “almost incomprehensible” number of redundancies, the union has announced.
More than 87% of University and College Union (UCU) members at the south London university voted in favor of strike action, with a turnout of 69%, as well as supporting actions short of a strike, such as boycotting marking papers. Submission.
The vote followed what Labor described as “unprecedented cuts” under consultation to cut almost half of academic positions in the School of Arts, Humanities, Culture and Society, Professional Studies, and Science and Technology. This is equivalent to a reduction of 91.5%. 262.9 full-time employees and one in six of her in the educational institution.
UCU general secretary Joe Grady said the scale of job cuts proposed under Goldsmiths’ new restructuring plan was “almost incomprehensible”, adding: “It is no surprise that staff voted overwhelmingly in favor of industrial action. Not,” he added. They’re not just fighting for their jobs, they’re fighting for the future of this organization.
“If management succeeds in keeping these devastating cuts on track, Goldsmiths will be unrecognizable from the great creative powerhouse it is now. Members of the University, with the full support of the union, will This includes access to local defense funds to support sustained industrial action.
“We urge management to think again and work with us to save the course and jobs. If they don’t, Goldsmiths will be hit by unprecedented industrial unrest.”
The cuts are the latest in a wave of job cuts at Goldsmiths and across higher education institutions, as universities struggle with financial pressures from the declining real value of tuition fees and declining international student numbers.
Affected departments include Anthropology, English and Creative Writing, History, Music, Psychology, Sociology, Drama, Performance and Visual Culture, and some departments will lose half their staff, the university announced. He said this would be the “biggest attack”. About employment opportunities at British universities in recent years. ”
Goldsmiths is renowned for its strengths in the creative arts and humanities, with alumni including film director Steve McQueen, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, writer Bernardine Evaristo, poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, Musician Damon Albarn, artists Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley.
Broadcaster Michael Rosen, former children’s poet laureate and professor of children’s literature, worked at Goldsmiths for 10 years and said: Please share these with your students. At Goldsmiths these customs and traditions go so far back that it is unbearable to think that any of them are under threat of further mass redundancies. ”
A spokesperson for Goldsmiths, University of London, said: “Universities across the country face difficult challenges resulting from a funding system that is widely known to be no longer fit for purpose.” The plans we have put in place aim to ensure that Goldsmiths overcomes these challenges and continues to offer students a unique offer.
“We are disappointed that our students are facing new industrial action and we are committed to ensuring their learning is supported. We will continue to minimize job losses and We will continue to work hard to protect the subjects of the arts and humanities in the best way possible.”
