I was going to blog about the Keele UCU Emergency General Meeting yesterday, but this press release from the Union Ideas Network sums the issues up more succinctly than I could hope to do. Please circulate.
URGENT: Industrial Relations at Keele
One of the last remaining Industrial Relations departments in the UK is facing the axe. In December 2007, senior management at Keele University announced proposal to close all industrial relations/human resource management programmes as part of a restructuring of the School of Management and Economic Studies resulting in 38 out of 67 staff being sacked, including 10 from the 12 in the Industrial Relations group.
The plan was presented to the University Council on 6th December 2007 by Janet Finch, Keele's Vice-Chancellor and leaked to staff on 7th December. The plan was formulated in complete secrecy and involved just a handful of senior management including two temporary managers, Dr John Green (Chief Co-ordinating Officer) and Claire Appleby (Human Resources Manager) both from Imperial College, London. All this has been done behind the backs of staff and unions. Normal consultation and decision-making processes have been bypassed: Senate and Faculties had no knowledge of senior management plans and have been given no opportunity to debate the proposals. The livelihood of the Vice Chancellor, Janet Finch, is ensured, however, after she taken a 31.7% pay rise last year to bring her annual salary to £212,000.
At an Emergency General Meeting on 17th December, the University and College Union (UCU) at Keele voted to fight the proposals and instigate an immediate ballot for industrial action. Staff at Keele need your support. Details of how you can help will be posted on the UIN website shortly but in the meantime, please sign the solidarity guestbook at: http://uin.org.uk/content/view/262/66/
The plan was presented to the University Council on 6th December 2007 by Janet Finch, Keele's Vice-Chancellor and leaked to staff on 7th December. The plan was formulated in complete secrecy and involved just a handful of senior management including two temporary managers, Dr John Green (Chief Co-ordinating Officer) and Claire Appleby (Human Resources Manager) both from Imperial College, London. All this has been done behind the backs of staff and unions. Normal consultation and decision-making processes have been bypassed: Senate and Faculties had no knowledge of senior management plans and have been given no opportunity to debate the proposals. The livelihood of the Vice Chancellor, Janet Finch, is ensured, however, after she taken a 31.7% pay rise last year to bring her annual salary to £212,000.
At an Emergency General Meeting on 17th December, the University and College Union (UCU) at Keele voted to fight the proposals and instigate an immediate ballot for industrial action. Staff at Keele need your support. Details of how you can help will be posted on the UIN website shortly but in the meantime, please sign the solidarity guestbook at: http://uin.org.uk/content/view/262/66/
2 comments:
hi phil, have you sent this to the paper?
bangor experienced cuts to its Ocean Sciences department recently, and I think it's IT department is facing cuts at the moment (at least it sounds like it is - i don't know for sure)
Something will be heading down there or the next issue. (No Socialist until the new year, now).
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