A strike ballot is under way as Sussex University bosses prepare to cut 200 jobs to try to save about £35 million a year.
The University and College Union (UCU) said yesterday (Wednesday 1 July): “Staff at the University of Sussex are being asked to vote yes for strike action in a ballot that opened today and will run until Thursday 13 August.
“The ballot is over plans to cut 200 jobs and comes after more than 600 staff were put at risk of redundancy across academic, technical and professional services departments.
“Management says it needs to save £35 million in annual costs due to a fall in student numbers and has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies despite more than 500 staff having already left Sussex over the past two years.
“Sussex UCU is putting forward proposals that would avoid the need for compulsory redundancies, protect jobs and support student learning.
“These include allowing staff to volunteer to move part-time and working to bring down the amount spent on the pay of senior management.
“Senior management’s pay bill is over £3 million a year and over the last few years new senior managerial roles have been created while staff have been taken out of frontline teaching.”
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘University of Sussex staff will be voting yes to strike action because they refuse to allow management to axe hundreds of their colleagues when there are other options on the table.
“We now need the senior management team to look to their own bloated salaries and work with us to reduce costs in a sustainable way that protects jobs and student learning.”
Sussex UCU branch president Jo Pawlik said: “The University of Sussex is an amazing institution that has built a global reputation for its diverse and critical research and teaching.
“The branch is doing everything to ensure it remains that way with staff at the heart of its future plans.”
Sussex student Charlotte Fraser said: “It’s incredibly shortsighted of management to put staff jobs at risk when they are the ones who make an education at Sussex so unique.
“We stand with those who face losing their jobs and demand that university management reconsiders its approach.”
