Staff at Queen Mary, University of London, have been told that jobs will go in order to cut costs, with the lecturers union, UCU, estimating that between 60 and 100 academic staff are “likely to be shed”.

The Principal of Queen Mary, Simon Gaskell, wrote to all staff on January 29th, describing the college as “plainly flourishing” and its recent financial position as “sound”, but nevertheless also stating: “We must reduce our costs, including those associated with our current staff.”

The reduction in staff is to be pursued, according to Gaskell, via an “early retirement/voluntary severance scheme”. But Amanda Sackur, Regional Support Official in the UCU has written to the Principal saying that the threat of compulsory redundancies “remains implicit”.

The UCU has also claimed that Queen Mary has so far failed to comply with the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which obliges the employer is “to consult the recognised trades unions at the earliest opportunity” if more than 20 employees are affected by the proposed dismissals (TULCA 1992 as amended by SI1995).

Saying that it has not yet been consulted about the proposals, UCU claims that Queen Mary is in breach of Section 188 of this Act. The union says it will “seriously consider lodging a complaint to the Employment Tribunal” unless Queen Mary opens consultations on the issue before announcing redundancies of any sort.

It is likely that “performance management” criteria will be rolled-out and used to identify staff for dismissal following a “well documented period of performance management where agreed and justifiable targets are not met”.

The UCU says it is seeking discussions with management on this issue and is concerned to ensure that the process of introducing performance management is transparent, and implemented “uniformly across the college and departments”.

Gaskell’s letter referred to the tough financial climate facing all universities after government funding cuts, and said: “The institutions that fare best in the coming few years will be those that remain determinedly strategic and that specifically retain the capability to continue investing in those areas characterised on a rational basis as of highest strategic importance.”

He warned against “complacency” and said that “urgent actions” were required to “ensure Queen Mary’s financial sustainability.” As well as calling for cost-cutting, he also seemed to embrace the advice given to universities by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson last month, saying: “We must diversify and expand our portfolio of income generation…in order to reduce our dependence on the UK public purse”.

Gaskell went on to characterise the situation as “an important opportunity, not only to re-focus our academic activities in strategically desirable ways, but also to improve our relative position with respect to competitor universities.”

Further information about where the college intends to cut jobs is expected to be released soon. The UCU is calling for staff that are not members to join the union and is expected to push for a guarantee that no compulsory redundancies will be made.

Queen Mary have been contacted and this story will be updated when a response is given.

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