Edinburgh Uni lecturers walk out on first of five days of industrial action

Lecturers and other staff at the University of Edinburgh have walked out on the first of five days of industrial action, in a dispute over plans to cut £140 million from the university’s budget.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) set up picket lines at a number of sites around the university on Monday morning, before attending a rally in George Square in the afternoon.

Many of those participating in the walkout held placards with slogans including “No to compulsory redundancies”, “Knowledge production not workforce reduction”, and “Staff-student solidarity”.

The union said its members had “no choice” but to walk out following the university’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies as part of its savings bid, with as many as 1,800 jobs understood to be at risk.

It also disputed the need for the cuts – which it said are the “largest ever seen” in the history of Scottish higher education – due to the university not being in deficit.

The walkout is expected to continue throughout the university’s “welcome week” when new students arrive on campus for the first time.

The union also said it is currently “taking steps” to extend its mandate for industrial action, which expires in November.

Speaking at a picket line in George Square, UCU branch president Sophia Woodman said job losses accounted for a “disproportionate” percentage of the planned cuts, and that losing “as many as 10% of staff” would impact on teaching and research at the university.

“This is deeply destructive and unfair, so we’re out on strike to insist on negotiations over these cuts, their pace, their scale,” she said.

“We’re sounding the alarm for the future and the present of research and teaching at this institution, because they’re really being harmed by cuts that are already underway.”

She went on: “We are losing a week’s pay because we care about our students, we care about our university. We are the university.

“Management is speaking all the time as if they are the university, but we are the university and we’re standing here because we don’t have any other choice.”

She added: “The fact that we’re standing out here, and that this may impact the experience of new students, is on management squarely. They are responsible for that situation.

She also said there were ways the university could reduce expenditure “without this level of impact on staff”.

“So far, they’ve not been a willing to negotiate with us on one penny of their plans, not one penny,” she said.

“That needs to change. Universities are supposed to be self-governing institutions. That’s part of academic freedom. They need to take us seriously and take the concerns of staff seriously.”

Caitlin Jones, a researcher at the university’s informatics department, said cuts to backroom staff such as HR and building services would result in a “decrease in student services”.

“If you’re asking fewer people to do more, then those students won’t have the quality of education that they expect from a world class university,” she said.

She added: “These cuts will lead to a loss of jobs – jobs that university needs, that the university staff and students need, to provide good research and a good education, which is the purpose of this university.”

Hundreds of people attended a rally at George Square at noon where they were addressed by a range of speakers, including union representatives and members of other Scottish universities.

One of the speakers, UCU Scotland official Mary Senior, said the cuts were a “political choice” as there was no deficit at the university.

“We are the university, staff and students at the university, they can’t operate without us,” she said.

“And how they think they can make plans to cut so many staff and continue doing our work is just madness.”

The action comes after a day of strike action on June 20, when UCU members walked out during a university open day.

Action short of a strike, such as working to contract, not volunteering for duties and not covering absent colleagues, has also been ongoing since June 20.

The university’s principal and vice chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, said: “The higher education sector across the UK is facing serious and urgent financial challenges, placing its long-term stability under threat.

“We have been transparent about the impact of these pressures on Edinburgh and the steps we are taking to proactively maintain our position as a world-leading university.

“We respect colleagues’ right to take part in industrial action and will do everything we can to minimise any disruption to our students and planned welcome week activities.

“We continue to engage regularly with the joint trade unions, staff and our students, and remain firmly committed to ongoing dialogue as we take the necessary steps to safeguard the future of our university.”