Union members have entered a formal dispute and threatened strike action at Birmingham City University after it told staff to leave if they do not agree with its transformation plan.
Thirty-six academic leadership positions are set to go by the end of July, the University and College Union (UCU) branch said, and the union called on the university to work with staff to find an alternative plan and rule out compulsory redundancies, “or face the prospect of industrial action”.???
David Mba, vice-chancellor at BCU, wrote to staff outlining that the university will be opening a voluntary severance scheme, which will be open until the end of March, as part of the university’s “” plans announced last year to move towards a greater focus on teaching, rather than research.
In a??seen by?Birmingham Live, which reported that staff who take up the offer could receive a payout of up to six months of their salary, he wrote: “As we move into the next academic year it is imperative that everyone at BCU is wholly committed to our direction.”
But he conceded that the university’s new strategy “may not align with all colleagues’ views, or their professional aspirations”.
“To anyone who has doubts about the way we need to work – focused on the highest standards and, arising from this, a necessary culture of accountability – I want to acknowledge your contribution to BCU up until now and respectfully encourage you to consider this scheme very carefully, as a positive opportunity,” he wrote.
The union said it feared that the university’s proposals would result in job losses, increased workload for remaining staff members, and lower research status of the university.?
UCU regional official Anne O’Sullivan said that the plans would impact the national and international reputation of the university, and said the proposals “will impact the careers of staff whose skills and employability will suffer”.
She added: “The university must negotiate meaningfully with us or face the possibility of industrial action ballots.”
Jo Grady, general secretary at UCU, said: “The university must urgently stop its attack on jobs, which risks doing irreparable damage to the institution’s research capabilities. It is shocking that staff have to declare a dispute to try to push the employer to do the right thing. Management needs to rule out all compulsory redundancies and work with us so we can avoid any industrial unrest.”
The news follows a raft of cuts announced across the UK higher education sector in the past month.?The University of Edinburgh?said?it intends to make cuts of ?140 million?to fill a financial black hole, and last month alone more than 1,000 job cuts were announced across Newcastle, Durham and Cardiff universities.
A BCU spokesman said that the changes were “aimed at prioritising students in everything we do”.
“The proposals would reduce the number of senior management posts and put our teaching community closer to decision making – this is not about reducing teaching or support staff,” he said.
The spokesman added: “We expect the proposals will impact around 1 per cent of the university’s staff, at a time when a growing number of universities are unfortunately announcing significant compulsory job losses.
“We received UCU’s notification of dispute three days before the formal launch of the consultation process, despite the union having been given a clear commitment from the university that we will engage in meaningful consultation between now and 3 April, as part of an overall five-month process.
“We will continue to engage closely with the small number of staff whose roles are being reviewed to offer alternative opportunities wherever appropriate, if the plans are implemented.”
