LSBU staff to strike over two-tier academic workforce plan

Union members have overwhelmingly voted to strike over London South Bank University’s plan to split its academic workforce into two “career pathways”.

Eighty-nine per cent of University and College Union (UCU) members backed strike action in a ballot, while 97 per cent supported action short of a strike – which could include a marking boycott, with the potential to disrupt graduations – on a turnout of 61 per cent.

The vote was called after LSBU announced plans to move many of its existing academics into a new “teaching and scholarship” role, with only some being kept in a “teaching and research” position.

UCU claimed that staff would have to compete against each other in a redundancy selection process and said that the new contracts would “increase working time without any corresponding increase in pay”.

LSBU also plans to employ new staff via a subsidiary firm, denying them access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, amid ongoing concerns about its affordability for employers.

UCU said the reforms raised serious equality issues. It claimed that the bulk of the female-dominated workforce in the School of Nursing and Midwifery would be moved on to teaching contracts, while staff in the male-majority School of Engineering and Design were likely to be retained on research terms.

Federica Rossi, the secretary of LSBU’s UCU branch, said the ballot “shows our members’ will to fight to protect LSBU’s future”.

“It is frankly scandalous that the university’s leaders are showing such callous disregard for our work [and for] the gender equality implication of the cuts,” she said.

“LSBU educates a quarter of London’s nurses, yet senior management thinks we don’t deserve the same pay and pensions we can get at other universities across the country. These cuts don’t just threaten staff and students, they could have profound implications on the NHS and the capital’s health.”

LSBU said that it was “disappointed” that UCU had “chosen to disrupt our students’ education before the consultation to reorganise the university’s academic workforce is complete”.

“LSBU is proud of its staff, which is why the changes we propose protect most academic jobs despite the challenging financial landscape across higher education,” said Tara Dean, the university’s provost.

“LSBU’s plans will deliver additional teaching and student-facing support every week. The proposals will also create consistent contracts that are fairer to all academic staff and meet the needs of our students. Existing staff who continue to conduct research that has a real-world impact or choose to focus on teaching excellence and scholarly activities will also retain their TPS pensions.

“To continue to transform our students’ lives and enable the employers, organisations and local communities we work with to prosper in an uncertain world, LSBU has to refocus and deliver the highest-quality professional and technical education and contact time for our students.”

LSBU joins a growing list of UK universities facing industrial action over job cuts and contract changes.

Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary, added: “Our members have overwhelmingly backed industrial action because they refuse to stand by as management lights a bonfire under the academic standards of the university.

“Senior leaders now need to halt the cuts and get round the negotiating table and work with us. If they refuse to do so, we will have no choice other than to shut down graduations.”

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com