Job-cutting committee illegal, say lawyers

Lawyers working for the Association of University Teachers in Salford University have asked for the work of a newly formed redundancy committee to be stopped on the grounds that it is "improperly formed".

A redundancy committee met for the first time last Friday. Seventy jobs need to be cut by September to balance the books but following a shortfall in take-up of a voluntary severance and early retirement scheme, some compulsory redundancies are being sought.

Elizabeth Laws, president of the Salford AUT, said that the university council, of which she is a member, had acted contrary to its own statutes in forming a redundancy committee that did not contain any members of academic staff nominated by senate. She has made a formal complaint to the university visitor about the job losses.