Aberdeen University staff to strike in job losses dispute
They're walking out on Wednesday
Staff at the University of Aberdeen are to walk out this week in a dispute over job losses.
The University and College Union (UCU) Scotland said the university was pressing ahead with job cuts despite recruiting in other areas and offering hundreds of staff a free Christmas dinner.
In a ballot for industrial action, three-quarters of those who voted backed taking strike action on Wednesday.
The union said four Asian members of staff at the university's medical school had been given the choice of either being made redundant or accepting new contracts on reduced terms, and questioned whether the process had been discriminatory.
UCU Scotland members and students will hand over an 1,800-strong petition against the job losses to the university's governing body on Tuesday before the walk-out.
Aberdeen UCU spokesman Derek Dawson said: It is hard to comprehend why the university is pleading poverty and going ahead with these job cuts while recruiting staff in other areas.
The strength of feeling amongst staff was clearly reflected in the ballot and UCU will continue to fight any job cuts or the erosion of members' terms and conditions.
Making people redundant should always be a very last resort but for the university to be doing this now, just before Christmas, while inviting 400 people to a free Christmas dinner is enough to make you choke on your turkey.''
A spokesman for the university said that while the university employs around 3,000 staff, only 206 UCU members had voted for strike action.
He said: We are disappointed that the UCU has decided to take strike action and that they have chosen a date for the strikes which occurs during the student exam period.
We will not allow our students' exams to be disrupted and have made arrangements to make sure this does not occur.
Of the staff that were placed at risk of redundancy as a result of restructuring in the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, the remaining four have been offered alternative employment on their current salary and grade.
As a result, we no longer believe there will be a need for any compulsory redundancies.
Regarding the concerns of UCU over the process that was followed, it is important to point out that the University of Aberdeen is an equal opportunities employer and takes this responsibility very seriously.
The posts at risk of redundancy were identified according to a strict and fair criteria applied consistently across the entire school.''
He added: We recognise this has been a difficult time for some colleagues in the school but it was essential to secure the school's financial position for the future.
This is part of a strategy to enable the institution to concentrate on its strengths so that it continues to attract research funding and make discoveries which improve medical care.
We have consulted with the UCU throughout this period, both on the clear financial reasons for the redundancies and the posts identified.''