The Dundee University and College Union (DUCU) began their 5-week strike against compulsory redundancies earlier this week. The Jute Journal (TJJ) went to the picket line to investigate why staff are actually striking and how it will impact students’ education.
Why are staff striking?
DUCU Co-President Dr Melissa D’Ascenzio told TJJ that:
Staff are taking action against the threat of compulsory redundancies. Despite more than 850 staff having already left the university, university management is still willing to go ahead with further cuts. They are making those through compulsory redundancies, which means that staff will not have a choice about whether they want to go or not.’
Despite a smaller number of staff being in redundancy pools at the risk of losing their job, other staff members are really concerned about increased workloads and a declining student experience when their colleagues will be gone.
An anonymous DUCU member who is in the redundancy pools stated:
‘I don’t know if it (compulsory redundancies) affects me yet because we are still in these pools of redundancy. This has been going on for over two years now. The uncertainty is really unpleasant; people cannot plan their futures,and people cannot sleep at night.’
Compulsory Redundancies
The University Court made the decision to proceed with complusory redundancies during the Court meeting in June, where the latest Strategy to Recovery was approved. But not all the court members voted in favour of Redundancies.
TJJ interviewed Maggie Chapman, Rector of Dundee University and MSP for the Scottish Greens. Maggie stated:
‘I voted against compulsory redundancies. I don’t believe that they are necessary. Nobody wants to be on strike. No staff member ever wanted to take industrial action like this. But the university management has left UCU little choice.’
‘The strike is the last resort to try and get university management into a proper dispute resolution process, which they have had weeks to contact the union about. Why it has taken them until now just means that they have actually had no interest in genuine, meaningful engagement.’
Has there been Meaningful Engagement?
When the university proposed all the cuts to staff and reduction in resources, they were legally required to do collective consultation. This means discussing and listening to staff and students to get their views on the proposed cuts.
Staff are debating whether the consultation was in fact meaningful or whether the university just wanted to tick boxes and prove that they consulted. Melissa stated that:
‘They (University Management) came to us with a decision to cut staff, and they were not really open to listening, for example, to our income generation alternatives. In the end, if you come to the room with that kind of attitude, is there really any other option to staff cuts if you’re not considering valid alternatives?’
What does this mean for Students?
Several students are concerned that 5 weeks of strikes are impacting their education. Missing half of the semester and having no idea what is happening to their modules,is causing concerns in the student community.
In response to this, Melissa stated;
‘We sympathise with the students and really understand. None of us goes into this job wanting to harm students, and it’s definitely not what we want to achieve here. If university management comes to speak to us and comes to a common ground, we are very happy to call off the strikes.’
In consensus with this, Maggie expressed her opinion that:
‘For students who are anxious or worried about the impact of these strikes on their studies, I would say write to university management, write to the chair of court, email and message them, message the university on social media, because we know that it is the staff that creates the learning environment for students.
On the other hand, an anonymous DUCU member stated:
‘The damage that the university leadership has done affects students a great deal more (than strikes). The Scottish government is putting money into this university, and are they really pouring money into making people redundant? We have to hope that they can come to the table and make the university management see sense.’
Another anonymous DUCU member said:
“Complain as loudly as you can to the Principal”
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