Union members at London Metropolitan University are under threat again after announcement of compulsory redundancies of permanent facility staff, and other job losses resulting from the removal of all teaching hours from some long serving hourly paid lecturer staff.

Amongst those targeted for redundancy are UCU union officers including the chair Mark Campbell and Secretary David Hardman (see picture above).

According to Mark: “What is quickly becoming evident is almost all those selected for dismissal are committed UCU members and educators that have on many occasions had the courage and principles to stand up and be counted. Those members, and ourselves, are now what our current VC, John Raftery, describe as the ‘actively disengaged’ who need to be ‘managed out’ of the university. He also had previously had the gall to suggest this will be to improve and support the student experience! Yes, we are disengaged – but not from our students. We are disengaged from a management that puts its own wellbeing above the interests of our students and the working class communities we are proud to serve”.

Please sign the petition here to oppose this vindictive action by the University management. The branch also request you download and take  a photo with this poster share it on social media and please send a copy to them at uculondonmet@mail.com or post it on their FB page here

The hashtags for support are:  #savelondonmet #saveourreps

More details  of the campaign overall can be found from London Met’s UCU blog here

Footnote:
The atmosphere promoted by management at London Met can also be found in the correspondence between the Vice Chancellor and the UCU’s Environment Officer seeking support for the incorporation of environmental issues into teaching.

It’s well worth reading, particularly the bizarre last paragraph: The e-mail is here