General secretary Andrea Egan (pictured above) joined the crowds of union members at the University of Essex yesterday at a protest against job cuts and the closure of the university’s Southend campus.
UNISON is one of three unions fighting back against the university’s plans to cut 400 jobs and close the Southend campus over the summer. It represents the cleaners, student support workers and other non-academic staff affected by the cuts and is in a formal dispute with the university.
In her speech at the rally, Ms Egan said: “Let’s be absolutely clear about what management is proposing.
“They say the university faces a £24 million shortfall — and they expect to plug £19.6 million of that by cutting staff. That tells you everything you need to know about their priorities. This crisis is being dumped squarely on the backs of workers.
“If cuts are truly unavoidable, then those who created this mess — senior managers and directors — should bear the brunt, not the workers at the bottom. That would mean fewer real jobs lost — and that choice is entirely theirs.”
Ms Egan addresses workers at the rally
In response to the proposed job cuts, 91% of members at the university have voted in favour of strike action.
Ms Egan described the dispute between workers and management: “Instead of listening, university senior management have demanded that UNISON regional staff leave the campus during the consultation. That is a disgrace. Shutting out workers’ representatives, stripping away facility time — that is not consultation, it is intimidation.
“But management are making a serious mistake if they think that will weaken us. Because the greatest power workers have is collective power and solidarity. When workers and students stand together, we are unstoppable. If people stay silent, it can look like they don’t care — but look around you. This is what caring looks like.”
Ms Egan said that the cuts in Southend were symptomatic of a “growing financial crisis across universities” adding that, “The funding model for higher education is broken.”
Concluding her speech, Ms Egan called on the employers at the University of Essex to rethink the plans and stop the cuts, and she called on central government to fix the higher education funding model.
Images: Marcus Rose
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