Anger at Goldsmiths' restructure plans to cut frontline staff and recruit senior managers
29 January 2020
Staff have reacted angrily to a restructure plan at Goldsmiths (University of London) to cut the number of frontline staff and increase the size of the senior management team. The plans represent a third shake-up in 10 years after the university spent £1.3m on voluntary severance schemes in 2010 and £2.1m in 2015.
UCU and Unison members at the college held an emergency meeting today (Wednesday) to discuss the plans, and called on Goldsmiths to work with them to address any financial challenges before sacrificing staff.
The unions said they were unconvinced that another restructure was the best way to make savings and called on Goldsmiths to provide details of the costs and any savings from the previous two restructures.
UCU Goldsmiths vice-president Des Freedman said: 'We lost staff through expensive restructures in 2010 and 2015, and we are unconvinced by the rationale for a third shake-up in 10 years. Sacrificing frontline staff to create a bloated senior management team appears to be at odds with commitments to improve the student experience.
'We need greater transparency when it comes to the finances at Goldsmiths. We want to know what the results of the previous restructures were before blindly heading towards another one. The college says it wants to look at ways to save money, so it should open up the books and reveal the amount it is spending on things like private consultants.'
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