Over 1,000 people sign petition opposing Northumbria University cuts

Signatories include the Northern Regional Secretaries of the National Education Union, UNISON, and UNITE.

On Saturday, delegates from 16 trade unions attended the annual conference of the Northern Region Trades Union Congress, and showed their support for UCU and UNISON members in Higher Education by voting to back staff fighting against a swathe of cuts that have been announced by universities in the region.

UCU members at Northumbria University are continuing to vote yes for strike action in an industrial action ballot this week, buoyed by the support they are getting from the wider trade union movement and the public.

UCU regional support official Jon Bryan said: 'Our members are seeing huge levels of support from the public in their fight to halt any compulsory redundancies at Northumbria University. The university says it has made "considerable progress" and is "confident" it will not have to resort to compulsory job losses. It now needs to take an additional step and make a full commitment that no staff member will be forced out of a job. Without that, we have no choice but to continue to ask our members to vote yes to industrial action.'