Staff to strike at City College Birmingham

The college will be brought to a standstill on Tuesday 16 June after 95% of staff balloted said yes to walking out. The industrial action comes just 12 months after a previous staff cull saw 75 teaching jobs go. If the latest round of cuts goes ahead the college will have lost nearly a third of its teaching staff in just over a year.
 
City College Birmingham works with some of the most underprivileged communities in the city and the union said today that it is deeply concerned about the impact job losses will have on key social programmes. Under the proposals provision for students with learning and mental health difficulties will be halved and young people needing support will have to attend bigger classes.
 
The redundancies will mean bad news for the staff that survive the cull as the college also plans to massively increase the teaching hours of those lecturers left in post. Non-teaching staff are also at risk from the proposals. They are represented by the trade union Unison who has launched a parallel campaign with UCU to fight the cuts. The unions blame poor management, expensive consultants and the failings of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for the proposed redundancies.
 
UCU regional official, Nick Varney, said: 'At a time when we should be looking to extend further education's ability to meet the needs of our communities, City College Birmingham is looking to get rid of staff and key courses.  If these cuts go ahead it will be the most socially deprived areas of Birmingham that suffer the most.  
 
'The college, with the support of the LSC, seems hell bent on balancing the books whilst ignoring the educational needs of the community. The lethal triumvirate of a temporary management, expensive consultants and an LSC in its last throes is failing to both recognise and demonstrate any appreciation of the potential impact of these cuts on the community the college serves.'