Union members vote for strike at Gorseinon College

The majority of the redundancies will come from adult education, which has been identified as a key area by the Assembly and UK government for helping to re-skill the population as people seek new employment. The union warned that the planned cuts will have a negative impact on the local community and the services offered to students.
 
Gavin Palmer, a lecturer at Gorseinon and the co-coordinator of the UCU campaign said: 'From day one we have tried to work with management to avoid reaching this position, but with our members now faced with joining the growing dole queue in West Wales we had to act. Every step is being taken to minimise the impact on our students and we are calling on them and the local community to show their support by joining us on the picket line.'
 
Guy Stoate, chair of the UCU Wales further education committee said: 'This is a resounding message from staff to management that we won't sit idly by whilst these cuts are being made. We urge them to act quickly if they want to avert this strike. It isn't too late for management to reverse their plans to make skilled, lecturing staff redundant.
 
'I'm immensely proud of the action our branch has taken at Gorseinon. They have stood up on behalf of colleagues faced with losing their jobs and on behalf of the local community and students who will suffer from the cuts to provision.'
 
The result of the ballot for strike action was as follows:
Yes:        72.1%
No:         27.9%