Strike action at Dundee University over job losses

As well as going on strike, UCU members at the university will refuse to participate in the university's redundancy process, which they say is flawed. As part of their action, union members will also ignore 'excellence review' forms sent out by the university which they say are a mechanism to make them compete with one another to keep their own jobs.
 
The union said that the dispute is about saving jobs and maintaining the university's reputation as a world class institution. The university has a long term plan to cut 120 jobs. Having already lost 55 people last year, it is now looking to get rid of 65 posts in the school of medicine and college of arts and social sciences. Members of Dundee UCU today lobbied a meeting of university court to protest against the job losses.
 
Dundee UCU president, Ian Ellis, said: 'Strike action is always the last resort. We have tried talking to the university senior managers but their refusal to engage constructively has left us with no other option.
 
'Taking strike action affects the students here in Dundee, but we know that their education and those of students in the future will be hit hard if the university is downsized in this way. The truth is that you can't lose 120 academic staff without students ending up in bigger classes and harming Dundee's academic reputation.'