Strike dates announced at Hull College Group in jobs row

UCU members at all three sites (Hull, Harrogate and Goole) will take strike action on Wednesday 9 May and then for two consecutive days the following week on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 May.

The row centres on plans to cut 231 full-time equivalent posts across the college's three campuses. UCU says the plans would lead to around a third of the workforce being cut and fewer learning opportunities for local people.

On Thursday UCU members delivered a damning vote of no confidence in chief executive officer Michelle Swithenbank. The union said her position was untenable after a failure to defend jobs at the college and efforts to bully and then bribe staff not to attend a protest against the running of the college. It took the college four days to issue a statement backing the beleaguered head.

UCU regional official, Julie Kelley, said: 'Staff at the Hull College Group feel they have been left with no alternative but to take strike action in their attempt to save jobs and educational opportunities.

'The proposals would be deeply damaging for the college, its students and the local community. We want the college to halt the cuts and provide a transparent review of the decisions behind them. We need to ensure we have a broad curriculum that delivers real opportunities for local people.'

In the recent strike ballot, 79% of the staff who voted at the college's three campuses in Hull, Harrogate and Goole backed strike action.