Unison Industrial Action June 2010
Dear Colleague,
Regrettably the support trade union, UNISON, has formally notified the University that they will be calling their members out on strike on Wednesday 9 June in protest at the University's failure to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.
This action by Unison should be seen in the context that in January 2010, we notified Unison that we anticipated compulsory redundancies of 90 support staff.
To date, no support staff have been made compulsory redundant.
Unison's announcement of strike action is particularly disappointing given the University's strenuous efforts to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies and to ensure that savings do not damage the quality of the learning experience at Westminster, whilst addressing the financial challenge we face. Throughout the consultation process, which has included intensive, weekly meetings with the trade unions since January and ongoing meetings with staff in relevant areas, the University has endeavoured to follow ACAS best practice and has operated with transparency and integrity, inviting and responding to suggestions from staff and trade unions at every stage, as those of you who have followed the regular bulletins provided on the website www.wmin.ac.uk/financialchallenge will be aware.
As reported in the VC's recent presentation, significant achievements have also been made in identifying savings from non staffing areas and by careful management of vacancies and retirements to reduce expenditure. In order to further minimise potential redundancies a generous voluntary severance package has been offered on a strategic basis.
With regard to the strike on 9 June, because the University does not know which staff are members of UNISON, we will have to ask all support staff (whether or not they are a union member) to indicate whether or not they intend to participate in the strike.
The web link is www.westminster.ac.uk/unisonstrikeform and all staff are asked to complete their submission no later than 13.00 hours on Tuesday 8th June 2010.
While the University fully recognises that every Unison member has the right to participate in legally called industrial action, we hope that all staff will put students first as they consider whether to take part in the strike or not and would simply ask you to fully consider and reflect on the impact and consequences of taking such action at this time.
Carole Mainstone
Registrar and Secretary
Duncan Barratt
Director - Human Resources