500 signatures reached
To: Koen Lamberts - Vice-Chancellor, University of Sheffield
No lockout for University of Sheffield staff
Sheffield University University and College Union members are presently on strike over threatened compulsory redundancies and unbearable workloads caused by years of continual restructuring and loss of staff, which management has stated they are determined to continue.
Management have already achieved stated savings targets of £28.4 million this year and 80% of their targeted £50.7 million for next year. The University also has £221 million in cash in the bank. Despite this, the University is determined to pursue further cuts of over £10 million for next year, most of which is expected to come from staff budgets. Given the university’s healthy financial position, cuts of this magnitude are both unjustified and represent an existential threat to the University’s ability to carry out its functions.
UCU has put several reasonable offers on the table asking to slow the scope and pace of change. While it appeared that the university was initially negotiating in good faith to reach a deal which both sides could live with, management decided to walk away from the table. They are now demanding that all teaching lost to strikes be replaced with no restitution of pay. They are further threatening to deduct 100% of salary despite otherwise returning to work, for as long as we fail to comply to this request for rescheduling. This Scrooge-like behaviour in the run up to the holidays is not what university staff or students deserve.
Rather than having our students’ best interests in mind, if management were to lock out staff this would ensure further disruption to the university and to students’ education into 2026, which could easily have been averted.
What needs to happen?
We call on Sheffield management to reverse the threat to lockout staff without pay for failing to reschedule teaching lost due to lawful industrial action. This is a significant escalation that asks staff to do the unreasonable - work for free while management continues to refuse to negotiate a settlement to the dispute.
Rather than make threats that will worsen the situation for affected staff and students, we ask management to get back to the negotiating table and take meaningful action to resolve this dispute.
Management have already achieved stated savings targets of £28.4 million this year and 80% of their targeted £50.7 million for next year. The University also has £221 million in cash in the bank. Despite this, the University is determined to pursue further cuts of over £10 million for next year, most of which is expected to come from staff budgets. Given the university’s healthy financial position, cuts of this magnitude are both unjustified and represent an existential threat to the University’s ability to carry out its functions.
UCU has put several reasonable offers on the table asking to slow the scope and pace of change. While it appeared that the university was initially negotiating in good faith to reach a deal which both sides could live with, management decided to walk away from the table. They are now demanding that all teaching lost to strikes be replaced with no restitution of pay. They are further threatening to deduct 100% of salary despite otherwise returning to work, for as long as we fail to comply to this request for rescheduling. This Scrooge-like behaviour in the run up to the holidays is not what university staff or students deserve.
Rather than having our students’ best interests in mind, if management were to lock out staff this would ensure further disruption to the university and to students’ education into 2026, which could easily have been averted.
What needs to happen?
We call on Sheffield management to reverse the threat to lockout staff without pay for failing to reschedule teaching lost due to lawful industrial action. This is a significant escalation that asks staff to do the unreasonable - work for free while management continues to refuse to negotiate a settlement to the dispute.
Rather than make threats that will worsen the situation for affected staff and students, we ask management to get back to the negotiating table and take meaningful action to resolve this dispute.
Why is this important?
UCU members have been standing up against the continual cutting and restructuring of the last several years which has significantly damaged the University’s international standing, the quality of education of our students, and staff’s collective mental health. The pace of change is both unnecessary for achieving management’s stated goals of making the University financially stable and unsustainable. Staff cannot be expected to continue to carry out ever-increasing workloads.
It is also important because aggressive union-busting tactics such as what Sheffield’s management are proposing threaten all workers' ability to stand up to unjustified cuts and unjust management actions, now and in the future. An attack on one is an attack on all.
Please sign our petition and, if you can, contribute £5 (or more if you can!) to our fighting fund to help us ensure our members are supported through the holiday season and the months ahead.