Supporters attended "Southend City Centre Protest"
To: University of Essex Senior Management and Council
Stop the Cuts: Save Essex before it is too late
Stop the Cuts: Save Essex before it is too late
University of Essex management have already closed the Southend campus, decimating a community of staff and students, but they are not content to stop there. In total, the University proposed to cut more than 400 jobs – around one in five staff.
Decisions have already been made in Southend and Colchester and over 250 job losses have already happened. Staff and students have had their departments gutted, or shut down altogether, and there is no clear plan for how teaching or student support can be maintained in the next academic year.
Management says these cuts are unavoidable. That isn’t true.
Staff and trade unions have put forward serious, fully costed alternatives that would have avoided compulsory redundancies, saved the Southend campus, and protected teaching and research. These proposals do not appear to have beenproperly considered. Decisions of enormous consequence have been taken behind closed doors, without transparency and ignoring the people who make the university work.
Trade Unions have been fighting for staff and student interests throughout this process, proposing alternatives, and supporting staff and student wellbeing, but the University is not listening.
UCU members have taken strike action, after months of being ignored.
UNISON has lobbied parliament and campaigned in Westminster for better Higher Education funding, and support from MPs for the University of Essex.
University management have still not changed their approach.
UNISON have passed separate industrial action ballots in Southend and Colchester and have collated demands from members to present to the University. Members are calling for transparency and accountability, dignity and respect, and sustainability and soul.
To date, the University’s response to these demands has been, at best, disappointing.
Why is this important?
Further strike action is now planned. This is a last resort, and not a position anyone takes lightly, but it reflects the depth of anger and concern about the future of the University of Essex.
Without action, staff will continue to lose their livelihoods, in a higher education sector already facing a jobs crisis, where alternative employment is scarce and careers built over many years are destroyed overnight.
Students will face reduced support, overcrowded classes, and exhausted, over-worked staff who cannot provide the great experience Essex should be offering.
We call on University of Essex management and Council to:
· Stop compulsory redundancies
· Hold meaningful consultation with staff over proposed cuts
· Return to negotiations with Trade Unions
The more people who sign this petition, the clearer it becomes that Essex staff and students are not standing alone — and that management must come back to the table.
To keep up with UNISON and UCU’s campaigns, see our full list of demands, and support striking workers, please go to: