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To: Vicki Nairn and UHI Senior Executive Team

Stop Staff Cuts at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)

Dear Principal Nairn,

As you know, on Monday 14 August 2023, the University announced cuts of £4million, which include a £3million cut to the staffing budget at its Executive Office. These cuts will result in compulsory redundancies, reduction in roles as well as structural changes to Executive Office. Staff are currently finding out if they have a future with UHI.

The UCU branch at the university is doing everything it can to support members and to argue and campaign against cuts of this magnitude. Staff are currently being balloted for strike action and action short of strike to oppose the cuts and save jobs.

UHI receives a substantial amount of public funding, and it is important to ensure all parts of UHI are providing good value for money and are financially sustainable. Yet cuts of this magnitude, just as we welcome students to UHI for a new academic year, are alarming, and must raise questions about the potential impact on the quality of education and services our staff provide to the university’s 36,000 students.

There are ways to save money that do not involve forcing people out of their jobs, but the failure of senior management in the University to engage effectively or be fully transparent on the finances driving their strategy means that these options haven’t been properly considered, and staff have been left feeling vulnerable and in the dark about the process that has already started.

Despite being currently engaged in a collective consultation process regarding the potential redundancies, the University is still failing to consider options such as opening up a voluntary severance scheme for all staff. There are concerns that the consultation the University is carrying out is therefore not meaningful and that staff do not have a genuine opportunity to influence the outcome, which will lead to job losses for many loyal and hardworking staff.

UHI is a valued and respected educational institution in the highlands and islands region, with a hugely important role to play in keeping and educating people within the local area. Staff employed at UHI’s Executive Office hold roles in critical areas like student support, finance, and ensuring academic quality as well as academic and research functions in areas such as nursing, optometry, history, biomedical sciences, and rural health and wellbeing. As such, these redundancies will have a profound impact on the student experience of the students.

We are asking that those who support us, sign this letter to show their support and help us stand against the proposed cuts. We urge all parties to come together – including UHI senior managers, staff, trade unions, the student association, and the Scottish Funding Council -- to find a sustainable solution to address UHI’s financial issues without resorting to mass layoffs or any disruption to our students’ education.

*This petition is posted on behalf of the UHI UCU Branch

Why is this important?

The University announced on Monday 14 August plans to make £3 million cuts to the staffing budget which could lead to up to 40 job losses in the University’s Executive Office (EO). Cuts of this scale will have a devastating impact on those individuals losing their jobs and their families, but also on the future of the University and the Highlands and Islands’ economy.

Many of the staff employed by EO are in roles which deliver critical functions like student support, student experience, finance, and ensuring academic quality. Jobs are also threatened in the University’s academic and research functions in areas such as nursing, optometry, history, biomedical sciences, and rural health and wellbeing. Please join us in fighting back against these cuts which will have a devastating impact on education across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and on the student experience of the students studying here.
Highland Council, UK

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Updates

2023-09-28 12:39:49 +0100

In the past 2 weeks we have:

👉 Launched our #WriteToThePrincipal Strike Map letter: www.actionnetwork.org/letters/write-to-the-principal-stop-the-cuts-at-uhi/
👉 Closed our strike ballot with a ✨historic 86% return✨ Members voted yes to ASOS - 90% & yes to strike - 77% 👏
👉 Continued to try and engage with UHI and called for an extension to collective consultation
👉 Promoted our Megaphone UK letter
👉 Met with more MSPs and booked further meetings
👉 Written letters to politicians who haven't responded
👉 Received press coverage about our ballot result including interviews by STV News & BBC Radio Scotland
👉 Asked folk in the Highlands & Islands, Moray and Perthshire to write to local politicians
👉 Reached 300 followers on X: www.twitter.com/UHI_UCU
👉 Launched our Instagram: www.instagram.com/uhi_ucu/
👉 Welcomed a new equalities rep to the committee
👉 Held a branch meeting to discuss ballot results

2023-09-28 12:09:08 +0100

Rhoda Grant MSP has submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament, which noted the £4 million cuts at the University of the Highlands and Islands, including the proposed £3 million cut to the staff budget, and UHI UCU's recent strike ballot for branch members.

It calls for all parties to reach a solution without large scale job losses.

This is amazing news - please contact your MSPs and ask them to sign the motion 👇
www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/votes-and-motions/S6M-10560

2023-09-21 08:38:03 +0100

You can now send a letter directly to the UHI Principal, Vicki Nairn! 👇

www.actionnetwork.org/letters/write-to-the-principal-stop-the-cuts-at-uhi

2023-09-14 14:10:53 +0100

The success of our letter is reaching the press;

"A public petition calling for University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) management to rethink savage staffing cuts had been backed by over 1000 people within days of being launched.

The public letter, organised by the University and College Union (UCU) branch at the university, was launched on 1 September and has been signed by over 1000 people in less than two weeks. Many of those signing are current or former students at the university..."

Read more here 👇
www.welovestornoway.com/index.php/articles-auto-3/30488-uhi-strike-threat-looms-in-jobs-cut-vote

2023-09-14 10:30:05 +0100

We are over the moon - we've got over 1000 signatures on our letter now!

We cannot thank you enough for signing it and supporting our amazing staff - every signature helps to demonstrate that the cuts proposed by the University of the Highlands and Islands are dangerous and reckless.

Follow us on our socials to keep up to date with our campaign:
Twitter - www.twitter.com/UHI_UCU
Facebook - www.facebook.com/uhiucu/

Don't forget, if you live in the Highlands & Islands region, you can help us by writing a letter to local politicians.

Use one of our draft letters - www.linktr.ee/uhiucu. They are PDFs, but you can copy and paste to edit. Then use www.writetothem.com to email them 🖊️

Please keep sharing & promoting our letter - we need as many signatures as possible to demonstrate loudly & clearly that these cuts are completely unacceptable!

#UCURising #UHIUCU #ThinkUHI #SaveUHI #SaveJobs

2023-09-13 16:31:48 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2023-09-11 10:06:34 +0100

Thank you for supporting our campaign! This week we:

👉 Ran a guidance session with UCUScotland for members at risk of redundancy

👉 Started establishing support for individual members

👉 Continued our 'Get The Vote Out' campaign to support our strike ballot - www.ucu.org.uk/article/13143/Strike-ballot-opens-this-week-at-the-University-of-the-Highlands-and-Islands-in-row-over-job-cuts

👉 Continued to try and constructively engage with UHI to raise concerns regarding the proposed cuts

👉 Launched our Megaphone UK letter which now has over 600 signatures

👉 Started attending & booking meetings with politicians

👉 Sent an open letter to multiple newspapers

👉 Launched our letter campaign, encouraging people in the Highlands and Islands to write a letter to local politicians

👉 Wrote to every politician covering the region

Check out our linktree to see how you can help support our campaign: www.linktr.ee/uhiucu

2023-09-09 16:29:48 +0100

We are delighted to say that we have reached 600 signatures on our letter!

Thank you so much to everyone who has signed so far - every signature helps to demonstrate that the cuts proposed by the University of the Highlands and Islands are unacceptable and reckless.

Follow us on social media to keep up to date with our campaign:
Twitter - www.twitter.com/UHI_UCU
Facebook - www.facebook.com/uhiucu/

And don't forget, if you live in the Highlands and Islands region, you could help us by writing a letter to your local politicians.

Use one of our letter templates and write to your local politicians to help us fight back - www.linktr.ee/uhiucu. They are PDFs, but you can copy and paste to edit, or you can even write your own 🖊️

You can use www.writetothem.com to easily email your letters - It takes less than 5 mins.

#UCURising #UCUScotland #UCU #UHIUCU #ThinkUHI #SaveUHI #SaveJobs #NoCompulsoryRedundancies

2023-09-08 13:44:17 +0100

500 signatures reached

2023-09-03 10:31:35 +0100

Do you live in the Highlands and Islands region? If so, you could help us 👇

Use one of our letter templates and write to your local politicians to help us fight back. Head over to our linktree (www.linktr.ee/uhiucu) and pick a letter that suits you. They are PDFs, but you can copy and paste to edit, or you can even write your own 🖊️

You can use www.writetothem.com to easily send your letters. It will take under 5 mins, so it really couldn't be easier. You could even do it while the kettle is boiling ☕

If you want you can tweet/tag us and let us know that you have sent a letter 💌
#UCURising #UCUScotland #ThinkUHI #SaveUHI #SaveJobs #NoCompulsoryRedundancies

2023-09-01 23:13:00 +0100

100 signatures reached

2023-09-01 20:02:02 +0100

50 signatures reached

2023-09-01 19:03:14 +0100

25 signatures reached

2023-09-01 18:38:26 +0100

10 signatures reached