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A vote of “no confidence” has been passed by staff at the University of Greater Manchester, formerly Bolton, in their leadership. The vote was passed by members of the University and College Union and by members of Unison working at the Deane Road based university. They say that this came after a “chaotic” redundancy process, which they say the university referred to as “intelligence reshaping”, that badly impacted on their confidence and wellbeing.
A UCU spokesperson at the university said: “We considered it a really chaotic process and it was really worrying for our staff.” She added: “There wasn’t really any process behind it, it was just this quite wide and chaotic process.” The university is based on Deane Road near the town centre (Image: University of Greater Manchester) In June last year news broke that scores of job losses could be on the cards at the university.
University leaders at the time said that this came at a time when similar institutions all over the country were having to cut costs. They said at the time that they were consulting with trade union representatives about the best way forward. According to Bolton Unison branch secretary Andrea Egan the uncertainty affected not only academic staff but also people employed elsewhere across the university.
She said: “Throughout that chaotic process we were asking for mitigations and reduction.” She added: “We’re forcefully saying to them, show the staff the respect they deserve and call those redundancies , redundancies and they point blank refused to do it.” Union members have now passed at vote of no confidence in university vice chancellor Professor George E Holmes and his leadership team.
Senior staff at the university say they will be meeting with union representatives in the near future to discuss their concerns . ALSO READ: University proposed cuts could mean scores of job losses ALSO READ: University of Bolton to cut staff over pressures 'beyond our control' ALSO READ: 'Historic moment' as final decision made on University of Bolton name change A University of Greater Manchester spokesperson said: “The executive leadership is committed to listening to all university staff. "Following the outcome of the vote, it is right that the executive should take time to reflect and continue to engage with staff.
“Members of the University Executive will meet again with the unions to discuss concerns. “The Vice Chancellor looks forward to maintaining a meaningful dialogue with staff in the coming months to address any issues.”.
