University staff to be balloted on strike action

Staff at the University of Birmingham are to vote on whether to take industrial action in a dispute over planned redundancies affecting translation and interpreting staff.

The University and College Union (UCU) said five employees, all from migrant or minority ethnic backgrounds, were at risk of losing their jobs.

A formal ballot is due to be held.

The university has been contacted for comment, but in a previous statement a spokesperson said falling demand for certain provision had led to the proposals and the university remained satisfied that it had carried out a "meaningful consultation".

The UCU said the five staff had been at risk of compulsory redundancy since May when the university announced it planned to cut its postgraduate translation and interpreting programmes.

Consultation ran from June to August and proposals were to be considered in October, but the university brought the decision forward and considered the outcome on 10 August, with a recommendation sent by written circulation to the university's council, its supreme governing body, the union said.

It added that more than a month later, staff and the UCU had not been told in writing the decision of the council.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "The university has torn up its own timetable to decide five colleagues' future two months early and then told nobody what had been decided."

The union also said: "Birmingham UCU has not received a reply to its objections."

The UCU said its Birmingham branch had written an open letter to the university's management.

The letter called for a halt to compulsory redundancies and sought a meeting between management and staff, along with the release of equality impact assessments.

A spokesperson for the university said previously: "Throughout the consultation, our aim has been to treat the people affected by the proposed changes with sensitivity."

They added that those affected had been signposted to the available support and said the university was exploring options for tailored outplacement support were it to be needed.

Grady said UCU members feared "nobody is safe".

The union said the proposals at the centre of the ballot were the fifth round in which most of those put at risk were migrants or from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Strike action was "a last resort", Grady said.

"Before then the university must take compulsory redundancies off the table, hear the grievances and tell our members, in writing, where they stand," Grady added.

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