'Indefinite' strike by Goldsmiths staff over cuts

Staff at Goldsmiths, University of London, are taking "indefinite" strike action in a row over potential cuts and job losses.

University College Union (UCU) initially began industrial action on 27 April with a marking and assessment boycott. The university, in New Cross, south-east London, responded by imposing 100% wage reductions for those taking part.

UCU Goldsmiths co-president Joe Newman said docking 100% of pay was a "lockout" and staff facing "these brutal deductions" would refuse to work.

Goldsmiths said the strike action was "deeply disappointing" and said it threatened to "significantly impact our students' ability to graduate or progress through the university".

A spokesperson for Goldsmiths added: "We have a statutory and moral duty to ensure our students progress, including through marking and assessment.

"Given the significant impact of [action short of strike] or strike action on our students and their progress, we believe it is appropriate to make 100% deductions for partial or full withdrawal of labour."

UCU said 269 professional services staff and academics were at risk of redundancy, which the union said was "more than one in five of the workforce".

"Further academic staff cuts are also slated to start from September," it said.

The union added that this was the third round of redundancies at Goldsmiths in the last five years.

A spokesperson from UCU said: "These cuts are going ahead despite close to £24m being saved in the two previous rounds."

Goldsmiths said: "Consultation over these roles is still ongoing and Goldsmiths is determined to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies at any cost."

Goldsmiths said it had put in place a range of measures to support students during the strike.

On its website, the university told current students that all activities were "scheduled to go ahead as planned" this term.

It added that it was doing "everything possible" to reduce the impact of industrial action, including approving the use of "Exceptional Academic Regulations" - when boards of examiners are allowed to award "provisional" grades to students based on work across the year, amongst other factors.

Newman said the marking boycott had been "lawful action to protect jobs, courses and student provision", and said the proposed cuts had followed two previous rounds of redundancies in the last five years.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady added that Goldsmiths "should lift this threat and begin working with us so we can resolve this dispute and allow students to learn and graduate".

Michael Rosen, author and professor of children's literature at Goldsmiths, announced his support of the strike on social media, posting: "At Goldsmiths, we're on indefinite strike from 8 June."

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