Call to Action! No to Redundancies in IOE Initial Teacher Education - General Mtg Fri 12 Feb, 1-2pm

In June 2020, UCL Institute of Education (IOE) management announced that it was pulling out of three Initial Teacher Education contracts: SCITT, ‘Teach First London’ and ‘School Direct’, without consulting either unions or affected staff.  Since then, we have been attempting to get information about UCL about their plans.

Last week, our IOE reps asked for a commitment to no compulsory redundancies, which was refused. 

It is time to act. We ask colleagues to sign and share this petition launched by IOE staff and attend our EGM this Friday. 

This motion calls on UCL UCU members to vote for UCU to enter an industrial dispute with UCL and to ballot for industrial action if UCL will not guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Please vote for the motion in support of affected IOE members (see Appendix). It will send a strong message to Management, but also commit the union to act.

Background

UCL UCU is opposed to all compulsory redundancies as a matter of principle. There is no evidence that redundancies would be needed in this case. However, there are currently large numbers of ITE Lecturer and Teaching Fellow positions that HR have identified as at risk either of redundancy or compulsory transfer to Bath Spa University (where the ‘Teach First London’ contract is transferring). As a post-92 university, transferred staff will be forced to change pension schemes, and academic contracts will no longer be protected by college statutes. We believe that the threat of redundancy is being used to pressure staff into not contesting their inclusion in the transfer pool.

The overwhelming majority of ITE staff work across multiple programme pathways and switch priority according to student numbers. Selecting individuals for transfer (or redundancy) just because they happened to be working on a particular programme in a particular year is arbitrary and unfair.

PGCE student numbers in the IOE are expected to rise by another 20% next year. There is plenty of work to go around (especially under Covid conditions) and student fee income is at record levels.

UCL forecasts a £27 million surplus and has financial reserves of £1.4 billion. UCL IOE management can afford to commit to the redeployment of staff, which will help address the ever-increasing workload across their programmes.  Livelihoods and the quality of education staff provide are needlessly at stake. We can collectively address this with a firm message to management that says “No!” to redundancies.

It is essential that we stop a dangerous precedent being created where UCL reneges on previous agreements to avoid compulsory redundancies. If we do not, more job cuts may follow.

We therefore ask that members sign and share this petition launched by IOE staff and attend the EGM on Friday 12 March to vote for the motion.

UCL UCU Executive Committee

Appendix: Motion - Avoiding Redundancies in the Reorganisation of IOE Initial Teacher Education

UCL UCU notes:

1. The decision of UCL IOE management not to bid on contracts for Teach First, School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) and School DIrect (Salaried) programmes.
2. That Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) student numbers are up 20% this year
3. IOE staff report that workloads have been unmanageable for at least four years, with no action from management despite them admitting the need for workload reform
4. That academic staff and a small number of administrative staff are being subject to compulsory TUPE transfer or at risk of redundancy

UCL UCU resolves:

1. To call on UCL IOE management to rule out compulsory redundancies in the reorganisation of ITE, and to engage with UCU to ensure that staff who do transfer, do so voluntarily.
2. If management refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies, to declare a local industrial dispute and to ballot members on industrial action.