ALL BRANCH MOTION -- Passed Unanimously
This meeting condemns the university management’s pursuit of a calculated policy of not engaging with the recognised academic trade union at London Metropolitan. This has culminated in the decision to make up to 60 lecturers redundant, denying them the right to union representation. Such a policy makes this university the only one in the country in which academic staff are denied the right to collective representation.
We demand that the management honour all agreements entered into with the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education and its successor, the University and Colleges Union, and accept the principle of no compulsory redundancies.
This meeting welcomes the UCU call for a national and international academic boycott of the university and resolves to instruct the Coordinating Committee to take immediately the following additional steps:
- Organise a ballot for industrial action, including strike action;
- Organise protest demonstrations at the London offices of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department for Education and Skills;
- Organise members to make known their grievances collectively, and in person, to the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and the Director of Human Resources - and continue doing so – until they withdraw the threat of compulsory redundancy and agree to engage meaningfully with the UCU;
- Call on local Members of Parliament, the Mayor of London, borough councils, local education authorities, the Greater London Authority, further education colleges and secondary schools to review all formal cooperation or contact with the university pending a positive change of policy by the management.