MMU set to axe support staff

The University, which employs over 4,200 staff, will make the cutbacks in employees across three of MMU’s campuses with South Cheshire sites Crewe and Alsager expected to be affected. MMU says the cuts are necessary to “weather the current economic downturn” and asserted that research and teaching staff would not be made redundant. It appears there are a range of jobs likely to go from cleaners and kitchen assistants to technicians and HR administrators.

Vice Chancellor Professor John Brooks said: “We are taking action now to protect the university from cuts in public expenditure and secure the jobs of the majority for the long term future.”

At present it appears that a large proportion of the losses will Unison members. In a press release earlier this week, Unison placed the blame at the feet of the Vice Chancellor for “years of mismanagement”.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt responded: “We are, as yet, unaware of any institution that has improved the student experience, especially where student numbers are expanding, by axing staff.” The union is expected to launch a campaign to oppose the redundancies ‘Defend Jobs, Defend Education’.

In relation to the “student experience” MMUnion President Rob Boardman spoke of its necessary maintenance: “MMUnion want to be certain that the quality of the student experience is maintained.” But the Union appears ready to cut the University some slack, as he added: “We will respect the agreed negotiating process and will not comment further until it is concluded.”

However, in response to one member of staff, who declined to be named, believes that the student experience will only suffer from this point onwards.

“For students it means worsening services. As a result of series of disastrous management restructures, the student experience has already suffered. With these cuts it will only get worse. For staff that are left over, it means more and more work with less and less help,” they explained.

One MMU admin worker believes that the situation could have been avoided. Speaking to MULE they said: “Rather than consult on restructures as they have in the past, they are simply taking a slash and burn approach. They are using the economic crisis as an excuse to push through planned restructures and planned redundancies.”

Kai Hughes, a former employee of the University also laid the blame on the arrival of the current Vice Chancellor. “Couple that with the lack of progress achieved on developing the Didsbury site and a financial crisis, which of course was unseen, then you have a major disaster looming,” he said.

The cuts have been constantly and explicitly linked to the economic crisis, with directors accused of “trying to change the University from a public institution based on education to a corporation with a market”. The consequences of this being that staff at the bottom of the food chain must be the first to take the heat for what detractors describe as “mismanagement”.

In axing staff in the name of efficiency, the University appears to be saying that these support staff jobs are dispensable. However, the running of a University takes more than just teaching and research staff. And as one politics student, who has spoken out against the cuts, put it in relation to the economic crisis: “If the government can bail out the banks then where is the money for jobs, education and public services?”

In light of the failure to develop the Didsbury site and the closure of the Alsager site, the University’s plans to build a ‘green’ campus in Hulme have been further called into question. In response to that a MMU spokesperson said that the proposed Birley Fields project would “not be affected”. But MMU has declared that it will be revisiting the costs across all of the estates in the current improvement programme. As things stand the new £120m campus may have to be built in phases with compromises made over new developments.

Nigel Woodcock, a member of Our Hulme, a group against the proposed new student campus said: “Managers of large corporations like MMU tend to be pretty ruthless. This project is going to cost £120 million, so of course they’ll scrimp a squeeze wherever they can.” Mr Woodcock added: “Birley Fields is the last bit of green space in this area and it’s worth saving. I just hope enough people have enough fight in them.”

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