Staff at major Scottish university vote for strike action over job cuts to plug £30m deficit

A ballot of University and College Union (UCU) Scotland members found 74 per cent were in favour of the action, on a turnout of 64 per cent.

It comes just a day after a demonstration was staged outside the Scottish Parliament over the financial pressures mounting in the higher education sector and the threat they pose to jobs.

Dundee University was plunged into turmoil in November after announcing it was facing a deficit of up to £30m, with redundancies “inevitable”.

A few weeks later its principal, Professor Iain Gillespie, resigned with immediate effect, amid escalating concerns over the scale of the financial woes.

The university is expected to reveal details of its recovery plan in “a matter of weeks”, potentially including the number of job losses.

Dundee University UCU branch co-president, Melissa D’Ascenzio, said: “By voting in these numbers, UCU members at the University of Dundee have been crystal clear that the university needs to think again cutting jobs and the use of compulsory redundancies. The ballot result is a mandate for industrial action and to oppose job cuts.

“We remain absolutely committed to the university and are ready to play our part in helping deliver a sustainable future. Senior managers need to listen to their staff, unions and local politicians, including the minister, and engage openly and honestly about the best future for the university, its students and staff, and the city.”

Correspondence released to The Scotsman under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws recently showed how Higher Education Minister Graeme Dey has been privately pressing the university to engage with staff representatives and to limit job losses.

Trade unions said managers subsequently invited campus trade unions to join a newly set up resilience committee.

However, the UCU said important decisions were not being made by this committee, and that key financial information and details of the recovery plan have still not been shared with trade unions.

A spokesperson for Dundee University said: “The move to ballot before we have presented a recovery plan has been, in our view, a premature action by the union.

“We want to work constructively with the unions on building a more sustainable future for the university. This action, voted for by less than 10 per cent of our staff, will not help any of us in doing that.

“We will wait to hear from the union regarding their next steps. We will do all we can to mitigate the effects on our students of any industrial action.”

The university recently said it expected to bring forward a “recovery plan and associated proposals in a matter of weeks”, to address significant financial challenges, ensure the long-term sustainability of the university and allow it to continue to make a positive difference in the city, region and beyond.