University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) staff have 'little choice' but to take action over cuts
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Staff at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) say they have been left with little choice but to consider industrial action after plans were announced that could possibly see dozens of redundancies.
The university is seeking to make £4 million worth of savings in its Executive Office function which delivers learning, teaching and research as well as overseeing academic quality and standards and providing student support functions.
University bosses say the move is necessary as the institution seeks to get its finances on an even keel.
However one union member believes alternative proposals may not have been explored in enough depth.
Wishing to remain anonymous but confirming their membership of the University and College Union (UCU) which is balloting its members for industrial action, they said staff were taken off guard by the announcement on Monday, August 14, particularly in terms of the scale of the staffing cuts proposed.
"They knew there was talk about 'restructuring' but then to see what that means in practice from the university point of view is distressing for a lot of people, it's frightening," they said.
"For a lot of people the whole concept of the university as an organisation is a wonderful thing – bringing top level education to the remotest parts of Scotland – it's fantastic to be a part of that, something a lot of people take phenomenal pride in.
"To then have that possibly taken away is very difficult."
UHI operates a partnership model with a series of colleges operating more or less independently, including UHI Inverness.
However staff in the Executive Office are centrally employed and, the source said, cover a wide range of functions.
"It is not any kind of exclusive grouping of people on fat pay cheques," they said. "It's not just principals and managers.
"It's frontline staff, student support staff, quite a vast and wide-ranging group of roles. A lot of people might work based with one of the academic parters but are employed by the university.
"There are student support roles in the mix but also a lot of roles that, while not necessarily student-facing, the work they do is 100 per cent critical to the student experience.
"My main takeaway as a union member – and affected staff member – is that staff are anxious, worried and uncertain.
"Morale is completely down and stress levels are completely high at a time when were are supposed to be getting ready for the new academic year, welcoming and supporting new students.
"I am deeply worried about the impact of all this on students in the Highlands and Islands region."
They said they had no idea whether the current balloting process would result in industrial action but added: "I think the university has given very little choice other than for the union to ballot its membership."
They said: "We want to have positive communication and do what we can to mitigate the impact on staff and students (of restructuring) and on the localities where our colleges are based.
"I feel we don't have that good communication but that's what we want – to work with us to find alternatives to these redundancies, to protect local jobs and to protect students."
There have been suggestions that up to 40 roles could be at risk though the source said they had heard no such figures officially and the number of individuals that stood to be affected would be difficult to quantify in any case due to some roles being taken on part-time and others working as job shares.
Vicki Nairn, interim principal and vice-chancellor of UHI, said: “We are seeking a £3 million staff cost saving in the next financial year and have identified an additional £1 million in non-staff savings.
"All roles have been considered as part of the restructure. A redundancy consultation is currently ongoing and will determine the exact mix of roles at risk of redundancy.
"It is too early to say exactly how many staff will leave as part of the restructure as we are only now entering a consultation process. Some staff may choose to leave or may be redeployed into other roles.
"The process will be complete by the end of October 2023.”
