Staff at the University of Dundee have launched five days of strike action as disputes over potential job cuts continue to escalate.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) began their industrial action on 10 November, marking the first anniversary of the institution’s financial crisis.
The strike, which will continue until 14 November, comes alongside “action short of a strike,” with employees working strictly to contract, refusing to cover for colleagues, or to undertake voluntary duties.
The dispute follows the university’s announcement last November that it faced a £30 million deficit and was considering compulsory redundancies. Although the Scottish Government intervened with a £40 million emergency bailout, the union says staff were “misled” into believing this funding would prevent forced job cuts.
UCU claims an agreement had been reached to ensure any job losses would be voluntary if the government provided financial support. However, interim principal Professor Nigel Seaton told Holyrood’s Education Committee earlier this month that the Scottish Funding Council had now accepted that further staff reductions would be required.
According to a draft recovery plan, up to 390 jobs could be lost — including around 170 through compulsory redundancies — exceeding the original 300 voluntary limit.
Staff told STV News that they felt “misled” over the scale of the cuts and accused management of poor financial handling.
Student president Tánaiste Custance said: “I think students are fed up. This is a financial crisis that is still going on. That is causing staff to have concern for their jobs, concern for their future.”
Carlo Morelli from UCU Dundee urged the Scottish Government to attach strict conditions to future funding to ensure accountability and job protection.
She said: “We do not want funding that comes without conditions and allows university management who’ve simply squandered hundreds of millions of pounds of public funding, repeatedly over the last few years.”
