|
Date: Fri 3 July 2009
UNISON in Day of Action at Forth Valley College over job cuts
by diktat
UNISON members will take to the street in Falkirk today (Fri
3 July) to protest about job cuts which are being imposed at Forth
Valley College.
The staff will be seeking to mobilise support from local people
and elected representatives to persuade College directors to reconsider
the job cuts. Loss of the 12 full time equivalent posts which
are under threat, would mean 17 staff losing their jobs.
Pam Robertson, UNISON Clackmannanshire Branch Secretary, said:
"These redundancies were sprung on staff at short notice, just
as the semester ended. We have asked Forth Valley College management
for meaningful talks so that we can avoid compulsory redundancies.
Yet the directors seem set to impose these cuts by diktat."
"Management have offered the minimum statutory redundancy payments,
regardless of length of service, they have refused to give 90
days notice of the job cuts and they want people out in the minimum
time under law, before the next semester starts. We want dialogue,
not dictatorship."
Staff from the three Forth Valley College campuses, in Falkirk,
Stirling and Alloa, will join the demonstration, which will form
part of a UK wide Day of Protest at FE colleges to "Defend Jobs,
Defend Education".
Derek Keenan, UNISON rep at Forth Valley's Falkirk campus, said:
"These job cuts affect the campuses in Falkirk, Stirling and Alloa.
We have held mass meetings of members in all three, at which members
have expressed anger and dismay at the actions of the directors.
The timing of this decision, at the end of the semester with staff
and students leaving for holidays, has caused a lot of anger.
UNISON does not intend to accept compulsory redundancies and we
intend to fight this.
"We want the people of the communities which the College serves
and our elected representatives to join our campaign to defend
jobs and defend education at Forth Valley College."
ends
Notes for editors:
1. The UNISON demonstration against compulsory redundancies and
to defend jobs and education will take place outside the Falkirk
campus of Forth Valley College, Grangemouth Road, Falkirk FK2
9AD from 12 noon on Friday 3 July.
2. For more on the UK-wide "Defend Jobs, Defend Education" Day
of Action in FE Colleges on Friday 3 July, see UNISON UK press
Release " No to redundancies" (29 June 2009) http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=5494
and UNISON UK's College Protests page http://www.unison.org.uk/education/pages_view.asp?did=9015
3. UNISON Scotland is the main union for support staff working
in Scottish further education colleges. Our members working in
FE include learning support staff, librarians, IT specialists,
technicians, professional staff, administrative and business support
staff, cleaners, canteen staff and estate management staff.
For Further Information Please Contact: Chris Bartter
(Communications Officer) 0771 558 3729(m) Malcolm Burns (Information
Development Officer) 0141 342 2811 Pam Robertson (UNISON Clackmannanshire
Branch Secretary) 01259 722282 07971 851465 (m) Helen Craig (Forth
Valley College UNISON rep) 07812 736929 (m) Derek Keenan (Forth
Valley College UNISON rep) 07951 987422 (m)
UNISON Scotland news releases: Stay in touch with UNISON
Scotland's latest news releases on our website http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/index.html
and frequent updates on our blog http://unison-scotland.blogspot.com/
Index
|
