University of South Wales staff are threatening to strike over job cut plans

University of South Wales staff have threatened to strike as job cuts continue and remaining workers are “burned out.”

Earlier this year, the University of South Wales (USW) announced the redundancy of 200 staff members, and has continued as job vacancy are being remained vacant.

A further 70 job cuts are due to occur in estates, administration, IT, and student support departments as the cutback continue.

These redundancies, and union strike warnings come after Welsh universities face a combined deficit of £97m, according to Wales Online.

Unison, one of the largest UK trade unions for university staff, expressed how “the university wants to create new management roles, including one which will pay an annual salary of more than £100,000.”

Due to USW already shedding more than one in ten professional and business support staff in the last two years, according to Unison.

Remaining staff member are reportedly “burned out,” and will not be able to provide students which proper services if cuts continue.

via Wikimedia Commons

Dan Beard, the Unison brand secretary, said: “Staff cannot provide the same level of excellence to students with 10 per cent fewer workers.

“The employees who remain will face impossible workloads. Some already report working 50 hours a week.

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“It is insulting for the university to tell staff more cuts are needed when senior managers won’t be affected. No wonder they’re asking for a ballot of industrial action.”

Mr Beard concluded that the USW is stuck in a “doom loop of cuts,” and encourage the university to “rethink its plans or risk strike action.”

A USW spokesperson has said that the university has removed “non-essential job vacancies,” as apart of the already job cuts.

They added: “We announced in March that we were seeking ton reduce our workforce by approximately 200 roles in response to ongoing external challenges.

“The first steps of this was a voluntary redundancy programme.

“We have also been looking for further ways to reduce our workforce such as a the removal of all non-essential vacancies and service redesign.”

“A consultation with some of our professional services areas and business school, and recognised trade unions, is now under way on proposals, which may regrettably include redundancies.”

USW has been contacted for further comment.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons