The pickets were out again on Thursday and Friday last week in the third of a series of strikes against massive redundancies at the university. The struggle is a typical story of modern neoliberal education – an incompetent management, a funding crisis, education workers who are expected to pay the costs through cuts and redundancies and a suspended vice-chancellor still being paid nearly £300,000 a year eight months after he resigned.

The trouble started when the funding council (HEFCE) discovered “inaccurate returns” on the number of student completions ie a cover up of high drop out rates. It demanded the return of £38 million and cut the universities’ budget by over £15 million a year. Management response was to impose a series of cuts, closure of courses and other services, including a university nursery – 350 redundancies were announced, followed this academic year by a further 200. The result has been chaos and ever lengthening student queues during enrolment in September.

At one point it appears the HEFCE was even considering complete closure of the university. The minister at the time, John Denham, sought legal advice as to whether he could remove the vice-chancellor and the board of governors and was told he couldn’t. Only the vice-chancellor was pushed to resign but is still on full pay. Instead it is the teachers and support staff who are being removed to pay for this management induced crisis.

The strikes last week involved both the lecturing staff, UCU members, and support staff, from Unison. Back in July the Unison leadership sabotaged strike action by withdrawing support the night before the strike but on Thursday and Friday lecturers and support staff stood shoulder to shoulder on picket lines.

The unions are demanding the withdrawal of all compulsory redundancy notices and fighting to keep the nursery open. The government has washed it hands of the problems caused by the management – it is happy to see the workers pay for this crisis. Instead of a public inquiry it has launched an inquiry through the HEFCE, itself complicit in the funding scandal.

The government should immediately restore proper funding to the university and cancel any debt caused by the previous management. The whole board of the university should have been suspended without pay immediately the scandal was uncovered. The UCU and Unison need to mobilise support from union members across the London universities. Only a sustained campaign of strike action and solidarity can make the government cough up the funds to prevent further redundancies and cuts at London Met.

Further information can be found at the strikers blog http://www.savelondonmetuni.blogspot.com/ and on the UCU website http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3680

From Permanent Revolution Blog