Sheffield Hallam staff vote to strike over ‘vicious job cuts’

The university has been facing financial struggles for some time

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Sheffield Hallam University have voted to strike after a closed ballot last week.

87% of members voted to strike, with a turnout of 53%.

The vote comes as the university has cut 400 jobs in professional services after around 140 academics have already left under a voluntary redundancy scheme which opened late last year.

Sheffield Hallam has experienced a long period of financial difficulties, with the university being in a financial deficit for the past few years.

UCU pointed to the large capital investment the university has made in recent years, including £200m spent on projects in Sheffield as well as a satellite campus in London.

A number of universities have made similar investments in London campuses, such as: UEA, Coventry University and the University of Sunderland.

Sir Chris Husbands, Hallam’s former vice-chancellor, who left the university as the voluntary redundancy scheme opened last December, was knighted in 2018 by Prince William for services to higher education.

Last year, a spokesman for Sheffield Hallam UCU said Sir Chris had left the university in an “absolutely diabolical situation”.

Sheffield Hallam’s struggles are mirrored across the higher education sector, with staff at Lincoln University also voting to strike last week.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Our members do not take the decision to strike lightly, but Sheffield Hallam staff have voted for action because they cannot stand by and allow management to force these outrageous cuts which would leads to broken teaching, research and academic standards. pieces.

“It is shameful to see that instead of revising their spending on new buildings and a satellite campus halfway across the country, management would rather cut jobs, jeopardize academic standards and destroy our hard-earned terms and conditions hard. If university management does not stop these attacks on staff, they will face unprecedented disruption.

Sheffield Hallam University has been contacted for comment.

Featured image via David White on Unsplash.

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