‘Have to keep fighting’ - Strike action continues at Sheffield Hallam University as discussions underway
Staff at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) are currently in the middle of 18 days of strike action over proposed cuts to jobs and pension contributions
Strike action at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) continued into this week as staff continued to vent their frustrations at proposed cuts to jobs, working conditions, changes to pension contributions and also the university's proposal to employ staff via a subsidiary company.
More than 50 members of the University and College Union joined the picket line as they slammed leaders for what they claimed had been a “doom loop of decline” at the university.
Staff members at Hallam were also accompanied by a number of notable figures at the University of Sheffield, including David Hayes, a senior lecturer in Law, who is also the vice president of Sheffield UCU.
He told The Sheffield Star: “I’m here today to support our comrades and tell them a bit about what’s going on and share the commonality of our struggle.
“The root causes are very much the same. It’s a sector being starved of money by a constant failure to fund higher education, making us reliant on international students. And when they went away it put us all in a lot of struggle.
“Hallam has had a big investment in building. Much more than with us. And that return hasn’t really paid off so they are facing very serious financial problems because of mismanagement at a higher level.
“Our struggle is really one struggle and we need a political solution where the government steps in and provides a better funding model as a whole. We also need better from our managers both at Hallam and the University of Sheffield.”
Speaking about the importance of striking, David added: “We are seeing things which suggest we are managing to slow down change. The scale and pace of restructures are changing. You can’t win every battle but you have to keep fighting otherwise the only thing that happens is losing everytime.”
Ruth Beresford, who is serving as a negotiator for the UCU also told The Star last week: “I’d like to see management be more open to discussions and talk about what the future of the university is.
“To see a model for the university where we don’t just look at how to cut things back and that we acknowledge why we’re in the financial state we’re in. We want management to take redundancy off the table and preserve our terms and conditions. Cutting things is not the way to make the university strong.”
Ben Abell, branch secretary of the UCU branch, who spoke to The Star last week, believes things are going in the right direction. During his rally, he mentioned that the university have opened discussions and this will be something which he claims staff will discuss in more detail in the coming days.
In a statement, a Sheffield Hallam University spokesperson mentioned that financial challenges are a sector wide issue. It reads: “We are disappointed that UCU is taking industrial action. During any strikes, our priority is to do everything possible to minimise the impact on our students and wider university community.
“Like all universities, we are having to make some tough decisions due to the financial challenges being faced across higher education. To date, we have been able to make significant savings without the need for any compulsory redundancies.
“With the overall financial picture for universities likely to be challenging for some time, it is clear that failing to take action would undermine the university’s long-term financial sustainability. We are focused on securing a stable future for Sheffield Hallam, while continuing to support our students, staff and wider community.”