All member Email 4th February 2010

Dear Colleague,

I am sorry to have to report that the Acas conciliated talks with the university broke down today without agreement.

After many hours of talks it emerged that the Vice Chancellor and his team have a single overriding principle: they insist on the right to make compulsory redundancies, even among the relatively small number of our colleagues who are set to be displaced by the sham process in FBS.

Frankly, I was shocked by the attitude adopted by management.

It was already clear from our ballot that a significant section of the university had lost confidence in university senior officers. This will undoubtedly compound the problem still further.

We cannot agree to compulsory redundancies. The precedent it sets for the rest of the university undergoing the formal reviews and the Economies Exercise is simply frightening. However, despite the continued failure of management to grasp the extent to which they have lost the trust of staff, the union will continue to seek a negotiated solution if at all possible, even in the face of this provocation.

We will be holding an informal members meeting Monday lunchtime and a formal Emergency General Meeting next Wednesday. More details will follow.

Best wishes,

Malcolm