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Invitation: George Galloway MP |
George rallies to the lecturers’ jobs cause
University board member a target for union action
GEORGE Galloway is expected to rally lecturers and staff of London Metropolitan University outside the offices of one of its board members today (Friday).
The Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow has been invited to join a demonstration outside the Kingston Smith city accountancy firm in Devonshire House, Goswell Road, Angel, from 1pm.
The University College Union, representing academics, and Unison, representing university staff, is targeting LMU board member Sir Michael Snyder in the latest protest against plans to sack hundreds of staff at the Holloway campus.
In a joint statement, the university’s UCU and Unison branches called for members to attend to let Mr Snyder know that staff “won’t go down without a fight”, adding: “Michael Snyder is the LMU board member who told us in 2007 that “City Fat-Cats Deserve Their Pay and Our Respect” – now he’s one of those telling staff we should pay for the mess that’s been made of the university finances.”
Mr Snyder, a senior partner of leading chartered accountancy firm Kingston Smith, wrote an article in 2007 for the Observer newspaper claiming City “fat cats” should not be “slated for the size of their bonuses” and that they are “worth their large salaries – and even larger bonuses”.
The article has enraged union chiefs at London Met who are fighting proposals to axe 550 full-time staff posts – roughly a quarter of the university’s workforce.
London Met, the biggest university in London, is proposing to close entire educational departments to repay a £34.5million debt it owes to the government for false claims to the Higher Education Funding Council of England.
LMU had claimed full funding for hundreds of students over three years that did not finish their courses. MPs at a committee of inquiry in the Commons in June accused the university of “fraud” and an investigation is ongoing.
UCU imposed an official academic boycott of the university, known as “grey-listing”, last week. It is the first time the action has been taken in this country.
Mr Snyder is a governor at LMU, the City of London School for Girls and Brentwood School in Essex, of which he is vice-chairman and treasurer. A keen narrow-boater for 35 years, he lists his interests as music, gardening and the City of London, where he is on the court of two livery companies.
Mr Snyder declined to comment on the demonstration.
A LMU spokeswoman said: “The financial situation at London Met is such that there is no alternative but to implement a cost reduction programme in order to put the university back onto a sound financial footing. Recently, the university reported to the unions that the estimated number of compulsory redundancies is now considerably less than originally anticipated. The university has also identified non-staff savings of around £5.2million, equivalent to a saving in excess of the equivalent of 100 full-time posts.” |
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