11:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
By Joanna Kilvington
Staff at Richmond College are preparing to strike after it was announced 80 jobs are to be axed and the number of students halved.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) voted unanimously to ballot for an initial strike next month in an attempt to derail the plans and protect their jobs at the Twickenham college.
They argue that cutting staff and downsizing the college from 4,400 students to a possible 2,400 students in the future will affect the breadth of curriculum on offer and the standard of education on offer.
UCU branch chair Dave Carrier said: "If this policy is carried out the college could well become trapped in a spiral of decline, with our ability to tailor courses to suit the needs and aspirations of individual students severely undermined.
“A restricted college could simply not offer the same range of opportunity.”
Richmond College announced last week the drastic changes were needed to balance the books after facing funding cuts and increasing costs.
However, Mr Carrier revealed union members feared the redundancies would be just the first wave of future job cuts to take place at the college if its intake is halved.
Maggie Fordham, steward for Unison - Britain’s biggest public sector trade union - said about 300 people employed in supporting roles at the college, including catering and cleaning staff, were also at risk of losing their jobs.
Twickenham MP Vince Cable is to meet with Richmond College staff next Thursday to discuss the redundancies.
He said: “Despite the Government’s claims that it is not cutting public spending until next year, we can see the practical effects already.
“What is so galling is that the frontline staff, who do valuable work, are losing their jobs while staff at bureaucratic bodies - like the Learning Skills Council - are keeping theirs.”
Richmond College said this week it was working to “minimise the impact on its excellent staff” and on the students and communities caused by the cuts.
David Ansell, principal of college, said: “It is of paramount importance that we continue to offer a breadth of curriculum and maintain the excellent student support systems that have contributed to making the college one of the top performers in London.
“Despite some changes, the college will continue to offer a breadth of curriculum that will match or exceed that on offer in any other comparable school or college.”
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