News
BMC Managment and Governing Body to Push Ahead with Hundreds of Redundancies
14/02/2011
NIPSA and the other Non Teaching Unions had been in consultation with BMC Management in relation to the College Improvement Plan (CIP)
click here for pdf version
Dear Colleague
BMC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNING BODY TO PUSH AHEAD WITH HUNDREDS OF REDUNDANCIES
First of all I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who attended the protest outside the Millfield Campus on Monday afternoon. It was extremely important to highlight to both the College and to the wider community that staff and students stood shoulder to shoulder in opposition to these proposed redundancies and the consequences if implemented of what will inevitably be a worsening of education provision to young people in the city.
As you will be aware NIPSA and the other Teaching and Non-teaching Unions had been in consultation with management in the college for the last 3 months in an attempt to resolve the issues in relation to the College Improvement Plan (CIP). Unfortunately no progress was made during this time on any of the major issues raised by the Unions. In a final attempt to persuade the college to take a more measured approach to dealing with the financial situation the Unions, including NIPSA, made a presentation to the Governing Body on Monday 7 February 2011.
We highlighted the fact that the College was proposing to make redundancies of several hundred staff which would produce an annual saving of over £7m to deal with a deficit which at the end of December 2010 was less than £3m. We made it clear that it was totally unacceptable to dismiss people on redundancy terms simply to ensure that the College had what the Director referred to as an “investment fund for the future.” I am sorry to report that our pleas fell on deaf ears. It would seem that the College and its Governing Body are quite happy to see hundreds of its staff on the dole just to enable it to have money in the bank for the future. NIPSA and our colleagues in the other Unions view this as a reprehensible position to adopt.
You may be aware that the main teaching Union in the college has embarked on a balloting process with its members. At the NIPSA Branch meeting last week it was agreed to carry out a consultation exercise to gauge the views of our members in the college on carrying out a ballot for Industrial Action. As the College has now made its position clear in respect of job cuts and redundancies it is now an appropriate time to initiate that consultation exercise.
Attached to this bulletin there is a pro-forma which I would ask you to complete and return to me at paddy.mackel@nipsa.org.uk or to the postal address below, indicating whether you would like NIPSA to proceed with a ballot for industrial action to challenge these cuts and redundancies. At this point you are not being asked to vote on industrial action, rather whether you want to participate in a vote in respect of industrial action. You should be aware that industrial action could be either strike action or action short of strike action. If you decide that you wish to go ahead with a ballot for industrial action the voting paper which you would then receive would offer you a vote on both options.
These are very difficult times for members and this consultation exercise will now give you an opportunity to take part in the decision making process about how you wish your union to respond to this attack on workers and education services within Belfast Metropolitan College.
PLEASE RETURN THE ATTACHED PRO-FORMA BY 5.00 pm, FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2011
Yours sincerely
PADDY MACKEL
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
« back