Staff at Lewisham Southwark College in London will protest against plans to cut almost 60 jobs, just days after it was announced that the college would merge with NCG.
The proposed cuts are part of an organisational review of academic and support staff in the college’s business and finance, construction, health, and visual arts departments, and will result in a reduction of 58.85 full-time posts. The protest will take place tomorrow.
The University and College Union (UCU) said the cuts would “jeopardise the college’s ability to provide high quality education for the local community”.
Josephine Grahl, UCU regional support official, said: “Years of cutbacks at the college have already reduced opportunities and these latest proposals would only worsen the situation. We have asked management to give us a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies and work with us to explore alternative strategies which focus on growth and investment.”
On Friday, Lewisham Southwark College announced its merger with NCG, one of the country’s largest college groups. The college will officially join with NCG in August, following an agreement by the governors of both institutions and backing by the London area review.
Carole Kitching, principal of Lewisham Southwark College, said that the merger would provide a “catalyst for growth in the range of programmes we can offer students, including vocational and technical higher education”.
‘Unfortunate’
A spokesperson from Lewisham Southwark College today said: “Like many other colleges in the sector, Lewisham Southwark College is in consultation on an organisational review aimed at bringing staffing costs into line with income moving forwards. Unfortunately, this is likely to result in a reduction of 58.85 full-time equivalent posts.
“This organisational review is unrelated to our proposed merger and would be going ahead regardless of whether we merged or not.”
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