Marvin OnumonuThe University of Greenwich is planning to cut up to 319 staff, about a quarter of its 1,245 workforce, to reduce payroll, according to the University and College Union (UCU).
The university aims to make the cuts by August, targeting the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (FLAS), the School of Engineering and School of Social Sciences (FES), and the Greenwich Business School (GBS).
All hourly paid lecturers in FLAS (151) and GBS (45) are set to go.
In FLAS, a pool of 50 part-time workers, equal to only 17 full-time posts, would replace them.
The university also plans to bring in a bank of academics on zero-hour contracts, with no guaranteed hours.
UCU said this meant there would be no statutory rights to redundancy pay or parental leave, and no protection against unfair dismissal.
Jo Grady, general secretary at UCU, said: “Students are having their fees hiked, yet the University of Greenwich wants to sack hundreds of their teachers and instead bring in a pool of zero-hour academics, all while the vice-chancellor’s pay continues to soar.
“These are the actions of the very worst type of rogue employer, not a public institution of Greenwich’s standing.
“There is no financial justification to force through these cuts and if the university continues to do so impacted courses will be stripped of their academic value. It must think again.”
A Greenwich spokesperson said: “Like many universities across the UK, the University of Greenwich is facing significant financial challenges outside of our control.
“These challenges affect the amount of cash we hold, which is what we use to pay our staff and our bills.
“We are therefore proposing organisational changes that will ensure the long-term sustainability of our university and protect jobs further down the line.
“We are currently consulting on these changes. No final decisions have been taken.”
They added: “The largest group of staff affected are hourly paid lecturers, who are employed on fixed term contacts, due to end in August.
“This equates to the equivalent of approximately 30 full time staff. So while the headline numbers that have been quoted (based on headcount) sound large it is important to remember that many of these staff work a relatively small number of hours per year for us.
“Indeed, some support us with just a few guest lectures per year. Therefore, to use the head count is misleading and creates a picture that is inaccurate.
“It is these numbers which appear to be causing some confusion. Our average staff number in 2024 was 3,052.”
They said: “In addition, we are planning on moving to increase the number of more secure permanent posts which will be offered to our current hourly paid lecturers and which we believe is to everyone’s benefit.
“We are also increasing staffing in areas where we have growth to ensure our staffing numbers reflect our students’ needs.
“We will maintain a small group of associate academics to provide cover for unpredictable teaching shortages, such as sickness absence.
“We know that this will feel like a difficult message, but it is essential that we take sensible and proportionate action now to ensure that we continue to be able to offer high quality teaching and an outstanding student experience.”
