Joint Against Sackings

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this way to silence any questioning of the NUS leadership.

But the only way to go beyond these divisions and disappointments is to take up a sharp struggle in every college against the Broad Left whose treachery left the student teachers isolated.

They must be replaced by a leadership willing to fight for a programme of local and national action which can link students in joint struggles with public service Students at Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, have begun a fight against threatened staff redundancies which might mean a reduction in staff of 65 over the next four years - while the number of students is to remain unchanged.

The following motion was passed at a Students' Union General Meeting last week.

....2. This union notes:

The plans of Coventry's Director of Education and Warwickshire's Chief Education Officer to cut the academic staffing establishment by 65 in order to increase the student: staff ratio to 10:1.

This Union recognises:

1) That the right to work must be defended and therefore no jobs must be lost through natural wastage, early retirement or redundancy.

2) That any increase in student: staff ratio inevitably reduced the standard of education.

3) In the light of these plans for staff cuts in the Polytechnic it is obvious that the proposed merger with Canley can only mean more redundancies since it has already been stated that Canley has surplus staff and the LPSU is in these circumstances opposed to the merger.

This Union therefore:

Calls for the Executive to organise a meeting of all staff and students within fourteen days and to seek the Joint Union Committee's support in arranging this meeting.

The joint meeting should set up a committee to collect information regarding the finances and plans of Warwickshire and Coventry LEAs and the time spent on consultancy work by academic staff. The committee should consist of the Joint Union Committee and rank-and-file members of trade unions with members in the Polytechnic elected from the joint meeting.

In the event of a Day of Action called for by the NATFHE branch of the Polytechnic, LPSU would support it.

CONFIDENTIAL

The redundancy threat has come in a confidential report from Coventry's Director of Education to the Poly Board of Governors (see Socialist Press 44).

At a meeting of the Polytechnic Joint Education Committee a proposal to make the report public was rejected.

Committee Chairman, Labour Councillor Harry Caplan, wanted the report discussed privately, while another Labour Councillor said it was "a sensitive matter concerning individuals and their careers.

It is precisely for this reason that the report must be made public immediately.