Striking workers ‘shut down’ Brighton University as ‘abhorrent’ bosses fail to move on redundancies

As promised, workers at the University of Brighton have continued their campaign against redundancies into the new academic year. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and their supporters “shut down” campus – and won’t be returning to work any time soon.

Brighton University and its ‘abhorrent’ bosses

As the Canary has been documenting, bosses at Brighton University are making over 100 staff redundant. A PhD researcher at Brighton University, Kathryn Zacharek, has been writing from the frontline of the dispute for us. She’s laid out how the institution is now a mess, with bosses are closing parts of it while spending massive amounts of money elsewhere.

As Zacharek noted, among the 80 voluntary and 20-odd forced redundancies are lecturers Dr Tom Bunyard and Dr Cathy Bergin. They have expertise in philosophy, critical theory, and cultural histories of anti-racism and anti-colonialism, respectively. Zacharek wrote:

After years of hard work and dedication to their students, how senior management is treating them is simply abhorrent. It is also the height of hypocrisy that an institution which prides itself on its equality, diversity and inclusion policies wants to sack an anti-racism scholar.

Of course, bosses are blaming ‘rising costs’, blah, blah, blah. So, Brighton UCU and the campaigns UoB Solidarity and PGR’s Brighton have vowed to keep up the fight against the bosses’ toxic actions. Brighton University UCU members began an indefinite strike against the proposed redundancies on Monday 3 July. They said in a statement that unless management drop the compulsory redundancies:

no preparation for the new academic year will take place and the autumn term will not start.

Now, with no movement from bosses, Brighton UCU has held good to its word – and begun disrupting the new academic year.

Shut it down

As Brighton and Hove News reported, over the summer academics from the university warned students off from enrolling there. Brighton UCU secretary Ryan Burns said:

In previous years during clearing, I would tell prospective students about how great their course would be and how much they would enjoy studying at Brighton.

But with our university management forcing through over 100 redundancies this year, many staff feel they cannot currently in good conscience encourage people to study here.

Then, the group staged a picket on Monday 4 September which it claims to have “shut down” Brighton University:

Today we shut down @uniofbrighton to protect staff & student conditions! We won't return to work until every single compulsory redundancy is rescinded!

🚨Join our Twitterstorm
⏰10-11am 4 Sept#Brighton25 #SaveBrightonUni#BrightonUniStrike#BoycottBrightonUni@uniofbrighton pic.twitter.com/siPxm4Hjg4

— Brighton UCU (@BrightonUCU) September 4, 2023

Online, people posted in support of the workers:

No Redundancies! Solidarity to @BrightonUCU #SaveBrightonUni #Brighton25 #BrightonUniStrike #BoycottBrightonUni@BrightonUCU@uniofbrighton pic.twitter.com/qeFMdRX6rW

— Aisling O'Beirn (@AislingBeirn) September 4, 2023

At Brighton, other groups joined Brighton UCU on the picket line:

On the @BrightonUCU picket line today – defend jobs, defend education! #ucuRISING pic.twitter.com/ZiaIeQWRjV

— UCU Left (@UcuLeft) September 4, 2023

Special thank you to @NewcastleUniUCU @EastLondonUCU @UCULondon @LondonUCU @UcuLeft @ucu_solidarity for making it down in person to our picket. @uniofbrighton is closed#Brighton25#SaveBrightonUni#BrightonUniStrike#BoycottBrightonUni pic.twitter.com/SFbNlSL5rw

— Brighton UCU (@BrightonUCU) September 4, 2023

The national UCU also lent its support to striking Brighton University workers:

An injury to one is an injury to all 🤝

Your union has your back all the way ✊#SaveBrightonUni https://t.co/gVEsMoVVRi

— UCU (@ucu) September 4, 2023

The bus drivers also refused to cross Brighton UCU’s picket line on 4 September:

Solidarity to all the amazing bus drivers who refused to cross our picket line! We have support from across Brighton! That's how we shut @uniofbrighton down! We won't stop until every compulsory redundancy is rescinded #BoycottBrightonUni #SaveBrightonUni #BrightonUniStrike https://t.co/yEFOUX4smI

— Brighton UCU (@BrightonUCU) September 4, 2023

However, people noted the absence of support from Brighton Students’ Union:

https://twitter.com/HumanBeansWorld/status/1698712127001776283

Brighton bosses remain tight lipped

So far, bosses at Brighton University have kept their heads down – with some even deleting their X (formerly Twitter) accounts. Publicly, they’re presenting a message of ‘all is well’ – even telling Brighton and Hove News that the redundancies have been:

carefully planned to avoid an impact on our students and our academic standards have in no way been affected by the changes.

This is blatantly not the case – and no amount of spin will mask the fact that Brighton University bosses and their disastrous mismanagement has caused this dispute. Brighton UCU won’t be backing down. So, expect further disruption as the academic year progresses.

Featured image via Brighton UCU