Vote of no confidence in college management (From Salisbury Journal)

Vote of no confidence in college management

6:00am Thursday 11th October 2012 in News By Corey Ross

STAFF at Wiltshire College are “demoralised” and “frustrated” and have supported a vote of no confidence in the principal and senior management team.

A series of redundancies, restructuring and anger over cuts has led to about 80 per cent of Unison members supporting a motion of no confidence.

And the University and College Union (UCU) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) have submitted a joint letter to governors informing them that members had voted resoundingly in support of the motion.

Norman Crowther, from ATL, said that on a turnout of 62.8 per cent of ATL members at Wiltshire College, 92.6 per cent gave a vote of no confidence “because of poor staff morale and poor communications during four years of restructuring at the college”.

And the next step could see staff balloted for strike action.

A UCU spokesman said an “overwhelming”

majority supported the motion in a recent vote.

“We remain hopeful that the college can work with the unions to resolve the issues internally. If they do not then UCU will consider what further action to take,” he said.

A member of staff at the college, who asked not to be named, said six governors have since resigned and staff morale is “non-existent”.

He said some staff have been left not knowing if their jobs will still exist if proposed cuts across the college’s four campuses go ahead, and other staff members have been made redundant then re-employed as agency workers.

He said: “They’re doing the same job but it costs the college more to do it through the agency.

“It’s taken the staff from a place of job security to under an agency where they could be dropped tomorrow.”

A Wiltshire College spokesman said the college’s government funding has been reduced and consultations with workers and unions are ongoing.

She said: “In seeking to address the difficult situation facing the college and the public sector, senior managers are making informed decisions affecting the future employment of staff only after very careful consideration.”

She said feedback about redundancies has been completed and that the college has had two ongoing vacancies on the board of governors which are about to be filled following a selection process, while three other governors resigned following the end of the academic year due to “changes in their own personal working lives”.