Geraint TudurUCU union members at Bangor University have passed a motion of no confidence in the vice chancellor and chief finance officer due to cuts to staff and budgets.
The union said members would now be balloting for industrial action as a response to cuts, saying staff were at “breaking point”.
In February, Bangor University, in Gwynedd, announced it would need to make savings of £15m that could result in around 200 job losses.
In a statement on Wednesday, Bangor University said it has had to “take difficult steps” to ensure “the future of the university”.
Like many other higher education institutions across Wales, Bangor has had to make a series of cuts due to what it describes as pressures around inflation, an increase in National Insurance tax and also Brexit.
But the UCU, the largest trade union for university staff, said talks with Bangor University representatives over these broke down this week.
As a result, representatives announced the result of a motion of no confidence vote that was held at the end of August, saying its member no longer had confidence in the Vice Chancellor Professor Edmund Burke and Chief Finance Officer Martyn Riddleston.
In an interview with Newyddion S4C, Vivek Thuppil, the vice president of the UCU Bangor branch said staff were facing immense pressures.
“For the remaining staff, there is a tremendous amount increase in the work load and staff are being pushed to breaking point,” he said.
“Students have already begun to move onto campus, classes are due to start in 10 days and departments don’t know who is teaching what because they don’t know who will be here in a couple of months.
“It’s chaotic and it’s having an effect on staff health and wellbeing.”
The union said more than 250 positions at the university have already been lost this year through voluntary redundancies and a further 13 could be at risk through compulsory redundancies.
In February, the Welsh government announced £19m for high education institutions to help with pressures.
Bangor universityBut the UCU claims Bangor University used their part of the funding on other projects that did not protect jobs at risk, and are calling for more support.
Dr Thuppil added: “We don’t believe the vice chancellor’s cuts will resolve the situation of the deep impact it’s had across the University.
“We fully expect they will come back with more redundancies in the future perhaps.
“We asked them to rule out redundancies for 2025-26, and they refused to do that because they don’t know what the situation is going to look like in the next few months.”
As a result, the union said it will be balloting members for industrial action to be held in the spring.
“Members are very angry – there is a lot of anger in the membership,” said Dr Thuppil.
“We will have a strong mandate for strike action and if peoples jobs are at risk, people will turn out on the picket lines as well.”
A spokesperson for Bangor University said it was making difficult decisions to ensure the future of the university in tough times.
“The recent restructuring was a difficult but necessary step to help us reach financial targets and ensure essential savings,” they added.
“Over the past year, the executive board has worked closely with colleagues and the campus trade unions, working hard to avoid compulsory redundancies by offering a way for people to leave voluntarily and by redeploying staff wherever possible.
“We focused, not only on reducing costs, but also on improving efficiency and creating a sustainable operating model that will support staff and students in a context where our income is lower.
“We recognise that restructuring has caused stress and uncertainty for staff and students, and we remain committed to supporting our community and its well-being. However, this exercise was an inevitable and essential part of securing the university’s long-term future in a very challenging environment in the field of higher education”.
