WATCH: Two-day strike hits University of the Highlands and Islands as members of the University and College Union walk out over planned job cuts
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The leader of a union has vowed to continue industrial action "until we get clarity and certainty" for staff at risk of losing their jobs at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Jo Grady, the general secretary of the University and College Union, was speaking as members staged a two-day walkout at UHI House in Inverness amid an ongoing dispute over job losses.
Urging the UHI to get back round the negotiation table, she told The Inverness Courier "we need negotiation, we need people to know that their jobs are secure".
The UCU's latest strike – which follows a 24-hour walkout last week – was in response to plans by the UHI to find £4million in budget cuts, with dozens of jobs potentially at risk.
The union fears up to 44 roles could be lost, although the UHI's Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Vicki Nairn, claimed the university was working as hard as possible to try to avoid mandatory job losses and had managed to reduce the number of roles at risk to a "potential 28".
She added that the UHI is also still looking "where we can for other ideas and suggestions" to cut that number further.
Other complaints cited by the union include what it claims has been a rushed consultation process, and it has also been highly critical of the plans for compulsory redundancies less than a year after some staff who applied for voluntary redundancy packages were told no.
The university has defended its planned cuts, citing the impact of rising inflation and the damage done by Brexit, which cut off access to European Union funding streams it had previously used. Ms Nairn also claimed the consultation period was "50 per cent" longer than the statutory minimum required by law.
The two-day strike, is the latest in six days of planned industrial action, with the first 24-hour strike taking place last week and a three-day walkout set to be held next week.
The UCU's general secretary joined members on the picket line on Wednesday morning.
Jo Grady said: "We are striking today because the university has put 44 people at risk of redundancy. So what that has meant is we have 44 people not knowing if they will have a job, not knowing if they'll be made redundant before Christmas, and the students – that they serve, that they teach, that they support – not knowing what is happening.
"This institution, it's a shameful way to treat people, it's a shameful way to treat students. We need change, we need negotiation, we need people to know that their jobs are secure.
"So we are here on strike today about 44 redundancies, but we'll be here until we get clarity and certainty for those people.
"No union takes strike action easily – people lose money when they take strikes. But we've tried negotiation and we've really tried to get the university to resolve this issue with us.
"So we really want that everyone that is part of the community, people who are students here, that they get in touch with the university and get them to settle this dispute and to give certainty and clarity to the staff who don't know if they are still going to have a job at Christmas."
