Stop 'misguided' FE redundancies Minister urged

Economy Minister Conor Murphy (Sinn Fein) has been urged to "stop the misguided redundancy scheme" currently being rolled out across the North's six Further Education colleges.

Trade unions representing staff in the colleges are meeting the Minister today, Derry Now understands.

In an open letter to Minister Murphy, the trade unions  - UCU, NASUWT, Unite the Union, NIPSA and GMB - have made a public plea for him to “stop the misguided redundancy scheme”.

The letter, signed by Katharine Clarke, UCU Northern Ireland Official, said: “The Permanent Secretary in the Department of Education took a decision that further cuts were not in the public interest, but successive Permanent Secretaries in the Department for the Economy refused to implement the same safeguarding measures.

“The department for which you now have ministerial responsibility, is directing colleges to axe more than 300 jobs from the sector. In so doing, comparisons are being drawn between enrolment figures in 2018/19 to 21/22. The true picture shows there has been an increase in student recruitment from 21/22 to 22/23, with that trend continuing this academic year. The reality is the department has not given the colleges sufficient opportunity to recover from the impact of the pandemic before it has instructed widespread cost-cutting.

“The further education sector is central to rebuilding the economy in the post Covid landscape. Colleges are the centres for re-skilling those whose jobs in affected industries disappeared, and for training new apprentices, providing vocational pathways for the career young. Without a substantial pay increase it will be impossible for colleges to attract and retain the experienced staff essential to aid economic recovery. Colleges simply cannot continue to be outbid for staff by the rest of the education sector when their role is crucial to labour supply and stimulating growth. For the DfE to prioritise financing redundancies above properly resourcing the sector and those who work in it is, in our view, grotesque, and a misuse of public money.

“It also appears the DfE did not undertake any workforce profiling across the six colleges to establish whether an enhanced redundancy payment scheme will achieve assumed long-term cost savings. The trade unions are aware, from engaging directly with our members, volunteers for severance are those who are advanced in their careers. In other words, these departures could be reasonably forecast over the next few years without the need for the public purse to finance expensive exit packages to the detriment of student provision and much needed staff pay increases.

“Finally, we suggest it is premature to be effecting redundancies when a wholesale review of the sector is long overdue. Particularly so, when recommendations have been made by the Independent Review of Education about the sector’s future departmental location.

“We implore you to immediately withdraw authority for financing of the scheme and

redirect the monies to assisting settlements of outstanding pay claims.”