{"id":23991,"date":"2020-09-30T16:10:09","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T15:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23991"},"modified":"2020-09-30T16:10:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T15:10:11","slug":"morally-repugnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23991","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Morally repugnant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A number of Cambridge University colleges, which are targeting some of their lowest paid employees for the jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 axe as they juggle their Covid-19 finances, have been urged to have an urgent rethink by Unite.<\/p>\n

Unite said today (Wednesday September 30) that Cambridge colleges \u00e2\u20ac\u201c some of the richest institutions in the country \u00e2\u20ac\u201c should go \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the extra mile\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to safeguard the jobs of the lowest paid employees. Already 21 of the 31 colleges have pledged \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no compulsory job cuts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

A coalition of Cambridge groups have launched the Cambridge Against Job Cuts<\/em> campaign, following revelations in the university student newspaper Varsity<\/em> that Downing, Queens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and Trinity colleges are planning to sack more than 100 non-academic staff.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Downing would seek to restore as many of the threatened posts as possible as soon as finances allow. However, Unite firmly believes that there is no need for the jobs to be lost in the first place.<\/p>\n

The coalition includes unions Unite, UCU and the Cambridge TUC, as well as Cambridge University Justice 4 Workers Campaign, Cambridge Defend Education, and the Cambridge Students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Union. The campaign is also backed by the Cambridge Labour Party.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Varsity <\/em>revealed leaked documents detailing Queens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 plans to make 32 members of the non-academic staff redundant.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bVarsity revealed Trinity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans to make 45 housekeeping staff redundant,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Unite regional coordinating officer Ian Maidlow. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrinity is the richest Oxbridge college, with a total endowment of \u00c2\u01411,286,289,000. On its own, Trinity College is wealthier than every UK university other than Manchester, Edinburgh and Imperial College London.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Sitting on mountain of cash\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is something morally repugnant that an organisation sitting on that mountain of cash is reacting to the Covid-19 crisis by throwing onto the scrapheap some of its lowest paid workers, many of whom have given years and years of loyal service.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe understand that the colleges have been hit by the loss of student rental income and the collapse of the lucrative conference market, but we strongly believe that the colleges, some of the wealthiest institutions in the country, should go the extra mile to safeguard the jobs of their lowest paid employees as they navigate financially through the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are happy to sit down with any of the 31 colleges that constitute the University of Cambridge to discuss ways to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on their employees.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, they should be under no illusions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c no way can we accept that college employees, especially those that are lower paid, should bear the brunt of any financial problems colleges may be facing.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTwenty-one Cambridge colleges have committed to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no job cuts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, and we applaud them for that. If they can do it, all colleges can do it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 concluded Maidlow.<\/p>\n

The 21 colleges not axing staff<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The following colleges are not making compulsory redundancies: Christ’s, Churchill, Clare, Clare Hall, Emmanuel, Girton, Gonville & Caius, Homerton, Jesus, King’s, Lucy Cavendish, Murray Edwards, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Robinson, St Catherine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, St Edmund’s, St John’s, Trinity Hall and Wolfson.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Shaun Noble <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of Cambridge University colleges, which are targeting some of their lowest paid employees for the jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 axe as they juggle their Covid-19 finances, have been urged to have an urgent rethink by Unite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,1],"tags":[1295,263,374],"wps_subtitle":"Rich Cambridge colleges urged to rethink Covid-19 jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 axe on low-paid staff","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23991"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23996,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991\/revisions\/23996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}