I was sufficiently incensed by this to re-post it to a second list -
apologies if you've already read it.
Chris
______________________________
Chris Armstrong
Information Automation Limited
t. (+44) 1974 251302
s. chrisatial (Skype, pre-arranged)
e. [log in to unmask]
w. www.i-a-l.co.uk
b: http://i-a-l.blogspot.com/
____________________________________________
Registered address: Penbryn, Bronant, Aberystwyth SY23 4TJ
Registered in England Number: 2110002
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin Shelley
Sent: 11 June 2009 16:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Job cuts at King's
Press release:
Cuts at King’s College London
King’s College London is proposing to make all 30 current roles
of the
Information Resources team part of ISS (Information Services & Systems)
redundant and make staff re-apply for their own jobs. 15 staff will
likely loose
their job over the next 3 years, and those left face applying for
downgraded
roles. This was announced in mid-April after a six-month workflow
review,
including a short 2 week snapshot survey involving external consultants.
Its
stated aim was “to deliver the services customers are asking for,
identify
future needs and be flexible in responding to demands for new services.”
Management deny that cost-cutting is at the heart of the
proposal.
Chief Information Officer and College Librarian, Karen Stanton stated :
‘’I
would like to make it clear that the proposed changes are in no way
related to
the current financial situation or, indeed, the Principal’s announcement
regarding budget cuts and possible job losses.’’ However, the
announcement
of the redundancy proposals occurred less than three weeks after the
College
Principal, Professor Rick Trainor, informed all College staff that
King’s is facing
a £14 million deficit, whilst holding £185 million in cash reserves.
This is further
highlighted by the recent article in the Times Higher Education
Supplement of
the 28th May ‘Dissent over staff issues at King's’.
The staff are naturally shocked, many of which have served with
King’s for a long time. Especially as they were initially given a
proposal
consultation period of only 30 days and to come up with a counter
proposal
when other King’s departments in a similar position were given 90 days.
So
Unions (Unison, Unite, UCU) stepped in and were able to win a 90 day
extension. The whole college community is appalled at how badly staff
have
been treated, reverting to such draconian methods that have proven to be
divisive and demoralising to colleagues who foresee both their own
skillsets
being diminished in the remaining posts and an impoverishment of ISS
customer experience arising particularly from the outsourcing of
metadata
creation.
To us as Library and Information Professionals the biggest
threat to
our professional qualified status is yet more being eroded and
unrecognised by
the issue of downgrading and deskilling staff within the proposal. There
is also
a proposal to outsource cataloguing which in our view will destroy the
quality
of the collection we have at King’s.
Staff and students with the backing of the Unions are mounting a
No
Cuts @ King’s campaign involving a petition to college management to
stop
cuts, and get more government funding. We urging everyone to help
support
the campaign of No Cuts @ King’s and sign the online petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/openRT09
We will keep you informed of developments.
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