340 STILL AT RISK IN PHASE 2PHASE 2 PAUSED IN ACADEMIC SECTIONTELL US WHAT PHASE 2 IS DOING£9.2M SAVINGS TARGET — AND RISING97% NO CONFIDENCE IN THE VC28 DAYS TO APPEAL A REDUNDANCYDEFEND SOUTHEND CAMPUSJOIN UCU — ORGANISE — WIN340 STILL AT RISK IN PHASE 2PHASE 2 PAUSED IN ACADEMIC SECTIONTELL US WHAT PHASE 2 IS DOING£9.2M SAVINGS TARGET — AND RISING97% NO CONFIDENCE IN THE VC28 DAYS TO APPEAL A REDUNDANCYDEFEND SOUTHEND CAMPUSJOIN UCU — ORGANISE — WIN
The line
Campaigns
Jobs. Southend. The Academic Framework. No confidence. These are not separate stories — they are one management project, and one union response.
01 / Now
Stop the 400-job cull
Phase 2 still has 340 people at risk (296 FTE). Management want a further 146 FTE gone. The savings target is now £9.2 million.
425 at-risk letters went out at the start of Phase 2; 340 people remain at risk.
59 professional services colleagues were already made redundant in Phase 1.
Phase 2 is paused in Academic Section and departmental administration — not elsewhere.
A second voluntary-redundancy window is uncommitted. Unions are still pushing.
02 / Campus
Defend Southend
Closing Southend abandons students from low-income families and contradicts the university’s founding principles.
Running costs have been withheld from the City Council and local investors.
The closure decision was pre-determined before consultation.
Pathways provision — which widens participation — is in the firing line.
03 / Conditions
Defeat the Academic Framework
A new Academic Framework would recast teaching, workload and academic judgement. We treat it as a dispute, not a consultation exercise.
Workload intensification dressed as ‘clarity’.
Threats to academic freedom and professional autonomy.
A published timeline and a plan to win — read them, organise around them.
04 / Leadership
No confidence
97% of staff voting on 15 April 2026 had no confidence in Vice-Chancellor Frances Bowen and her senior team.
Essex UCU had already recorded no confidence on 11 March 2026.
The branch is demanding resignation, an apology, and a reopened consultation.
Compulsory redundancies must halt.
What members do now
01
Contribute your skills
This is a fight on many fronts. We need an army of volunteers — organising, research, design, casework, communications.
02
Talk to your dep rep
Share developments that have not yet reached the committee. If your department has no rep, volunteer to become one.
03
Update MyUCU
Ballot papers go to the address on your membership record. Wrong details mean you do not get a vote.
04
Come to meetings
Strategy is decided by members in the room. All-member meetings are where the fight is shaped.
