The University and College Union (UCU) has today (Friday) condemned plans by the University of Sussex to make a member of teaching staff redundant after having advertised a new permanent post that includes all his current duties.
Philosopher Lecturer James Furner has been employed at the university on consecutive fixed term part-time contracts since 2021, but on 22 August the university wrote to him to say that his employment will come to an end this month. Yet on July 7 it advertised a new full-time post of Lecturer in Philosophy stating that the post-holder 'will be expected' to teach the same four undergraduate modules that James taught in 2022-3.
The University's procedures allow for a redundancy if 'the University's requirement/s for members of staff to carry out work of a particular kind' are 'expected to cease or diminish'. But in this case, the University is not reducing its overall staff requirements in philosophy. It requires a new full time permanent Lecturer in Philosophy, and it requires the teaching that James has been doing.
The University of Sussex published a net operating cash inflow of £57m in 2021 and UCU say that there is enough money in the institution to employ current staff on full-time permanent positions and end the reliance on casualised contracts.
