Nursing student Steven McWilliam writes to encourage his classmates to join solidarity action against proposed staff cuts at GCU

Hello Classmates,

As you may know GCU staff are facing cuts to a number of programmes and wider student support services, with currently a hundred jobs under threat. This has led to different unions that represent the staff holding votes on strike action. The University and College Union (UCU) passed a vote on two days of strike action on the 3rd and 4th of June. 

University executives drive to downsize

Some of the communication about the strike from the university appears to be blaming staff for the disruption they are causing to services, but these are the roles and therefore services that will be permanently affected by the downsizing efforts of the executive committee, many of whom are earning over £100,000. In the midst of this, they have hired a new deputy vice-chancellor, Craig Gaskell, who has a track record of butchering the staffing levels at the university of Derby  

Why is this happening?

These decisions seem crazy given that GCU has one of the worst staff to student ratios in the UK. Honestly, we should consider ourselves lucky that our cohort is small and we are able to get the attention of our programme coordinators so easily. Further to the ratio, the university is not short of funds. In fact, it has around £90m in cash reserves. 

So if the goal isn’t to improve services, nor is it because the university is running out of money, then the question should be why this is happening? 

A nationwide attack on higher education reduces chances for working class young people

I believe it’s a coordinated attack by the state on higher education as part of deepening austerity in order to pay for rearmament and war. We can see this attack on many universities from Dundee to Edinburgh to loads of unis down south. This sort of downsizing will lead to fewer places on courses and ultimately more competition.

That competition will become an uphill battle for working class young people who attend underfunded state schools where it will be harder for them to achieve the same outcomes as their more affluent, privately educated peers. In turn, the lack of access to higher education will restrict expected income levels, thus widening the gap between the working class and the ownership class, allowing for the continued gatekeeping of higher education by the ownership class.

This is frustrating to me because Scotland has a long and proud history of excellent universities. St Andrews dates back to 1413. Our educational institutions are world famous and attract many foreign students. These students are preferred by universities that wish to exploit them by charging exorbitant fees. To me, this is another example of money perverting something that should be purer. We should want foreign students because they add life and vibrancy to Scotland, not because we can rinse them for cash. 

Recruitment to the military of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)

I mentioned the drive towards a war economy and I think this is part of it. Recently, the government released data for 16-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). This is at its highest level in 12 years. Following this the Labour government put out guidance suggesting that the unemployed should find work with the army. 

A policy that further exploits a generation of the poorest young people

This feels twisted: the idea that successive governments have pushed austerity and cuts that lead to a degradation of living standards, have defanged the trade union movement and oppress legitimate protest against wars and genocide, then have the audacity to suggest that people sign up to die for a country that has done nothing for them. Honestly think about the life of someone who was born in 2001/2. They were freshly born after 9-11, grew up as a child during the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, lived through the 2008 financial crash and the austerity that followed it and the resulting housing crisis we are still struggling with, saw the destruction of Libya in 2011, weren’t able to vote in the independent or Brexit referendum which failed to deliver any of its promises, then  locked in during covid when they were 18/19 years old. 

Now the government wants the poorest of these people who have been most exploited to lay down their lives in imperial wars of aggression.

Refuse this call to arms and join in solidarity with the strikes

We must refuse this call to arms. We need welfare not warfare! We need bairns not bombs. We need to build schools and universities and hospitals, not the weapons that destroy these institutions overseas.

So, when the next strike is called, I would strongly encourage each of you to join me in solidarity with staff at the picket line come rain or shine.

Best,

Steven