Bangor University staff pass no confidence vote against senior leadership

Union members at Bangor University have passed a vote of no confidence in vice-chancellor Prof Edmund Burke and chief finance officer Martyn Riddleston, as tensions mount over job cuts and budget reductions.

The University and College Union (UCU) confirmed its members backed the motion “overwhelmingly and without opposition” at an extraordinary general meeting in August.

The union said negotiations with university leaders had collapsed this week, prompting it to make the vote public and to prepare for a ballot on industrial action.

In February, Bangor University announced plans to save £15m, warning up to 200 jobs could be lost. The UCU claims more than 250 posts have already gone through voluntary redundancy, with a further 13 at risk of compulsory redundancy.

‘Breaking point’

Vivek Thuppil, vice-president of the UCU Bangor branch, said staff were “at breaking point” as workloads had soared. “With only days to go until teaching begins, departments still don’t know who will be in place to deliver courses. It’s chaotic and it’s having a real impact on staff health and wellbeing,” he told S4C’s Newyddion.

Criticism has also centred on how the university used emergency Welsh Government funding. Earlier this year, the sector was given £19m to ease financial pressures. Bangor UCU said its allocation of £1.4m was directed to the medical school rather than safeguarding jobs, a move Dr Thuppil described as a “disqualifying lapse in judgement”.

Bangor University later clarified that, “the one-off allocation of £1.4million in capital funds from MEDR came with conditions on how it was spent.

“The University complied with those conditions and the funding was used for infrastructure costs in the new Medical School, student equipment and facilities and towards maintenance work on an academic building.”

The dispute has drawn comparisons with Prof Burke and Mr Riddleston’s time at the University of Leicester, where union leaders say a redundancy programme overseen by them caused lasting damage and was partly overturned.

Executive pay

Bangor UCU members have accused the university’s executive of failing to offer leadership, pointing to executive pay of £2.8m shared among 13 managers last year. “At this point, it is unclear what value the VC specifically, and the upper management in general, actually bring to our institution,” one staff member said.

In response, Bangor University said the restructuring was “a difficult but necessary step” to secure its long-term future in a challenging environment. A spokesperson added: “We worked hard to minimise compulsory redundancies by offering voluntary exit routes and redeployments. We recognise the uncertainty this has caused, but these changes are essential to ensure a sustainable model for our staff and students.”

The UCU said it will now begin the process of balloting members for industrial action, with strikes possible later this academic year.