Unison claim protesting catering staff threatened with pay deductions

Last Thursday 100 students, staff and campaigners took to Oxford Road to protest the planned cuts of 43 catering jobs across the University of Manchester campus.

It was later claimed by Unison, who represents the caterers, that a number of the UMC members of staff were contacted by a manager of UMC who told them that if they were to attend the Unison lunch time rally they would be deducted an hour’s pay.

As revealed by The Mancunion last month, after implementing the living wage in February, University of Manchester Conferences Limited (UMC) the company in charge of catering services across the university, then announced plans to make 43 of their staff redundant and to cut salaries by up to a third.

UMC is a private, wholly-owned subsidiary company of the university that provides catering services across campus and in the University’s Halls of Residence. UMC runs the Chancellors Hotel, The Chancellors Collection, FoodOnCampus, FoodInResidence, and BarsInResidence on behalf of the University.

In the original e-mail leaked to The Mancunion it was revealed that 60 out of UMC’s 283 staff have been told that their jobs are at risk. The e-mail went on to say that if less than 43 of these 60 do not accept voluntary severance, then UMC have announced that they plan to go ahead with compulsory redundancies. Alongside this, UMC were allegedly planning to impose inferior contracts on the remaining staff, cutting salaries by up to a third.

These claims of redundancies within UMC came on the back of redundancies and further threats of redundancies to 38 employees and 68 IT staff last year, alongside 28 other staff this year.

Unison has since also told The Mancunion that UMC staff are “feeling pressure from management to take their annual leave during down time to suit UMC services”.

Our source expressed concern with the direction the university is taking, especially expressing concern over the treatment of lower paid staff in contrast with those who earn the most at the university.

The University of Manchester has the 23rd highest number of staff paid above £100,000 in the country. Dr Adam Ozanne, President of UMUCU, questioned at the rally how the university could struggle to pay those at the bottom while continuing to pay more than 100 staff more than £100,000. Protesters talked of feeling “undervalued” by university management.

Unison, who represent the catering staff, have been in talks with UMC since March, while staff have been told that the cuts are due to the financial pressures the company are facing.

However according to the leaked e-mails back in March, the company turned a loss of £114,554 in 2013/14 into a profit of £164,362 in 2014/15. It has also since been claimed by workers for UMC that the company has made a profit of almost £1.5 million over a four-year period.

Sean Gibson, Unison North West Regional Organiser, told the Manchester Evening News: “The proposed restructure would be damaging to students and to staff.

“Some of our members are sole breadwinners and their families will suffer if their working hours and incomes are cut.

“It was welcome news for staff when UMC decided to introduce the full living wage across campus in February, but this restructure would mean that UMC would be giving with one hand and taking with the other.”

Hannah McCarthy, Campaigns & Citizenship Officer at Manchester University Students’ Union, who helped to organise the rally, in a statement prior to the demo said: “I am appalled be the university’s complete disregard and contempt for the staff who work here. That’s why I’m joining Thursday’s demo to demand that they receive no job losses, no pay cuts and are brought in-house to be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve.”

McCarthy also told The Mancunion, in response to the claims that staff were threatened with pay deductions: “I’m appalled to hear the news that management have allegedly threatened catering staff with pay docking if attempting to exercise the right to protest in order to save there jobs. This merely gives more proof, if ever was needed, that management merely see pound signs on a spreadsheets, as opposed to the human lives that they are systematically ruining with these horrific redundancies and pay cuts.”

A University of Manchester spokesperson did not respond to the alleged threats to staff in attendance at the rally of a deduction in pay, stating only that a “consultation is ongoing between UMC Ltd and UNISON over a restructure of University catering operations on campus (FoodOnCampus) and in residences (FoodInResidence).

“A voluntary severance scheme was opened on 11th March for impacted staff and applications are being taken up to and including 29th April.

“In addition to this, any other catering vacancies that arise have been reserved in order to provide potential opportunities for affected staff.

“The University hopes to successfully conclude this process early in the summer.”