Around 40-60 students have occupied a conference centre and top floor of a college of Sussex building as “a final recourse” to avoid the privatisation of campus services.
The occupation follows an indication on Thursday when 300 staff and scholars marched through campus to oppose the outsourcing of catering and estate management services at Sussex.
At the tip of the protest, a bunch of 40 students occupied portion of Bramber House, where an external event was occurring.
A further 20 students joined the occupation over night, in keeping with a Sussex Against Privatisation spokesperson, despite the presence of university and personal security staff.
The university provoked anger when it announced in May that it was to dump some campus services, meaning 235 workers might be transferred to non-public companies from August 2013.
Since then it has held meetings with trade unions, staff and scholars but pressed ahead with the bidding process to locate a non-public partner. Sussex Against Privatisation says the opposition to outsourcing services is powerful and that its actions are a “last recourse… in an effort to guarantee that student and staff voices are heard”.
“We had a big rally yesterday and a solidarity demo this afternoon. But these events aren’t only a one-off, there’ve been boycotts and petitions held all year long towards the university’s plans.
“While privatisation may have an impact on students’ lives when it comes to the standard of services, our first concern is the impact this could have on staff – it’s their job security which will be put in peril.”
John Duffy, University of Sussex registrar, says there’ll be no redundancies as portion of the outsourcing, and that staff’s terms and prerequisites will remain the similar.
“This can be a long-term strategic development by the university to make sure that we will be able to enhance and develop the high-quality services we offer to our students and staff as we grow, with student numbers increasing from fewer than 11,000 in 2008 to a projected 18,000 by 2018.”
“As we wade through the [bidding] process, we’re providing information and support to these staff who can be transferring to external partners. We also continue to fulfill and discuss our plans with the 3 campus trade unions. We’re keeping other staff and scholars informed in regards to the process.”
But Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, says the university has didn’t consult staff and scholars.
“It’s deeply concerning that the call to outsource university services have been made with so little transparency or consultation- making it impossible to understand whether these plans are either sustainable or budget friendly for money.
“I’ve raised these fears with the management and am still anticipating a solution as to why it refused to think of any in-house service improvement plan, instead presenting ‘doing nothing’ because the only alternative to outsourcing.
“The university now has an obligation to hear the troubles of staff, lots of whom feel anxious about their futures, trade union representatives and scholars who’re today challenging the privatisation agenda in education.”
Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and faculty Union, has expressed her support for the occupation: “The university administration is making an attempt to unilaterally drive through a deeply unpopular and flawed reform, without proper consultation or assessment of other solutions.
“We stand with our members of their struggle to safeguard the working conditions of staff at Sussex and to uphold the speculation of a public university.”
