Lecturers call on Mandelson to protest against massive job cuts at London Metropolitan University, Gemma Collins reports.

Lecturers take protest to Mandelson after halting colleges.

14 July 2009

By Gemma Collins

SIXTY lecturers who brought their college campus to a standstill today in London’s East End have just held a protest rally in the street before taking a petition against job cuts to Whitehall.
They warned university bosses during the 30-minute rally which ended a few minutes ago outside the London Metropolitan’s campus in Whitechapel that “there will be more action to follow.”

STANDSTILL

They have now joined lecturers who have walked out at the university’s other campuses in a delegation to hand a petition in to Peter Mandelson at the Department of Business & Skills.
The campuses at Whitechapel, Aldgate, Moorgate and the main site in Holloway have all been brought to a standstill today in a joint action by the lecturers’ union UCU and public service union Unison.
The university has been hit by ‘repayment’ demands by Whitehall totaling £36 million and is responding with plans to axe 550 posts.
The unions are calling for a public inquiry.