Industrial reporter

PLANS by the University of Sussex to make a lecturer redundant despite advertising a new permanent post that includes all of his current duties were condemned by the University and College Union (UCU) yesterday.

Philosophy lecturer James Furner has been employed at the institution near Brighton on consecutive fixed-term part-time contracts for two years, but earlier this week the university wrote to him to say that his employment will end on August 31, according to the union.

The sudden news comes after the university advertised for a new full-time lecturer in philosophy last month. The successful candidate “will be expected” to teach the same four undergraduate modules that Mr Furner taught in 2022-23, the UCU said.

The institution’s procedures allow for a redundancy if its “requirements for staff to carry out work of a particular kind are expected to cease or diminish,” but the union argued that in this case, the organisation is not reducing its overall staff requirements in philosophy.

University of Sussex UCU branch president Jo Pawlik said the move “flies in the face of the progress on anti-casualisation that we have been making with the university over the last year and is as baffling as it is enraging.

“Refusing this current employee job security continues the shocking trend in the sector of treating academic staff as though they are expendable.

“It is irreconcilable with the university's ambition to be an employer of choice and we call on management to reverse its decision.”

The institution, which according to the UCU has a net operating cash inflow of £57 million, told the Morning Star: “We cannot comment on personal contractual issues.”

A petition protesting against Mr Furner’s redundancy can be accessed here.