Hillsborough campaigner Phil Scraton slammed 'unjust' job cuts at the University of Liverpool in an open letter today (Tuesday, August 24).
The job cuts are the focus of a dispute between the university and staff that has seen protests, strikes and a marking boycott since a shake up of the Health and Life Sciences faculty was announced in January this year.
Author and professor Phil Scraton signed the letter condemning the redundancies along with six fellow honorary graduates of the university.
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They addressed the open letter to University of Liverpool vice chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Beer.
In the letter, seen exclusively by the ECHO, they wrote: "As Honorary Graduates of the University of Liverpool, we are writing to express our concerns about the proposed redundancies of academic staff in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the damaging effect on students of those measures.
"The loss to the university of some of the most respected experts in the world in their subjects, and of researchers closely involved in tackling local health issues, has been a dismaying prospect.
"To select staff for redundancy on a set of grant income targets that had not been previously disclosed to those individuals, let alone agreed with them, is wholly unjust.
"The fact that the redundancies and effects on students have reached the national news, and that experts associated with the University are resigning or refusing to work with it, is an indication that the University’s reputation is being severely damaged.
"We urge the University leadership to reconsider its actions, to move now to resolve the dispute with the trade union and reinstate the final two members of staff at risk of redundancy."
Also signing were Hillsborough solicitor Elkan Abrahamson, The Singh Twins from the Wirral, Judge Dredd and Watchmen comic book artist John Higgins, Professor Sir Paul Preston, and Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the godfather of genetic fingerprinting.
Jeffreys' technique helped catch Colin Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls and whose scheduled release from prison was confirmed this summer.
The open letter comes two weeks after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the proposed redundancies during a protest that packed University Square.
Originally 47 people were due to lose their jobs based on a 'rank-and-yank' criteria critics say is common in corporate circles.
The number was whittled down to two after UCU strike action, a student protest, and a marking boycott that left students with unmarked work and partial grades.
At the protest earlier this month, Anthony O'Hanlon, president of the University of Liverpool UCU branch said: "This began with 47 redundancies intended to address health inequalities in Liverpool."
He added: "People on Breck Road, on Stanley Road, on Park Road, don't need managerial vanity projects from millionaires. They need an education and a health service that's free and for all."
Responding to the open letter, a University of Liverpool spokesperson told the ECHO : "The University does not make proposals of redundancies lightly.
"Recent discussions have led to a significant increase in the voluntary severance payment on offer for those colleagues who remain at risk of redundancy.
"We have been engaged in productive dialogue with campus Trade Union UCU over two remaining potential redundancies and are hopeful of reaching a conclusion soon."
