Hundreds of staff at the University of Liverpool have completed the first week of a sustained strike over job cuts.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) are taking part in industrial action following the announcement of plans to slash teaching and research jobs in the faculty of health and life sciences.
A rally in support of the strike was held at the university on Friday as staff and students showed support for the battle against redundancies.
The strike comes after 84% of UCU members backed strike action to fight the university’s proposals.
Those plans originally intended to see up to 47 jobs cut, but this has now been revised down to 32 in the wake of UCU efforts.
Concern also remains about the selection criteria, despite changes following issues raised by the UCU, which has around 1,300 members at the University of Liverpool.
On Monday, the first day of a strike that lasted this week and is scheduled to continue until June 11, four city MPs wrote to the University of Liverpool to back the UCU campaign.
A letter backed by Kim Johnson, Paula Barker, Ian Byrne and Dan Carden said: "Public statements from the university that these redundancies are part of an exercise to tackle the extreme health inequalities and unmet health needs in the Liverpool City Region are insensitive.
"Secure employment is a key contributor to health outcomes and the impact on job security will have severe consequences within the university and across the Liverpool City Region."
Criticising the "highly problematic selection criteria" set to be applied and calling for the redundancies to be withdrawn, the MPs added: "These redundancies are are not borne out of financial necessity and are completely avoidable."
The strikes are taking place amid the important end of year examination period, meaning disruption for the university will be especially severe, the union has previously said.
Action short of strike also began earlier this month and included working to contracted hours and boycotting all voluntary activities.
Speaking earlier this month, University of Liverpool UCU branch president Anthony O’Hanlon said: "While we welcome the abandonment of the doomed journal citation metric, and the protection of 15 jobs as a result of the work of the branch, the situation remains equally dangerous for our members and for the sector more widely.
"The criteria have been designed to place maximum discretion in the hands of managers to attack jobs and threaten livelihoods in the midst of a pandemic.
"There is no economic or moral justification for these redundancies.
"To prevent a campaign of sustained industrial action, all the university has to do is withdraw them."
Announcing the reorganisation in February, Professor Louise Kenny, Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the university, said the proposals were part of a project being "implemented in order to help tackle the extreme health inequalities and unmet health needs in the Liverpool City Region, both of which have been brought to the fore throughout the Covid-19 pandemic".
Prof Kenny said: "We understand this is a period of significant change in many different ways, and we want to work closely with all colleagues to answer questions, allay concerns, and offer support and guidance where needed.
“We will continue to engage comprehensively with colleagues and address specific concerns throughout the consultation phase and, as such, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further as our own staff should be the first to receive any updates or information not already available."
