The management of University West first announced its cost-cutting measures in September. Initially, there was talk of around 50 employees losing their jobs. Following redeployment analyses and negotiations between the unions and the employer during the autumn, 29 employees have now been made redundant.
“It is of course very unfortunate that competent people have to leave. Many have felt safe because they have worked here for many years. But if you are included in a group subject to order of priority rules during the negotiations, length of employment doesn’t help,” says Christina Karlsson, vice-chair of Saco-S and SULF at University West.
The employees affected have varying notice periods, some up to a year. Some are currently on sick leave, she says.
“This has hit many of our staff hard and they are very upset. They didn’t understand how they could have ended up in this priority group for negotiations. I think many people thought ‘no, it doesn’t apply to me, because I’ve been here for such a long time’.”
Cuts have had to be made in five of University West’s six units. When the process began during the autumn, only the Department of Engineering Science had a balanced budget.
Karlsson says that the employer has listened to the union’s arguments throughout the process, even though she feels that certain decisions could have been better thought through.
“Things might then have been a little different. If the groundwork had been done in a different, clearer way, the group created under the order of priority rules would also have been easier for people to understand. The whole process might then have been better,” she says.
Mikael Brisslert, a national officer at SULF, understands that employees can sometimes find it difficult to understand and accept the employer’s right to manage and allocate work.
“We would have preferred it if the university had been in less of a hurry and much more transparent in their communication to employees about where they were in the process. And explained more clearly the basis for their decisions.” he says.
He also points out that the process has been managed without any disagreements between the unions and the employer. He also understands why 29 employees need to be made redundant.
“It is clear that University West is running a large deficit, and that the employer needs to act to get the finances under control. The fact that they have to get rid of such a large number of employees as a result is of course extremely negative. I am concerned about the employees who remain and the effects this will have on their workloads and work environment,” says Brisslert.
Bettina Johansson, Head of HR at University West, says it is regrettable that they have had to go through a redundancy process and describes the last six months as a difficult period.
“The aim of the process was to achieve a balanced budget for 2025 and 2026,” she explains. “These redundancies are for financial reasons. Like many other higher education institutions, we are facing a tough financial situation. We have seen increases in both salary costs and operating costs. We have not seen, however, that our sector has been prioritised with increased funding or resources. So we have had to address our financial situation.”
Regarding the union’s criticism of rushing the process, she says their ambition has been to communicate and implement the process in a transparent, clear and predictable manner.
“We have had high ambitions and really tried to do this as well as possible. But as always, there are things that could be improved. Now it is important for us to evaluate the process and see what we can change, or what we could have done differently. We will talk both to managers and to the union representatives to see what we can learn from this process,” says Johansson.
Local union association vice-chair Christina Karlsson emphasises that the employer must now put in place the resources needed to revive job satisfaction among the staff.
“They now need to feel that they are able to do their jobs and look forward to the future again. Bring in some positivity, in whatever form. At the moment, things are pretty tough for many people,” she says.
Bettina Johansson, Head of HR, agrees. She is aware that it may take time for some employees to feel job satisfaction again, as this is a major change that has affected not only those who have to leave, she says.
“I also know that managers are aware of this. What will be important is to listen to people’s needs and see how we can work to create the right conditions going forward.”
