Political expert boycotts London Metropolitan University

A NATIONAL campaign to boycott London Metropolitan University over the threat of 550 redundancies continued this week as a political expert cancelled her visit to an East End campus. The University and College Union (UCU) declared in September that the un

A NATIONAL campaign to boycott London Metropolitan University over the threat of 550 redundancies continued this week as a political expert cancelled her visit to an East End campus.

The University and College Union (UCU) declared in September that the university would be the first in the country to be 'grey listed' following a nine-month dispute over job cuts.

And this week political journalist and human rights campaigner Lesley Abdela showed her support for the boycott by cancelling her talk at The Women's Library based at the university's Aldgate campus in Old Castle Street.

She said: "I deeply regret not being able to appear at the event in November, but I am simply not willing to break the academic boycott."

Bosses at the university, the largest in London with 34,000 students, announced earlier this year that 550 job posts could be axed.

They say the cutbacks are necessary as they need to repay more than �36m after auditors found drop-out rates were higher than stated and that it had been overpaid since 2005.

But union members, who have led three strikes and mass rallies this year across the university campuses in Whitechapel, Aldgate, Moorgate and Holloway, are urging bosses to agree to talks with the employment relations service Acas.