Over 70% of Sussex’s catering staff are to be made redundant and potentially replaced by agency staff under plans announced by catering contractor Chartwells. These are staff who are currently cooking food and delivering it to the hundreds of students in self isolation at the University.

These staff were outsourced in 2013 and are now employed by Chartwells, a subsidiary of Compass group who made an operating profit of £1.6 billion last year. They have been told that 39 of 55 jobs are to go - the current timetable is that staff who do not make the cut will be dismissed on 17 November.

There is no need for this to happen - among other things, there is a rapidly increasing demand for meals for self-isolating students, a service which Chartwells staff are currently performing heroically in the face of the pandemic. 

They need our help to call on the University of Sussex to intervene, halt this rushed process and devise a proper plan which serves the needs of students, staff and the whole University community. The petition below is supported by Sussex UCU, Unite and Unison branches as well as the Students’ Union - please sign it and pass it onto friends, family and colleagues!

For more details please visit: https://ucusussex.wixsite.com/ucusussex/post/mass-catering-job-cuts-planned-at-the-university-of-sussex 

Alternatively, contact us via @CrisisJusticeSx on Twitter. 

Thank you.