Support from Leanne Wood A.M.

Leanne Wood A.M. has raised the equal opportunities aspect of the proposed cuts at the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the Assembly yesterday, with the Leader of the House, Carwyn Jones.

She said:

"You have already been asked about proposed funding cuts at Cardiff University’s centre for Lifelong Learning, but I wish to raise a different aspect of those cuts. Over the past five years, Cardiff University has made a profit of £45.4 million. However, it claims that the lifelong learning department will lose between £200,000 and £300,000 a year after the equal pay assimilations have been made. This point was confirmed by the First Minister earlier.
In my view, this is a discriminatory proposal. Staff at the centre are largely paid by the hour, and so they are not entitled to the same terms and conditions as full-time lecturers. They are not entitled to sick pay, leave, equal pay or the university superannuation scheme pension benefits. Some 70 per cent of the hours taught in the centre are taught by women, and 30 per cent are taught by men, and, in the main, these are part-time jobs. Therefore, it is clear that these cuts will disproportionately affect part-time women workers—those same workers who have campaigned with their trade unions for equal pay are about to lose out because of this proposal. I am sure that you will agree that that is a perverse situation."

Read a full account on Leanne Wood's blog here.