JHI staff facing redundancy fears
MEMBERS of the Prospect union at the James Hutton Institute (JHI), based in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh, have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in a consultative ballot.
The dispute is in relation to a 0% pay offer, which the union says is a huge realterms pay cut.
A spokesperson for the union pointed to a ‘recent significant deterioration in the Institute’s finances’, adding it is becoming clear that an imminent redundancy programme is likely.
Ian Perth, Prospect negotiator, said: “Since the beginning of pay negotiations last year it is clear that the financial picture has deteriorated significantly and is not sustainable.
“We are calling for urgent intervention from the Scottish Government to ensure that if redundancies are necessary, people are properly compensated, and that those staff who remain can have confidence that the Institute has a long-term future.
“James Hutton Institute has a world-renowned reputation for research and carries out vital work for the Scottish Government that brings essential benefits to Scotland’s rural and national economies. This cannot be eroded. We cannot have vital research done on the cheap.
“There has been significant capital investment from the Scottish Government into scientific research to much fanfare in recent years, but this cannot be at the cost of institutions’ annual budgets being squeezed so significantly.
“While many in the public and private sector have had significant pay increases recently, our members at the Institute have had no costof-living increase since July 2022.”
JHI is an internationally networked organisation and operates from multiple sites, including two main ones in Scotland at Aberdeen and Dundee.
It employs more than 500 scientists and support staff, making it one of the biggest research centres in the UK and the first of its type in Europe.
The Institute is one of the Scottish Government’s main research providers in environmental, crop and food science, and plays a major role in the Scottish knowledge economy.
A spokesperson from JHI said: “Like many other organisations, we are having to deal with an unprecedented financial situation caused by external factors and the difficult economic situation.
“In our case, our energy costs have more than doubled, compounding long-term reductions in our Scottish Government funding and acute increases in other business costs such as insurance.
“We have been able to safeguard jobs during various external crises over the last few years, and have been exploring all options to reduce costs and generate other sources of income in order to have greater certainty and resilience around our financial situation.
“However, our options must now include a reduction in staff numbers, and we can no longer safeguard jobs in the way we would wish to.
“We are unable to provide a timeline on these decisions until all options have been investigated. Once we have further clarity, updating colleagues will be our immediate priority.
“We appreciate that this is a stressful time for colleagues, and we are doing all we can to manage this situation as sensitively and supportively as possible.”
Scottish Conservative rural affairs spokesperson Rachael Hamilton said the challenges facing JHI are the result of the Scottish Government failing to provide adequate funding.
She said: “The James Hutton Institute is one of Scotland’s most iconic organisations and provides endless benefits to our rural communities and our economy as a whole.
“News of these potential job losses are deeply disappointing and my thoughts are with employees who will understandably be anxious right now.
“The fact that they are on the table at all is a direct result of the SNP-Green government failing to properly resource the Institute to ensure they can still carry out their outstanding research.
“I would urge all sides to get back round the table and pull out all the stops to avoid this action going ahead and protect jobs at James Hutton sites across the country.”