By Jonny Barton and Sophie Turton
More than 100 students and staff protested at The University of Sussex over plans to outsource campus jobs.
Protesters fear privatisation of security and catering services will lead to inferior services for students and the possible loss of 235 jobs.
The university is planning to privatise services including estates and facilities management, residential services, catering and conferencing.
University of Sussex Student Union president Kelly McBride, said: “With catering in particular, we feel that a private company won’t cater for student’s needs as much because it is not the most profitable.”
The university said it is not intending to make redundancies but staff will be transferred to contracts with new employers.
“A lot of these staff are some of the lowest paid workers on campus,” said Luke Martell, academic staff member.
“There are various ways to make profits; one of the ways is to cut costs in pay. There is plenty of evidence for this in other places.”
The protest marched through the campus on Wednesday, September 26, passing the university administrative centre, Sussex House, as well as the workplaces of many of the affected staff.
A statement released by the university said the move to new providers will aid in the continued development and quality of its services.
“Working with external partners is the best way of enhancing and developing its estates and catering services for its staff and student.”
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