LONDON, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A delegation from the Cambridge University Press (CUP) workforce threatened with redundancy is putting their case directly to the Syndicate - CUP's governing body - on Friday, 13 March.

More than 150 jobs at CUP are under threat, despite the world-famous institution making a profit. Alarm at the job losses has been expressed by Cambridge City Council.

The delegation from CUP's threatened printing division and the publishing education group will address the Syndicate in Cambridge.

Unite/GPMU National Officer, Ann Field said: 'The delegation will be making the case that CUP is still a profitable organisation with a hard-working and dedicated work force - and that jobs should not be axed unnecessarily during a recession.'

'In recent years, staff have lost their final salary pension scheme; experienced a three-year wage freeze; and its print members had increased productivity by 80%.'

Unite highlights poor control by the University over management decisions in two parts of the institution (CUP and Cambridge Assessment), which resulted in the loss of the five-year GBP50 million Cambridge Assessment contract, which now threatens to end 425 years of continuous CUP printing in the city.

Unite said that if The Press and University had ensured that adequate measures were taken, including a one-off GBP300,000 investment at Duxford, near Cambridge, it would have met the 'secure environment' demand of Cambridge Assessment, which is Europe's largest assessment agency incorporating three major exam boards.

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:

http://www.unitetheunion.com/cup for the latest campaign information from Unite and the online petition to save CUP jobs.

Ann Field, +44(0)7831-676-587; Shaun Noble, Communications Officer (Third Sector), +44(0)20-7420-8951, +44(0)7768-693-940; Steve Ireland, Unite regional officer, +44(0)7798-754-066