450 STAFF AND STUDENTS RALLY AGAINST NEWCASTLE JOB CUTS
May 18, 2005
Community campaign continues as NTEU commences legal action
A rally of more than 450 staff and students at the University of Newcastle today heard the Shadow Minister for Education, Jenny Macklin, call on the Howard government to provide emergency funding to avert the proposed 450 job losses recently announced by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Nick Saunders.
“Contrary to his statement made yesterday, Peter Costello and the Howard government are responsible for this situation at University of Newcastle” the Minister said. “Over the past 9 years this Government has stripped the University sector of $5 billion dollars and, at the University of Newcastle the amount is at least $120 million. This Government now spends more on private schools than it does on universities”.
The Shadow Minister went on to say that “this government has created this problem and now must take urgent action to redress it. It is amazing to hear that the Vice Chancellor has claimed that the loss of 450 jobs will not adversely affect the quality of education programs here at the University of Newcastle.”
The Federal member for Newcastle Sharon Grierson highlighted the effect of these job losses to the Hunter region. “Every job lost at the University will result in a further 3 job losses in the region” she said. “The pain that is and will be felt by staff will be shared by all people in the Region. This situation will be disastrous for Newcastle in particular and the Hunter region in general.”
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) which represents more than 60% of all academic staff and an ever increasing number of general staff at the University, has vowed to support its members and prevent these job losses from occurring without the direct consultation and participation of staff. In particular, whilst the number of jobs have been set at 450 this relates to full-time equivalent positions which could mean as many as 600 actual staff.
The NTEU has filed a dispute in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and is seeking conciliation at a hearing to be held next Thursday. The NSW Secretary of the NTEU, Ms Chris Game, told staff that the NTEU is determined to make the University honour its commitments under the recently certified Enterprise Agreements whereby the University management has to realistically consult with staff and follow an agreed set of processes in managing change and determining workloads.
“Professor Saunders is not only ignoring his responsibilities to his staff under the Enterprise Agreement, he appears to also not be consulting with the University’s Council which holds ultimate accountability,” Ms Game said. “The need to reduce staff numbers should be managed more effectively, include natural attrition and voluntary separations, occur over a broader span of time, involve realistic staff consultation and follow the agreed processes of the Enterprise Agreements.”
Staff and students held the demonstration as the NSW Auditor General tabled a report which revealed that half of NSW universities are showing an operating deficit, with the University of Western Sydney recording a deficit for 2004 equal to that shown by Newcastle of $26.9 million.
“Today’s Auditor General report is further confirmation the extent of Nelson’s strategy of starving universities of funds in order to more easily put the Government’s ideological stamp on them. Irreversible damage is now being done to our universities - surely this report and the crisis at Newcastle should be enough to force the Government to act and properly index University funding”.
For further information or comment, contact:
Ms Chris Game, Secretary, NTEU NSW, Tel: (02) 9212 5433; 0408 007 612