RMIT JOB LOSSES - NTEU CALLS FOR NO INCREASEIN WORKLOADS AND A FREEZE ON BONUSES
August 16, 2005
The NTEU has called on the RMIT Vice-Chancellor to give a public commitment to no increase in staff workloads and a freeze on all performance bonuses for 2005 and 2006, NTEU Victorian Division Secretary Matthew McGowan said today.
Mr McGowan was responding to RMIT’s announcement that over 100 redundancies will occur shortly.
“RMIT's financial problems have been widely and publicly acknowledged, but it is years of management mistakes that have caused the financial problems, and it is the hard work and goodwill of staff who have kept the university functioning in very difficult circumstances.”
“Staff who have worked hard and often beyond their normal requirement to see the university through its most difficult years are now about to be told they are no longer required,” Mr McGowan said.
NTEU RMIT Branch President Jeanette Pierce said that the Union has repeatedly voiced its opposition to any reduction in staffing levels and raised serious concerns about a likely blow-out in workloads for those staff remaining.
“The NTEU is determined to take all legitimate steps to minimise the harm that we believe these job losses will cause to staff and the university,” Ms Pierce said.
“Our call to the Vice-Chancellor is to ensure that it is not only non-executive staff bearing the brunt of the pain.”
For further information and comment:
Matthew McGowan, NTEU Vic Division Secretary, (03) 9254 1930
Jeanette Pierce, NTEU RMIT Branch President, (03) 9925 2498