COVID-19 has affected every single one of us, causing everyone to make tough decisions. Employers are not immune, and they too must make choices to ensure they survive the current health crisis and pending financial crisis.
The University of Newcastle is one of the largest employers in our region. So, when management make choices that affect the lives of university staff, the impact on our community can be significant. As such, everyone should pay attention to the choices made by university management as caretakers of one the region's most significant public institutions.
University management has argued recently that, despite holding eye-watering amounts of cash and investments following a decade of sector-leading surpluses, COVID-19 has presented a "unique opportunity" to deal with a claimed underlying financial problem and to cut underperforming courses and jobs. But this has nothing to do with COVID-19. This is a choice to make the most of a crisis. A choice to prioritise buildings and to hold onto surplus cash in the bank, over staff.
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While many institutions and businesses are doing everything they can to support their staff through this tough time, university management is using this "unique opportunity" to push staff into unemployment. This is a choice; a choice to prioritise management's financial KPIs over the wellbeing of the university and Hunter communities.
The National Tertiary Education Union's members also had to make difficult choices in this crisis. Most significantly, our members were asked by management to consider varying the hard won pay and conditions of their enterprise agreements. In negotiations we advised management that our members were prepared to defer pay rises and reduce leave balances in order to financially support the university. In return, members asked the Vice Chancellor and senior managers to share the personal financial burden (keeping in mind that the VC and senior managers gave themselves a pay rise in February) and most importantly to ensure job security for the thousands of casual, contract and ongoing staff during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Our members' requests were wholly rejected. The NTEU's negotiations with management exposed a disturbing truth. Regardless of the sacrifices staff are willing to make, and the comparatively strong financial position of the university (with more than $500 million of cash and investments in its coffers), the Vice Chancellor and management's choice appears made: no job is safe and there will be mass sackings.
It is the staff of the university who have delivered its financial success. The NTEU remains willing to negotiate and staff remain willing to sacrifice further contributions. However, it is only reasonable that staff expect their loyalty and sacrifices to be matched by senior management and reciprocated through job security in these difficult and uncertain times.
The University of Newcastle is our regional university. Management needs to make choices that recognise its value and its centrality to the educational and economic welfare of our community.
