UPDATE ACT
Fighting huge cuts at ANU
I
n April, the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU) announced a plan to slash up to 150 jobs and cut $40 million from the University budget. Extraordinarily, this was not because the ANU was in deficit, but because Vice-Chancellor Ian Young wants a bigger annual budget surplus than the (pessimistically) projected $14 million.
A rapidly arranged NTEU mass meeting of over 200 members condemned the cuts, as did the ANU Students’ Association. Over 400 staff and students then rallied in protest and marched on the ANU Chancelry. Many people wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, whose preferred consultation method appears to be an email. The campaign against the cuts gained extensive coverage in both ACT and national media. On 30 April, Ian Young announced that he had responded to protests and consultation by pulling back very significantly on his original plans. Unlike Sydney University’s Michael Spence, Ian Young did consult staff before implementing his plan and the plan changed as a result of it. Nonetheless, the Vice-Chancellor still says he intends to cut his budget by $40 million, but to do this over three years rather than a few months. Staff cuts are to be achieved through attrition, early retirement agreements and voluntary redundancy, whereas the original plan involved up to 150 forced retrenchments. The Vice-Chancellor says he will consult heads of Colleges to determine areas that are to be cut. It is clear that NTEU members at the ANU will need to be ready to defend their areas of work from cuts driven simply by the desire for a larger surplus.
To explain the embarrassing contradiction with its earlier announcement that forced redundancies would be avoided, management claimed the School of Music cuts were a separate issue that had been in planning for years.
Spill and fill averted The Union immediately lodged a dispute about the proposed ‘spill and fill’ redundancy procedure, and the announcement of redundancies without prior consultation with staff. These both breached the ANU Enterprise Agreement. We secured ANU management’s agreement that the change proposal must be managed according to the Agreement. This meant redundancies could not occur until management had genuinely consulted, and shown for each position that it was actually redundant. The University must then attempt to redeploy any redundant staff.
Massive, Canberra-wide protest NTEU, students and the Canberra community have vehemently protested the proposed cuts and sacking of staff. Massive musical protests compellingly displayed the extraordinary quality of the School of Music’s staff and students, who are a crucial, central part of the musical life of Canberra. This is why community members joined NTEU members and ANU students in a protest rally of over a thousand people. It is why a ‘Support Our School’ concert overflowed the University’s Llewellyn Hall, breaking attendance records. A petition against the cuts with 25,000 signatures was presented to the ANU Council and the Federal Parliament, and many wrote passionate, cogently argued submissions to the Vice-Chancellor. Nonetheless, ANU Council at its latest meeting voted to back the Vice-Chancellor’s change process. An NTEU mass meeting has voted unanimously in support of further action to save the school if needed. At press time, Ian Young has not announced his final decision about School of Music cuts. To ignore the overwhelming community horror at his plan would show extraordinary arrogance, and make it clear that all staff at the ANU must be prepared for hard battles against economic rationalist decisions based on highly questionable accounting. A Jane Maze, ACT Division Organiser
Turning on the School of Music Within days of this backdown, ANU management shocked the campus by announcing a spill of all thirty-two positions in the School of Music. Sacked academic and general staff were to be invited to express interest in being rehired in a restructured School with twelve fewer positions and a vastly different curriculum. A significant amount of teaching was to be outsourced. JULY 2012 www.nteu.org.au
NTEU members, students and the Canberra community protesting the proposed cuts and sacking of staff. Photo Jane Maze 7