Logo of the University of Wollongong Australia.
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The University of Wollongong (UOW) is facing criticism over its approach to assisting staff throughout proposed substantial job cuts while the chancellor defends the university’s actions during a Senate inquiry.
The institution, located on the NSW South Coast and enrolling over 36,000 students, plans to eliminate nearly 95 positions as a strategy to address a $35 million financial shortfall.

Nonetheless, staff have voiced concerns about the university’s lack of transparency, claiming important issues remain unaddressed and expressing worries about potential organizational impacts if the reductions proceed.

Logo of the University of Wollongong Australia.
Up to 95 jobs at the University of Wollongong are set to go. (ABC Illawarra/Tim Fernandez)

Dr. Jonathon Mackay, a faculty member in the School of Business and Branch Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), asserted the university routinely avoids answering challenging inquiries.

“I have been to countless meetings with staff who are fobbed off by managers and told to raise specific questions with more senior managers, who in turn are unable to answer questions,” he told 9news.com.au.

“Staff are extremely frustrated by being invited to discussions to express their concerns, only to have those concerns dismissed if not aligned with the university’s views.

“This was confirmed by a member of the senior executive who told staff at a forum that they won’t respond to feedback that they disagree with.”

Chancellor Michael Still, during a Senate inquiry into governance quality at Australian higher education institutions, conceded to being uncertain about staff sentiment, despite his claims of conducting a comprehensive and transparent process.

University of Wollongong Chancellor Michael Still
Chancellor Michael Still was forced to defend the university’s actions at a recent Senate inquiry. (University Chancellors Council)

“I don’t know what they’re feeling,” he said.

“We are driving the most open, transparent, engaged and careful process one can imagine in any institution.

“This is by far the most careful [process] on behalf of staff that I have ever seen.”

Mackay countered, stating the university hasn’t provided sufficient reasoning for the measures being implemented, instead compelling staff to demonstrate their importance to the organization.

He said women in lower-paid positions would be particularly impacted.

“The university consistently says how much consultation they think they’ve had, but it’s about quality, not quantity,” he said.

“The majority of the sessions were led by senior management who essentially demanded staff justify why they shouldn’t be laid off, without offering any transparency on the decision-making process behind these changes beyond vague, repetitive responses.”

Dr Jonathon Mackay, Branch Secretary of the NTEU and an academic in the School of Business at the University of Wollongong.
Dr Jonathon Mackay claims UOW has refused to answer difficult questions or address certain concerns raised by staff. (Supplied)

He also believes the cuts will leave the university shortchanged, which could actually have more of a financial burden than a benefit.

“We’ll pay out millions in redundancy packages to save millions in recurrent costs but then incur millions in hiring the same people we gave redundancies to,” he said.

That the proposed cuts have come despite the high salary on offer to executives has caused some angst among staff.

Still claimed high salaries had to be offered to executives to entice them to join the university and that high executive salaries and job losses were not linked.

“We need the best people we can get to be the executives of the organisation; that is a competitive environment, and if we don’t offer a competitive salary, they’ll go somewhere else and we won’t have the quality of people to drive the institution,” he said.

“That there are job losses is indeed a great sadness for many of those – a great happiness for others – but the two are not the same issue at all.”

UOW has been approached for further comment.

Sydney, Australia - May 8, 2014: Traffic moves past the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) at dusk. Pictured is the new Broadway/ITE  Building, which features a gill-like facade.
The University of Technology Sydney was forced to pause its proposed cuts last week after a SafeWork NSW ruling. (Getty)

Pause lifted after SafeWork intervention

The vice chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney, Andrew Parfitt, also appeared at the hearing yesterday as it goes through its own process of cuts.
Last week, SafeWork NSW ruled in favour of a motion brought by the NTEU to pause proposed cuts to jobs and course offerings at the university, but Parfitt told the committee that this had now been lifted.

“We’re balancing two stressful circumstances: the stress of people who want to know what the proposal is so that they can engage in a conversation around it, and the stress of those who are potentially uncertain about the process,” he said.

“So we engaged with the SafeWork inspector on Friday to adjust the timing and the nature of the communication.

“We had thought that we had adequate provisions in place, but the SafeWork inspector thought otherwise.”

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