The NTEU says the result was a vote of no confidence in Vice-Chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell, but she remains undeterred. Photo: Andrew Mears/ANU.
ANU staff have overwhelmingly rejected the financially troubled university’s proposal that they forgo a December 2024 pay rise of 2.5 per cent.
The National Tertiary Education Union said 88 per cent of staff voted against the plan, which the ANU said would have saved $15 million and prevented some job losses.
The NTEU said the resounding ‘no’ vote now meant the pay rise would now proceed as previously agreed under the Enterprise Agreement.
NTEU ACT Division Secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy said the vote should never have happened, and the result was a significant setback for Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell’s leadership.
“The union has been central to winning, and now defending, the pay rise for ANU staff,” he said.
“On issues relating to pay and conditions, university staff trust their union over university management.”
Dr Clohesy said the blocking of international student caps by the Coalition and the Greens had changed the financial calculus for the ANU.
“Now that plans for international student caps have been torpedoed, there is no continuing rationale for job cuts or pay cuts at the ANU,” he said.
NTEU ANU Branch President Millan Pintos-Lopez said the result was a clear vote of no confidence in the ANU management.
“Enough is enough: the university’s leadership need to reflect on their approach,” he said.
“I urge all university executives to take the end-of-year period as an opportunity to go away and reconsider how they’ve been running the ANU and how they’ve been treating staff.
“We need a new leadership style, or we need a new leadership. It’s up to them which path they take.”
However, Professor Bell said there would be no change in ANU’s plans to reduce spending by $250 million per year, including $100 million on salaries.
“We will continue to review our financial situation and budgetary targets on an ongoing basis, taking into account feedback received through our consultative processes, our statutory obligations, our progress in achieving savings, our revenue, the significant financial challenges and external factors affecting the university,” she said.
“We will keep working with our community to address our financial challenge.”
An ANU spokesperson said the university would work to find these savings in other ways, with all options on the table to return ANU to financial sustainability.
A total of 4782 staff participated in the vote.
Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Riotact.
