31 July 2013

ANU pay rises rejected by union

| Barcham
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Hey remember when the ANU did that massive consultation process and then released all these plans and promises about reducing staff by 230 but making sure their current staff get a 2% pay-rise both this and next year?

The NTEU wasn’t cool with that and would like to see a 7% increase over the next 4 years.

ANU staff will still get their 2% for this year, but negotiations for next year are up in the air so we don’t know what kind of pay increase employees will be getting, or if more jobs will be cut to pay for them.

Hopefully this will work out so that everyone will get more money and nobody will lose their job ever and I will get a pet giraffe.

UPDATE:

ACT Divisional Secretary Stephen Darwin, has made the NTEU’s position clear:

“Given it is now over 15 months since the last agreement expired, this effectively is a 1.5% per year salary increase in the life of the next agreement,” Darwin said.

“This is despite the current (imperfect) Consumer Price Index running at 2.4%, other universities in this round of bargaining offering at least 4% a year over 4 years and ANU salaries already being lower than most Group of Eight institutions and many other universities, including the University of Canberra.”

Darwin said that at the same time, ANU management is also elevating performance expectations of all staff (increasing most indicators by 5%), escalating workloads and plans for increased students.

“This is all the more provocative given the university recorded improving accumulated reserves and retained surpluses, reported as being in excess of $1 billion in the 2012 Annual Report (a 15% increase on 2011).

“Despite the recent rhetoric by ANU management about the effect of university funding reductions, the university remains one of wealthiest in the country and is more than able to offer a decent salary increase for staff.

“Instead, the managerialist preoccupation of the current Vice-Chancellor to produce an enormous ‘underlying surplus’ is preventing the maintenance of decent workloads and now, decent salaries.”

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