After weeks of uproar over announced staff cuts at the Australian National University, the campus union is demanding Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell’s head, calling on the university council to dismiss her, “to prevent further damage.”
NTEU leader Lachlan Clohesy warns that if Council does not act by its February meeting, the union will conduct its own no confidence ballot.
The union threat follows its decisive win last month in a staff vote on Professor Bell’s proposal to cancel a long-scheduled 2.5% pay rise, as a crisis saving. The NTEU campaigned hard against the cut, which was defeated by an 88% margin.
The new confrontation stems from Professor Bell’s deeply unpopular plan to reduce spending by $250m, including $100m off continuing staff costs.
While some savings plans are going ahead, management’s position that savings are essential and inevitable was undermined last month when it reduced planned job losses in the new College of Medicine and Science from 50 to 13, none of them continuing positions.
But concessions are not enough to end deep-seated staff suspicion of management. After close to 500 jobs went after COVID inflicted heavy losses, by April 2021 then VC Brian Schmidt told staff, “the sacrifices you have all made in the past year have gone a long way towards reducing our deficit and future-proofing the university from further financial shocks.” He added, the university “does not anticipate any more job losses”.
And yet more losses there now are, and union campus president Milan Pintos Lopez says Professor Bell “appears to have alienated staff through all levels of the workforce. Our members have no confidence that she is the right person to lead ANU during these challenging times.”
However, an ANU representative told FC last night, “the Vice-Chancellor continues to have the full support of the Council. The NTEU would better serve its members by engaging constructively with the University on our change proposals, rather than resorting to personal attacks and cheap stunts.”
This is high stakes stuff. For the Council to back Professor Bell and then staff to vote against her in a credible vote would divide the university against itself. For Professor Bell to go in advance would make ANU ungovernable, at least without the union’s approval of just about anything- certainly job cuts.
What happens next depends on Chancellor Julie Bishop, a former five-year foreign minister, and long serving deputy leader of the federal parliamentary Liberal Party – who should have the experience to count the numbers on Council and campus.
