VC Eeva Leinonen tells staff that most of them did not vote for management’s proposed enterprise agreement variation. Of the 1819 who turned out, 73 per cent were against it

Murdoch U management originally asked staff to agree to cancellation of the October pay rise and temporary reductions in conditions (CMM September 10) but reduced the ask after a staff survey (CMM September 18).

It wasn’t enough to win enough workers over, although adamant opposition from the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union can’t have helped management’s case.

Professor Leinonen now says the university still has to find $25m in salary savings for 2021, “maintained through the next few years.”

This is the second September defeat for WA uni managements on savings proposals the union opposed. Curtin U lost a vote for an EAV which would have had staff losing a pay rise in return for 90 fewer job cuts (CMM September 21).

In contrast, UWA under Jane den Hollander negotiated an enterprise agreement variation with the union, which was backed by 77 per cent of staff voting.