Deakin VC warned the university community there would be job losses. Now they have started people aren’t happy

“Although we will be doing so with a heavy heart, it will be impossible to avoid redundancies,” Iain Martin told staff in April (CMM April 22). Last week he specified 300 positions will go and 100 unfulfilled ones will stay that way (CMM May 26). A bunch of professional staff jobs to go are already identified (CMM May 29).

People aren’t happy. Last month, 360, mainly academic staff called on Professor Martin to hold-off redundancies until there was a “focused and genuine grassroots discussion of what a post-COVID-19 Deakin University might look like and how best to realise it.”

Now that hasn’t happened, 80 or so staff have written to Professor Martin, telling him they “find the ‘top-down’ nature of your decision-making regarding this change program both disturbing and insulting. Your unilateral action to dismiss our casual colleagues, in order to force more work onto full-time staff … would be stressful at the best of times.”

They make five demands; * “detailed financial transparency around any decision to shed staff,” * executives “take meaningful pay cuts” before redundancies, * VRs and leave-without pay offered before involuntary redundancies start, * “clear and detailed information” about workplace change and * protecting casuals’ employment and for those that do go, a right of return and library access.