Staff targeted will get the word this month

A long-scheduled redundancy round starts this month to deal with finances expected to be worse this year than last. In February Vice Chancellor John Dewar told staff “the challenges we face have not diminished” (CMM February 19).

They will follow 335 people taking voluntary redundancies (300 FTE) as part of COVID-19 savings last year (CMM March 5), plus departures under two separate restructures (CMM July 17 and August 14 2020).

Staff backed Professor Dewar last year, voting for temporary cuts to wages and condition to save an estimated 225 jobs but the vice chancellor made it clear that there would still be involuntary redundancies this year, (CMM June 24 2020). “Our academic and professional staffing will be reduced to reflect our continuing core teaching needs,” a management “strategy re-set” paper stated last winter (CMM July 9 2020).

And now reductions are about to begin. The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union warns 250-300 people will be made redundant.