Uni Newcastle has upped its enterprise bargaining pay offer to 13 per cent – an improvement to the 9.5 per cent staff decisively knocked back in a December vote

Management says the “increase over the life of the agreement is competitive with the Australian university sector and in line with the University’s financial position.”

Up to a point. Uni Sydney’s offer is 15 per cent and UoN always has trouble convincing staff that money is tight.

Management focuses on operating costs and revenue – in December it projected a $23m deficit for the year (CMM December 1 2022) and while the university recorded an $180m surplus in ’21, that was in part due to investment one-offs.

Last year’s numbers are imminent and are expected nothing like that. But critics still point to the university’s $500m plus in reserves – while the pandemic changed things, in 2019, UoN’s cash and financial assets covered debt by a factor of 50 (CMM April 29 2021).

We will know soon enough what’s in the books for ’22 – the university’s annual report is soon for tabling in state parliament.

The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union did not respond Friday,  to CMM’s request for comment on the new offer.