Last month management proposed temporary pay cuts, which union leaders opposed – staff voted no

What’s happened: But now management and unions are set to talk about COVID 19 savings. Vice Chancellor Paul Wellings tells staff that there are two, “stark and urgent” choices, “with very similar consequences.”

What’s proposed: One is a 10 per cent salary reduction over 18 months, and cancelled pay rises in November 2020 and November 2021. The other is staff buying 15 days leave for each of three years, plus the two pay rises cancelled.

Professor Wellings states both options “will see no forced redundancies until March 1 2021.”

What now: The vice chancellor sets a ten-day deadline for the management-unions joint consultative committee to reach an agreement.

If this occurs and the local branches of the National Tertiary Education Union and the Community and Public Sector Union agree, the university will put a variation of the UoW enterprise agreement to an all-staff vote.

What’s next: If the unions don’t agree, or if staff vote no, the university community faces the job losses Professor Wellings warned of before the previous ballot, between 300-400 (CMM June 18).

What are the odds?: One of the reasons the university community voted against management’s savings options last month was the campus branch of the NTEU campaigned for a no-vote. This time could well be different – if the union signs-off on terms an all-staff yes vote is likely (it’s happened recently at La Trobe U, Monash U, UWA and Western Sydney U).  Most staff at universities are not union members, but they tend to pay attention to the comrades on pay and conditions.

Late Friday Damien Cahill (NTEU assistant state secretary for NSW) told CMM, “we welcome the resumption of negotiations.

“Our primary concern remains job security, and we are hopeful of reaching an agreement that protects jobs and secures the financial sustainability of the university.