Management and unions urge staff to vote for low-pain jobs-saving plan

The deal was hammered out last month (CMM May 25) and includes; * staff buying up to eight-days leave * three additional university shut-downs totalling seven days across the year. In return the university will not run COVID-19 related redundancies. It will also stick to the casual staff budget as of March and continue fixed term staff whose work remains.

It is planned to year-end with a six-month extension if necessary.

Number crunches suggest the university has already found $60m in non-staff savings of the $75 deficit it faces this year. if so these leave-schemes would make up the difference.

The proposal is endorsed by the university and both campus unions, the National Tertiary Education Union and the Community and Public Sector Union. It now goes to an all-staff ballot, from Wednesday.

While $75m is a fair chunk of change, WSU is nowhere near the worse COVID-19 hit universities on Ian Marshman and Frank Larkins  analysis. But while this makes the low-pain savings plan effective it is still an innovative bit of work.

A big university that could well survive COVID-19 without wholesale sackings will be something to see.