‘Unexpected meeting invitations’: The Sydney university forced to suspend plans to axe 150 jobs

2 weeks ago 3

Executives at the beleaguered University of Technology Sydney have been ordered to press the pause button on plans to axe 150 academics after the state’s work, health and safety regulator said unexpected meeting invitations and “finalistic” language posed a serious risk of psychological harm to staff.

It is the latest chapter in the institution’s controversial plan to make up to 400 staff redundant as it seeks to make savings after recording a deficit of $78 million last year.

Some academics have welcomed the pause in the retrenchment process.

A series of contentious actions taken by management, including spending $7 million on consultants from KPMG to devise the plan to cut staff and splurging upwards of $20,000 on business class flights for executives to travel to the US on an alumni trip, have angered staff facing job cuts.

On Tuesday, SafeWork NSW said the university had failed to take steps to reduce the psychosocial harm to about 800 staff members who were invited to attend “change meetings” on Wednesday.

Professor of biostatistics Andrew Hayen said: “We all got this email from the vice chancellor at 9.30am and by 10 o’clock these people had these meeting invitations. For a lot of people it was out of the blue.”

“My feeling is the university hasn’t followed proper processes throughout the whole thing. They’ve spent millions on consultants, they should have had proper advice that it is not OK to roll out these changes without a proper risk assessment and mitigation.”

SafeWork said the unexpected meeting invitations and “finalistic” language being used and insufficient time given to adequately prepare for these meetings exposed workers to a serious and imminent risk of psychological harm. Since 2022, organisations have been obliged under NSW legislation to identify, manage and minimise psychosocial harms triggered by workplace stress.

“UTS advised that additional supports would be provided where requested, yet details were not provided to workers on how to make such a request or what additional supports could be made available,” SafeWork said in its order to the university.

A UTS spokesman said the university was frustrated by the ongoing delays in releasing the change proposal for consultation, which has been ready to be released since July.

“We are aware of staff expressing concerns about the effect these protracted delays are having on their wellbeing,” he said.

“We have been discussing options with staff to address the issues facing the university since late last year and want to have full and meaningful consultation to find solutions, but to do so we need to release the change proposal showing what is proposed so they can provide options and suggestions.”

At a budget estimates hearing last week, former UTS academic and current upper house MP Dr Sarah Kaine questioned UTS vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt about the financial rationale for the planned restructure, including a plan to repay a bond it had taken out within a two-year time frame.

“Doesn’t that suggest that the haste with which this change is being pursued – and indeed its rationale – is actually just a management decision about when you want to pay back bonds rather than actually a necessity?” Kaine asked.

In response, Parfitt noted a Moody’s credit assessment of the university which said that for the university to retain its current credit rating, and enabling it to borrow in favourable terms, it would have to reduce expenditure.

“[What] we’re driven by is the need to restore our finances to a position of being able to make a reliable surplus to operate sustainably into the future,” he said.

UTS vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt said it was not sustainable for the university to continue to record losses.

“That, by our forecasting, requires us to reduce our expenditure by $100 million per year in order to ensure that our expenditure doesn’t exceed our revenue in the forward period.”

Last month the university’s executive announced plans to suspend enrolments in more than 100 courses, including for initial teacher education, a move which was criticised by the NSW government.

Staff were left upset earlier this year when the university sent staff facing jobs cuts a list of 50 tips to reduce stress, including advice such as “do that task you’ve been dreading, like washing delicates, organising receipts for your taxes, or cleaning a bathroom”.

UTS education lecturer Mohan Dhall said the order to delay the redundancy meetings had been welcomed by some staff after the teaching courses were suspended.

“Academics are relieved they feel like at least someone is hearing them. Suddenly there is a pause, they feel relieved that an authority has said no,” he said.

A statement from UTS said the need to reduce expenditure “is necessary as we have had deficits for five years and revenue was not covering operation costs”, which was not “operationally sustainable as continued losses erode our cash position and have the potential to compromise our ongoing operations”.

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