Murdoch Uni's bid to freeze staff pay 'exploitation with no job security': union

The university held approximately $413 million in reserves as of June 30, 2019.

In a staff announcement last week, the university said a vote by staff in favour of varying the EA would see "up to $8.5 million in savings in 2021 and help us protect in the order of 30-40 jobs across the university".

It also pointed out it had liabilities of more than $48 million in accrued leave that would be slashed by the deal, and retaining the step progression would only add $1.8 million to its financial challenge in 2021.

In turn, it promised a one-off payment of $500 to eligible casual staff and lower-income earners in 2020.

A university spokesman said they had been very transparent with staff and the consultation was extensive.

"We have held two plenaries, there have been 30 Q&A sessions with staff, with more than 900 attending those sessions," he said.

"These sessions were with senior executives and allowed staff to ask questions. We received more than 70 pieces of feedback in writing and more than 800 staff responded to our EAV survey, which prompted us to amend the proposed amendments."

But the union said the amendments would not give management the $25 million saving they needed, with more than 160 jobs still predicted to go.

Dr Hallett said the variations would simply hit the lower-paid staff hardest, since a level 4 step 10 professional employee currently on $62,098 would lose $1131 by forgoing their pay rise in October, while a level 10 employee on $122,178 would forgo $1731.

"Murdoch are exploiting the vulnerability of their most insecure workers by offering a $500 inducement to vote against their and their colleagues’ best long-term interests," he said.

"It's particularly galling for casual workers who have been let go in efforts by the university to ratchet up teaching loads of full-time staff."

He said the total remuneration of the vice-chancellor had increased more than 30 per cent since 2017, from about $755,000 to $995,000, while other university employees had received pay rises totalling about 6 per cent since 2016 when interim head Andrew Taggart’s remuneration package was about $525,000.

The university's senior executives have taken a pay freeze but not a temporary pay cut like other universities, according to Dr Hallett.

"The exorbitant salaries of senior executives is grotesque in the midst of a crisis where staff are being told that they must be the ones to sacrifice their working conditions, having already gone above and beyond to respond to COVID-19 and transitioning to online teaching to keep courses going," Dr Hallett said.

"Staff workloads are at a breaking point and now they are being asked to lose their pay."

The NTEU has submitted a Freedom of Information request asking for the university's executive remuneration and performance indicators.

The university spokesman said the university was not asking any employees, at any level, to take a pay cut and senior staff's pay freeze would continue through 2021.

"The Chancellor’s and Nominations Committee (CNC) of the senate determines the remuneration of the vice chancellor and senior officers," he said.

"The senate has endorsed a remuneration policy to guide the committee on remuneration for senior officers.

"This is consistent with how the remuneration of vice chancellors is determined at universities across Australia."

The EA ballot vote closed at 10am on Wednesday.