Very sad today that academics at our wonderful universities are having to work out whether to back @NTEUNational and VC proposals to take significant pay cuts to sandbag jobs. 1/?
I’m also extremely angry. The reason staff are having to make these choices is because the federal government changed the rules THREE TIMES to keep unis out of #JobKeeper (never forget that peeps 🤓) 2/?
I’ve read the proposal and I’ve been thinking it over all day. I’ve also watched people (from in the sector and outside) having slings at colleagues and our union here all day. That is really (additionally) pissing me off (sorry, rarely swear on twitter, less so irl) 3/?
As a tenured Professor at a GO8 institution that I love working at, I know that I am in a situation that many of my colleagues - more junior and in more precarious roles and at different institutions- are not 4/?
The people who will suffer most from looming (and real) job cuts are not people like me, it will be our ECR colleagues. So, after a lot of thinking all day - mostly about my younger and ECR colleagues 5/?
I have decided that I’m going to support a deal to try to save some jobs (thousands actually). I’m doing so with a really heavy heart knowing I work in an industry and have done for 20.5 years that government doesn’t see as an industry 6/?
What would sweeten this for me would be if the @NTEUNational can work out how to do this progressively. Can we work out that those of us in senior roles lean into this a little more? More junior colleagues are struggling with things like childcare and other costs 7/?
And they are much more precarious and scared than I am. In the meantime, can all y’all please stop the berating of people who making hard decisions about our work, lives, our union (and our values). 8/?
And please no lectures on bargaining, wage fixing or IR, union principles. I already know quite a bit about that 🙏. Thanks to my union colleagues and sector leaders who’ve worked hard in this and will be feeling as sad and angry as I am. #theend #wineoclock
