HAha, uws screwing over acadmics as well (1 Viewer)

[klh]

Uni staff 'worse off' with contracts
Ebru Yaman, Higher education editor
May 05, 2005

ECONOMICS professor Russel Cooper thinks he could double his $110,000 annual salary by taking a job in the private sector.

He agrees that top-end academic salaries have not kept pace with the growth in average weekly earnings and are "certainly no match" for industry.

But Professor Cooper, from the University of Western Sydney's Australian Expert Group in Industry Studies research centre, does not believe that individual negotiations would deliver him a better deal.

On the contrary, he fears "cash-strapped" universities would erode working conditions for even the best academics, if given the chance.

"I have considered leaving (academia), of course I have," Professor Cooper said yesterday. "But the fact is I love the research that I do."
Under industrial relations changes the federal Government plans to introduce across the higher education sector, universities will be compelled to offer every staff member the opportunity to sign an individually negotiated contract, or Australian Workplace Agreement.

Professor Cooper said that although the legislation was intended to give institutions more flexibility to offer greater incentives to top staff, universities simply did not have the money to be able to jack up pay offers.

"It will not attract better or more people because university management can't use the flexibility to offer much more money, because they don't have it," he said. "The flexibility it will give them will be used ... to reduce staff conditions."

He said universities already offered extras and perks to top staff. When he was promoted at UWS in 1995, a car was a standard part of a professor's package.

Because of the financial turmoil UWS has been in, there had been many attempts by management to take back professors' cars, Professor Cooper claimed. He said academics would fare better staying with the union-driven enterprise bargaining process.

At any rate, Professor Cooper did not believe salary was the motivation behind Australia's brightest academic minds staying in universities and resisting the call of business.

"You don't stay for the money ... the academics who stay in the system are committed to the research they do and they love their work."

tried to to take his car back lol...

 

[Cape]

I'll have his car ... beats training it to uni everyday, apart from the fact I don't have my P's

Students who travel more than 2 hours by transport should get free university cars (I can dream, can't i )

 

[theone123]

ah i remember roy taskers car, his rego is like uws-343 or something like that...

 

[Not-That-Bright]

As he says, he gets paid less - but he loves the research work they let him do...
It's all about balance, and due to the funding crisis UWS is being forced to create this balance (which is good).

 

[absolution*]

Funding Crisis? UWS? Is that because foreign students dont want to go to shit uni's, or because the Libs are fucking you over? Hahaha.

 

[theone123]

Funding Crisis? UWS? Is that because foreign students dont want to go to shit uni's, or because the Libs are fucking you over? Hahaha.

watch ur word dick.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

The libs are fucking UWS over because they can see that there is alot of mis-management in UWS, hopefully the pressure could force reforms (they've already cut 2000 units at uws) that would lead to a better university for all... but people are fairly stuborn.

It also has to do with international students not wanting to go to a 'shit' university.

 

[klh]

i think its that uws isnt as well known, i dont think they know about the stigma attached to uws yet...more marketing..
dunno abt the libs...i thought we were cannon fodder for them anywayz
theone123, calm down, thats what they wnat you to do...