What are the minimum consultation obligations at a university for making staff redundant?
Could a less than 4 minute briefing and a 7 page change proposal be seen as fully satisfying the Universities consultation obligations under the EBA and Fair Work?
Basically 5 positions in the fine art department have been described as being mono-disciplinary or discrete discipline academic positions. It's an obvious sham but the main thrust of the Universities argument is below
Current Structure The current structure within the Department operates with one (1) interdisciplinary area (15.65 FTE) and five (5) discrete discipline areas, each reporting to the Head of Department. The current academic FTE staffing level of the five discrete discipline areas is 3.9 FTE. (Refer Figure 1 below)
This interdisciplinary emphasis not only defines the Department distinctly in the marketplace, it also reflects the current nature of contemporary practice. Academic staff will no longer be required to undertake key workshop instruction, that work more correctly being performed by the existing technical staff and thereby allowing academic staff to move between studio groupings to guide the development of ideas and critical thinking.
Overall, the former emphasis on specific media and such as painting, drawing, sculpture, photography etc., no longer has a place in the current and evolving delivery methods being deployed in the restructured BFA.
Due to the financial exigency, the Department proposes to implement a restructure that will affect some academic staff in the Department and will better align the Department’s structure with the new teaching model introduced in 2012 that requires staff to have the capacity to teach across multiple disciplines.
The Proposed Structure: It is proposed that the Department will be restructured so that the Department will consist of up to 15.65 FTE academic staff in a single multidisciplinary area reporting to the Head of Department. As is presently the case, each staff member is required to undertake teaching across multiple disciplines.
The restructure will result in the disestablishment of the 3.9 FTE discrete disipline academic postions as shown in Figure 1 above.
Could a less than 4 minute briefing and a 7 page change proposal be seen as fully satisfying the Universities consultation obligations under the EBA and Fair Work?
Basically 5 positions in the fine art department have been described as being mono-disciplinary or discrete discipline academic positions. It's an obvious sham but the main thrust of the Universities argument is below
Current Structure The current structure within the Department operates with one (1) interdisciplinary area (15.65 FTE) and five (5) discrete discipline areas, each reporting to the Head of Department. The current academic FTE staffing level of the five discrete discipline areas is 3.9 FTE. (Refer Figure 1 below)
This interdisciplinary emphasis not only defines the Department distinctly in the marketplace, it also reflects the current nature of contemporary practice. Academic staff will no longer be required to undertake key workshop instruction, that work more correctly being performed by the existing technical staff and thereby allowing academic staff to move between studio groupings to guide the development of ideas and critical thinking.
Overall, the former emphasis on specific media and such as painting, drawing, sculpture, photography etc., no longer has a place in the current and evolving delivery methods being deployed in the restructured BFA.
Due to the financial exigency, the Department proposes to implement a restructure that will affect some academic staff in the Department and will better align the Department’s structure with the new teaching model introduced in 2012 that requires staff to have the capacity to teach across multiple disciplines.
The Proposed Structure: It is proposed that the Department will be restructured so that the Department will consist of up to 15.65 FTE academic staff in a single multidisciplinary area reporting to the Head of Department. As is presently the case, each staff member is required to undertake teaching across multiple disciplines.
The restructure will result in the disestablishment of the 3.9 FTE discrete disipline academic postions as shown in Figure 1 above.
