Guild Elections 2023: What the Parties Have to Say About the Student Life Job Cuts
Polling for the election of the 2024 Student Guild Council has begun this week and UWA students have the opportunity to vote for their representatives. This article explores what each party has to say about the Student Life job cuts that occurred this year.
Student Life is the University department responsible for student services such as psychological counselling and scholarships. There has been a net loss of twenty positions; fifty-eight positions were removed and thirty-eight new positions were created. Some of these cut positions have been replaced by new positions with worse pay.
The Health Promotion Unit was also cut entirely. The Health Promotion Unit was responsible for providing programs that proactively protected the health and safety of students at UWA. You can read more about it in two articles written by Tobias Langtry about the issue (see article 1 and article 2 here).
As a response to the cuts, the Student Guild made public statements in support of staff, lobbied University management to save jobs, and collaborated with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), the union responsible for representing University staff. You can find a detailed report of the June Guild Council meeting here. In this meeting the Guild Council unanimously passed a motion opposing the job cuts. The Guild later received a letter of support from the NTEU, thanking them for their help.
GLOBAL
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
We were appalled by the job cuts and we did engage in the fight against it led by the Guild President. There were some major changes to the International team and we were able to get back some positions in that area which we were happy with, but the overall cuts are negative to the student experience.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
We need to engage with these changes before they occur, and work closely with the NTEU. The process of developing a change in direction has to be done in consultation with the Guild and the NTEU, not after all the decisions have been made. Change in a positive direction is good, but that has to be decided by students and led by the student experience, not finances. We respect the staff Union when it concerns staff jobs but we also have to realise there is a connection [between cuts and] the student experience.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on the issue of job cuts?
Motions were put forward by the Guild President and were supported by GLOBAL. The Postgraduate Students’ Association president, Viknash VM, who advocated on this matter, was a staff member of Student Life and had to waive conflict and leave the room for motions relating to the matter. He therefore did not get involved with the motion.
Overall engagement with the NTEU by Viknash and Geemal is what led to the NTEU writing a letter of appreciation to the Guild. In other areas, GLOBAL’s council members voted unanimously in favour of all motions opposing the restructure. GLOBAL’s International Students’ Department (ISD) President Rutvi also met with the International counterparts at UWA who were affected, to voice her support for them in their monthly catch-ups.
LAUNCH
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
The Student Life department plays an integral role for student services at UWA. Cutting staff numbers will only have a negative effect on UWA students and should be opposed.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
The reality is that the University is a partner with the Guild in delivering services for UWA students. The Guild needs to have a strong working relationship with University management to ensure that when issues like cuts to Student Life happen they can be resolved with the best interests of students at heart.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on this issue?
Launch’s representative sat on Council during debate and discussions of the Student Life cuts issue and was engaged. Our representative’s input ensured that values and perspectives of Launch were heard as part of the broader debate.
LEFT ACTION
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
We absolutely oppose any and all job cuts that happen at UWA. Every single staff member here is absolutely essential and all job cuts are an attack on students. Staff working conditions are our learning conditions and workers should never pay the price for management’s choices.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
The Guild should always oppose all job cuts as a point of principle. It should stand in solidarity with staff and fight against any cuts, because asking the University to stop them won’t do anything. [The University is] more interested in the cost savings than the impact on students. Choices to fire staff should be regarded with disdain and horror.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on this issue?
We have been to NTEU events earlier this year about the cuts to Student Life. We’ve shared Pelican’s coverage of the issue on the Education Action Network. We’ve supported motions about Student Life on the Guild Council.
Left Action is proud of its history of student activism, including the protests it organised in the face of major job cuts in 2021. Is there a reason why similar protests weren’t organised this year regarding the Student Life job cuts?
Look, Left Action thanklessly puts up countless posters, hands out countless leaflets and does almost limitless hours of campaigning for as many social justice issues as we can. Because we actually believe what we’re saying and fight for what we believe in. When was the last time any of the other forces organised a protest? The issue with the response to the cuts at Student Life wasn’t that the other forces didn’t protest and we did. The issue is that they didn’t organise a protest. They had cordial conversations with a range of stakeholders, including management. But they didn’t have a protest. As the people running the Guild, that was probably one of the most important things they could have done. Left Action doesn’t run the Guild—the other forces do. So the accountability for failing to call a protest rests with them.
[Reporter’s note: Left Action candidate Alevine Magila is currently the Convenor in charge of the Education Action Network (EAN), the activist arm of the Guild’s Education Council, responsible for organising protests and supporting student activism; the EAN organised protests this year related to LGBTQI+ rights, housing, and opposition to the AUKUS submarine deal.]
In the Presidential debate Finn Penter expressed that “lobbying isn’t activism.” If Left Action believes the Guild is ineffective in its engagement with University management, did Left Action engage with management over the job cuts?
If another force wins the election, we can’t run the Guild for them. We’re in opposition. The issue at question here is not that STAR and/or SPARK engaged with management, but we engaged better. The issue is how the other forces have engaged. To defend staff jobs and conditions, we need to fight. What does that mean? It means protesting, striking, occupying. It means management feel pressure, compulsion, embarrassment. Because they don’t listen. They don’t care. The only thing that moves [University management] is PR management and their bottom line. They are suits and money-makers who unfortunately run the University like a business. If we ran the offices with the full resources of the Guild behind us, running protests and initiating fighting campaigns would be our priority when it comes to ‘engaging’ with management on protecting staff conditions, student learning quality, jobs, and so on.
RATS
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
Aghast.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
Keep the jobs, pay them below minimum wage.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on this issue?
On Tuesday I shared my croissant with a pigeon. I thought there was something between us but perhaps I was mistaken.
SPARK
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
We think it is unacceptable for UWA to cut staff during a time when students are already experiencing the negative effects of understaffing in student-facing services on campus. Extended wait times for student services are becoming more and more of an issue for UWA. Cutting staff does the opposite of resolving many of the issues facing UWA students, particularly regarding wellbeing and cost-of-living, especially in the University portfolio tasked with enriching the student experience.
SPARK understands that for UWA staff to do their best work in creating a student experience, they require secure work and quality working conditions. While we’re pleased that our advocacy, in conjunction with the NTEU, managed to save jobs during the cuts, SPARK’s view is that restructuring in the proposed way does not work in the interests of UWA or its students.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
Preserving the staff-student ratio in order to protect student wellbeing and maintain a high-quality student experience at UWA, and ensuring that staff are not negatively impacted by restructures. While we think it is important for the University to review the efficiency of its management, we know that the role of the Guild is to advocate for the student experience, and therefore we need to side with staff who are facing cuts that will negatively impact your campus experience. This means standing by the NTEU, and making sure we have a seat at the table during negotiations to advocate on behalf of staff and students. We think that one of the Guild’s most important roles is to be in the room with University management when issues come up like this—we have a unique privilege to be those often best placed to negotiate effectively, and advocate for your needs.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on this issue?
SPARK believes that strongly worded emails and the passage of Council motions should not be a substitute for real advocacy. During the cuts, SPARK actively protested with and worked alongside the NTEU to save literal jobs that were originally cut in the restructure.
SPARK condemns the restructure’s job cuts. We were particularly concerned at the slashing of the Health Promotion Unit, and the confusing timing of cutting staff when we’d already experienced as student reps how much understaffing was affecting the student experience, our ability to advocate with the Uni, and execute projects requiring UWA involvement.
While we think that the concessions we received from the University were important, they’re not enough, and we’ll never stop pushing for retention and expansion of the UWA staff-student ratio, and the retention and enhancement of essential student-facing services.
[Reporter’s note: Between the initial Proposal For Change (outlining the job cuts) and the final Proposal (written by University Management in response to feedback from staff and students) an additional three jobs were retained.]
STAR
What is your position on the job cuts faced by Student Life at UWA?
The University’s proposed job cuts felt like a real slap in the face for students, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and various other issues we Australians deal with daily, like rising rates. Student Life is a crucial department that brings so much vibrancy and support to our campus. They’re behind things like scholarships, providing vital mental health support, and even initiatives like the Respectful Relationships Module, which is a positive step in addressing the concerning sexual assault statistics from the 2021 National Student Safety Survey.
STAR is absolutely against these cuts and the restructuring of Student Life. We stand firmly in opposition to it.
What approach should the Guild take when University management proposes job cuts?
When the University management starts talking about job cuts, it’s imperative for The Guild, as student leaders, to step up and show our solidarity with the hardworking staff on campus. These individuals put in tremendous effort day in and day out to enhance our campus experience as students.
What did your party (or candidates) do to represent students and support staff on this issue?
Our party and candidates took several actions to combat these proposed cuts. We didn’t stay silent; instead, we spoke out against the cuts during Guild council meetings. We engaged in productive discussions with NTEU delegates to figure out the best ways to support the campaign against the cuts. Our support for staff has often involved attending protests organised by NTEU, sharing campaign material, and raising awareness among students so that more of our peers would join the opposition.
Furthermore, we took the fight into our own youth organisations, where we proposed motions and fostered discussions to spread awareness within our respective circles. It’s crucial to create a groundswell of opposition to these detrimental cuts.