The petition – Save Bendigo Jobs: Hands off Uni Catering – was posted on change.org by student Natasha Joyce and has attracted more than 300 supporters in the past six days. 

Ms Joyce slammed university management for the move that could potentially see a third party working out of the Food for Thought cafeteria. 

“Two weeks ago students came to the cafeteria to find it was closed, because staff were at a meeting being told their jobs were on notice and expressions of interest called for it to be outsourced to a third party,” she told the Bendigo Advertiser. 

But head of campus Robert Stephenson moved to quell fears – he reiterated the plan was a draft proposal at this stage and potential redundancies were “a long way off”. 

Mr Stephenson said if the plan went ahead, five permanent employees and four long-term casuals would be impacted and there was a risk they would lose their jobs. 

“In the draft, we would look to having an external party provide services on campus,” he said. 

“We are not withdrawing services, we are trying to make sure they are provided in the best way possible,” he said. 

He said staff had been notified two weeks ago and the consultation period was due to end on Friday.

He said no commitment had been made to any future employer and there was a possibility of staff being employed under a new contractor if the draft plan did go ahead – although that was entirely up to the service provider. 

Mr Stephenson said the current service was under review to see it working most efficiently and he encouraged concerned members of the university community to lodge feedback on the proposal. 

Ms Joyce feared the draft was a cost-cutting move that could potentially “rip off” students. 

According to Ms Joyce, currently profits are rolled back into providing students with quality food at the cheapest possible price. 

“Shifting to ‘privatise’ the service will likely mean an increase in prices, decrease in quality and less pay for workers,” she said on the petition. 

“These workers are our friends. Every day as they make our coffee and sandwiches and drench our potato gems in gravy, we chat about our lives.”

“We do not want to see them lose their jobs.”

“These changes are not justified.”