Tuesday, 8am
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LA TROBE University says regional campuses will remain a key focus of the institution.
The university last week confirmed another 96 staff members have taken voluntary redundancies. Eleven of those workers were from the Bendigo campus.
A La Trobe spokesperson said the university would continue to remain embedded in regional communities, despite the challenges in the higher education sector.
"We are focused on ensuring the closure of those roles does not negatively impact on the workload of our remaining staff," the spokesperson said.
"A key criteria in approving a voluntary redundancy was to demonstrate that workload would not be increased.
"We are also working to increase focus on areas of the university that deliver impact and revenue and on improving efficiency in business operations."
Monday, 11am
Labor MP Lisa Chesters has used the news of further redundancies at La Trobe's Bendigo campus to attack the federal government.
"It's terrible to be losing so many higher education jobs across Bendigo and Australia," the federal member for Bendigo said.
"Other local businesses and [not for profit] organisations can access JobKeeper and as a result, have kept their workers employed.
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"This is the Liberal government's fault. At every turn, they have actively excluded universities from accessing JobKeeper and this is the result.
Ms Chesters said she feared that 2021 would be another tough year for the university sector.
"On the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic we will need universities like Bendigo's LaTrobe to train the skilled workers we need to lead our local economy and country out of this economic crisis," she said.
"We cannot afford any more job cuts at the La Trobe Bendigo campus."
Earlier
LA TROBE University staff will be overworked this year after another 96 workers took voluntary redundancies, the National Tertiary Education Union says.
The university this week confirmed the redundancy figures for the September round, with 11 of those staff members from the Bendigo campus.
It followed the first round in early-2020 when 239 staff members took redundancies, including 25 people from Bendigo.
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NTEU's La Trobe industrial officer Corey Rabaut said the latest numbers from the university were unsurprising but disappointing.
"Obviously there is a crisis in the sector with the Liberal government excluding universities from JobKeeper three times," Mr Rabaut said.
"So on one hand, the voluntary redundancies are understandable.
"But on the other hand, it has left significant workload problems for the people remaining. And it's not just about workload, but it's also about safety and the student experience."
La Trobe Vice-Chancellor John Dewar last year flagged there would be voluntary redundancies and up to 800 jobs cuts at his university, as the institution faced a multi-million dollar shortfall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Rabaut said regional campuses like Bendigo could be hit hardest with the cuts to staff members.
"We think it's going to have a negative impact on regional students," Mr Rabaut said.
"It also removes the money that would have been spent in the local economy, so it has that detrimental flow-on effect.
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"When they take resources out of the regional areas, it's harder for the remaining staff and the workload becomes more acute.
"There are also those community relationships that will be affected. In the regions, it's important to know the local providers and services. When you remove the staff, you unpick the fabric of the local community."
Mr Rabaut said the union was concerned there would be more job cuts and voluntary redundancy rounds at the university this year.
"It is on the agenda more broadly," he said. "To what extent, we're not sure but we think it could be another 300 or 400 jobs."
Mr Rabaut said the NTEU would continue to work with staff as well as petition the federal government for change.
"Obviously we need more done in the sector," he said. "La Trobe is not the exception. We have been working with Lisa Chesters to get some improvements for the Bendigo community and to create jobs.
"We have also been working with staff, particularly those who are union members.
"We're running a workload campaign to support staff and to make sure they are given reasonable workloads."