"Repositioning is no position."

Staff at Massey University have today received one of three letters telling them they still have a job, or will have to reapply for a reduced number of jobs, or will no longer have a job, if the university's 'repositioning’ proposals are approved by the University Council in August.

"This is a horrible process and it saddens us that loyal and in some cases very long-serving staff have received these letters today," said Association of University Staff (AUS) Massey Branch President, Associate Professor Tony Lewis.

"We had predicted that the Management would announce redundancies of around 100-150 to satisfy their belief that Massey, particularly in Palmerston North, needs to shed $11 million from its expenditure. This is despite the fact that the University is currently not in deficit.

“Massey University is dogmatically wedded to increasing its surplus at the expense of staff and students. The announcement of 116 redundancies at Massey University today confirms our impression that resources have been mismanaged in the past, that management is currently out of touch with educational needs, and is jeopardising the future of the University, its reputation and its students," said Professor Lewis.

“Staff morale took a tumble during last year's restructuring, and now anxiety about the direction in which Massey University is headed is at a crisis level," said Professor Lewis.

"AUS has consistently voiced concern that this 'repositioning' exercise is inconsistent with current Government policy as stated by the Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, Steve Maharey. It is an exercise in asset stripping rather than capacity building," said Professor Lewis.

"We are meeting with staff over the next week and have called for a meeting of all campus unions on June 7th to formalise the Unions' response to the review. It is not over by a long way! In the meantime our interests lie in ensuring all our members are well informed and able to receive the support they need at this time," said Professor Lewis.

For more information please contact Associate Professor Tony Lewis 3505588 (w), 3268816 (h), 025 211 3290

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