“Disgraceful” Advice Given To UTS Staff Ahead Of Massive Job Cuts

Staff at The University of Technology Sydney have been shocked by “tone-deaf” stress-management advice provided by the university as it prepares to cut 10 per cent of its workforce.

As reported by the ABC, the advice told staff to “do that task you’ve been dreading, like washing delicates, organising receipts for your taxes, or cleaning a bathroom”, alongside suggestions like “bake a dessert” and “brush or floss your teeth every day. Dental work later in life can be painful and expensive!”

The advice comes as the UTS suspends new enrolments for 146 courses across six faculties, in preparation for a redundancy program dubbed Operational Sustainability Initiative (OSI), that aims to save the university $100 million.

Part of the initiative includes cutting the jobs of an estimated 400 staff, approximately 10 per cent of the university’s current workforce, before the end of the year.

NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said the advice for staff whose livelihoods were hanging in the balance was “disgraceful”.

“This tone-deaf trivialisation of job cuts is another shocking example of Australia’s broken university governance system,” she said. “UTS staff are in shock after widespread course suspensions and looming cuts. This just added insult to injury.”

Academics say university management failed to consult them on course suspensions, which include 33 in the Faculty of Health, 12 in the Business School, and 60 in Design in Society.

An email to staff from Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Parfitt alleged the courses were axed due to “low student enrolments”.

Mass job cuts across tertiary sector

Barnes said academics were being treated with “utter contempt” by university management, who she claimed “would rather spend $5 million on external consultants to cut jobs than invest in staff – the university’s most precious resource.”

“We need real reform to restore accountability and transparency in our universities, which must prioritise staff, students and society instead of corporate business models imposed by overpaid executives.”

An NTEU survey of 380 staff at UTS found 35 per cent were experiencing very high levels of psychological distress following the implementation of OSI, with SafeWork NSW investigating its impact.

There have been more than 1000 job losses at universities across the state in the past year alone, including at Macquarie University, the University of Wollongong, and Western Sydney University.

“Right now, across NSW, we’re fighting job cuts at four universities. Four. That’s not a coincidence — that’s a crisis. A crisis of governance, a crisis of priorities, and a crisis of values,” said NTEU Division Secretary Vince Caughley earlier this year.

“Every job cut means lost expertise, broken teams, lives upended – for both staff and students. And it sends a message: that those who build knowledge and support students every day are disposable.”