'Arbitrary and damaging': ANU staff's continued push against change plans

The calls have increased since the Australian National University announced it would be stopping involuntary redundancies for other areas of the university, earlier than expected.

The ANU has committed to stopping future change plans for 2025, but the plans that were put forward between May and August to restructure and reduce jobs are expected to go ahead.

Social sciences staff said the decision to proceed with forced redundancies in the arts and social science college was unfair and inequitable.

"Other measures ... remain available within CASS. To persist with involuntary redundancies predominantly in CASS is inequitable, arbitrary, and damaging," the letter said.

In May, the ANU announced which areas of the university should expect change as part of Renew ANU in 2025.

Six areas were told to expect change proposals during 2025, including the arts and social sciences college.

They were the Information Technology Services and Information Security Office, Planning and Service Performance, Academic Portfolio, Research and Innovation Portfolio, ANU College of Science and Medicine, and ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.

Of the six different areas highlighted for "potential changes" later in 2025, only two areas ended up receiving change plans: Campus Environment and Residential Experience.

In August, the ANU Renew website said there were seven areas of the university that would not need formal organisational change and instead would make smaller changes to "meet their financial goals or to achieve structural and operational efficiency".

These were Marketing and Communications; People and Culture; Finance and Business Services; ANU College of Asia and the Pacific; ANU College of Business and Economics; ANU College of Law, Governance & Policy; and ANU College of Systems and Society.

On August 20, the ANU said salary costs had been reduced by $59.9 million.

The $59.9 million includes 139 people leaving via voluntary redundancies, 83 people made redundant, the ANU said.

The remaining $40.1 million would come from the six change proposals still in consultation, a new voluntary redundancy scheme and natural attrition.

The RSSS executive staff, in their letter, said continuing with involuntary redundancies at the college was "fundamentally unjust and placed our College in an untenable position".

"It has never been clear why CASS was singled out to bear such a heavy share of reductions, nor why a college-by-college approach, rather than a university-wide strategy, was pursued when this risks weakening areas of strength," the letter said.

The staff are calling for the college dean to put a stop to the change plan.

The staff behind the letter said cost-saving measures could be found at the arts and social sciences college, with the second voluntary redundancy program announced in August.

"If the University's budgetary targets can be met without compulsory redundancies elsewhere, then continuing to impose them in CASS is indefensible," the letter said.

"It appears that maximal savings from CASS are being used to negate the need for savings elsewhere," the letter said.

ANU chief financial officer Michael Lonergan told Senate Estimates in August that all areas of the university had to reduce budgets in 2024 and 2025, even if there was no change plan for the area.

"When we issued budgets for this year, everyone received a budget reduction," he said.

"Some of those people are meeting those by not hiring when there are vacancies and ... reducing leave liability."

Mr Lonergan said there was a formula applied to calculate how much needed to be saved from each budget.

This included "an overarching percentage that everyone had to reduce".

Colleges could then decide how to make those budget cuts, Mr Lonergan said.