Thursday 23 March 2006

Job slashers at Canterbury University must be stopped, says Alliance.

The Alliance says plans by University of Canterbury management to sack twenty staff members from the College of Arts is a scandal.

Alliance co-leader Paul Piesse says the proposed staff cuts are the result of "bean counters run amok."

"The University is running at a surplus – we say staffing levels should be based on need, rather than to fit into an artificial profit system that has no place in the public education system."

The Alliance rejects the kind of internal competition that University management has imposed on its staff, which undermines the otherwise cooperative nature of the University.

"The University cannot possibly hope to attract the high quality lecturers it needs to provide students with an internationally recognised degree if this is how it treats its existing staff."

Mr Piesse says the University is a public asset and should be run in the interest of the public, not on the narrow and short-sighted commercialism of a clique of managers.

The Alliance is backing the efforts of student group Save Our Staff (SOS), who are campaigning against the Staff cuts and for a higher level of consultation with staff and students over the running of the University.

The Alliance calls on students, staff and the general public to rally together to oppose the cuts and the philosophy behind them.

ENDS

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