Answers needed to tough questions as job cuts loom
IT was alarming to read in the ODT (15.7.17) that there is a plan to cut 182 general staff jobs at Otago
University. Prof Hayne assured the staff that the new business case ‘‘outlines an exciting new way to meet challenges in a sustainable way’’.
However, on reading the article further, I was astounded to learn that there had not been a review of how general staff operated for more than 20 years and in that time a ‘‘highly devolved’’ system had been allowed to develop. Under whose management did this unsustainable business case occur?
I would presume that a large number of those staff who are to lose their positions have been employed in the last 20 years and applied for and accepted their jobs under the belief they were working for an organisation which was operating in an efficient manner, not the rudderless ship it has turned out to be with noone keeping an eye on how general staff operated.
Surely the first question to be answered is who is responsible for the ‘‘unsustainable’’ situation the university has got itself into, resulting in the axing of the employment of 182 people?
Secondly, are any of those responsible for the present crisis going to carry on in positions of management after the restructure?
I believe both these questions need to be answered to the satisfaction of staff before any consultation can be undertaken in good faith.
Brian Langley
Burkes
Meat and milk
COLUMNIST Anna Campbell (‘‘The brave new world of meat and milk’’, ODT, 12.7.17) says she believes both milk and meat from animal products have a future because they are ‘‘damned delicious’’. Isn’t this a callous view? Isn’t it ignoring the fact that the animals who are transformed into ‘‘meat’’ and the mother cows who have their babies killed each year so their milk can be stolen, suffer enormously? If we can feed ourselves without harming other sentient beings, then surely that is the ideal way to live.
Jenny Moxham Victoria, Australia [This letter was referred to Anna Campbell for comment but she declined.]
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BIBLE READING: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. — Colossians 3.16.