University of Newcastle: staff push for better pay deal as union negotiations continue

The union claims staff are more fatigued and overworked than ever, offered a less than two per cent pay increase it calls "bordering on irresponsible".

Fewer staff are being asked to support more students than ever before, and the offer the university made last week would result in a significant cut to wages, National Tertiary Education Union Newcastle vice president associate professor Terry Summers said.

"In light of this, the broader economic environment, and the pay offers made by other employers across the country, we consider the pay offer of less than two per cent per annum completely unacceptable," he said.

"The pay offer is in fact bordering on irresponsible and will adversely affect the university's ability to recruit and retain staff in an increasingly competitive workforce.

"In turn this will lead to a significantly diminished student experience."

He said the issue isn't just with the pay offer but with conditions and new workload models.

"If people are under the pump more, their work has to be affected in some way," he said.

Last year the university recorded a surplus of $185 million, while cutting 150 staff through a COVID-related restructure and reducing courses.

The university has maintained the figures have a "much, much smaller underlying surplus" which is "different to profit".

Vice chancellor professor Alex Zelinsky declined to comment on the negotiations on Saturday.

"I'm not going to respond today, because today is an Open Day where the university is talking about bringing students and the public here," he said.

"We need students to come to university because if we don't get full enrolments it's very hard for the university to pay its way."