A document publicly released by the VUWSA executive last Thursday has outlined a series of proposed changes to the current structure of the Students’ Association, including the disestablishment of at least three existing fulltime positions and radical changes to future Orientation Week events.
Titled ‘Consultation Document for a Revised Structure of VUWSA Business’, the proposal is reportedly designed to “improve VUWSA’s efficiency and effectiveness,” and attributes current problems plaguing the Association to “historical issues.”
Among such issues that have been subsequently identified is the “increasingly unsustainable” cost associated with Orientation Week, with organised events failing to attract sufficient numbers of students to justify the expenditure. Previous executives have similarly blamed Orientation Week costs as a major contributor to the Association’s ongoing financial woes.
This view was supported by a 2006 review of the Association’s finances conducted by Howarth Strategy, who subsequently recommended that “VUWSA concentrate on its core union business and scale back its fiscal outlay in respect of social, sporting and cultural events.”
Prior to this review, the ‘Team Victoria’ brand was developed to streamline these services, under three full-time positions – Advertising and Sponsorship Manager, Campus Activities Co-ordinator and Clubs Development Officer. Employed by the Association, these positions are at present held by Jon McQueen, Dusty McLoughlin and Brent Hayward, respectively.
Under the proposal, all three positions will be disestablished. It is intended that McQueen’s role as Advertising and Sponsorship Manager will be separated into two, with the formation of a Business Manager to overlook Salient operations and advertising, and the sponsorship component of the current position for events such as UniGames, to be under contract.
Similarly, the role of the Campus Activities Co-ordinator will be replaced by a position that will be under contract and limited only to the month in which Orientation events are held. According to the document, the position will comprise of “[negotiating] subsidised tickets for events held in the inner city during Orientation.”
The duties currently carried out by the Clubs Development Officer will in future be shared by the Association and the Union under the proposal. Effectively, all clubs will continue to be paid for by students, but control over them will be shifted to the University.
The proposal has justified the contracting of the various positions, citing the “high turnover of executive positions.”
“[As a result], VUWSA does not have the internal structures and mechanisms to successfully manage staff. Independent contractors to fulfil the specialist roles at specific times of the year would lower the Association’s financial risk and remove management issues.”
It is anticipated that McQueen, McLoughlin and Hayward will all be required to re-apply if they wish to hold the remnants of the current positions.
None of the staff employed by the Association were consulted in the formulation of the proposal. Despite being promised otherwise, McQueen, McLoughlin and Hayward were informed of the possibility of losing their jobs and provided with the opportunity of compiling a submission on the same day that the proposal was made public.
Such upheavals do not appear to be limited to these three positions, with the proposal hinting at the removal of Orientation Week events from the University as a response to a reported preference students had for external events held in Wellington and the inner city.
One recommendation eventuating from the Howarth Strategy report was that “VUWSA partner up or form joint ventures with Wellington carnival events (Cuba Street Carnival, Jazz Festival, Fringe Festival, for example) to provide discounted rates for students, and therefore reduce the number of directly organised and managed activities.”
Furthermore, the proposal declares that “a second phase of changes” will look at “shifting the focus of front office components to the administration division, and will also strengthen financial accountability and reporting practices.”
This second phase refers to a report prepared by BDO Spicers on the Association’s financial structure, which recommended entrusting more control of managing and reporting the budget to permanent staff than to members of the executive.
Also under review, the proposal continues, is “the opportunity to relocate VUWSA’s current IT support to ITS Services.”
VUWSA Campaigns Officer Sonny Thomas stressed “This is just a proposal. We want feedback from students, we want feedback from staff.”
He added that VUWSA could not sustain itself continuing in its current situation, with projected statistics indicating a decrease in future student numbers. “Every four years, [the Association] has a financial meltdown, so if we continue this way, it will be the end of [student] advocacy and representation.”
Thomas told Salient that the initial thoughts behind the proposal had been drafted between himself and VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove, Education Vice-President Paul Brown and Administration Vice-President Alexander Neilson. “We showed the VUWSA Trust… they liked the idea of change.”
“VUWSA needs change.”
VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove pointed out “If we just wanted to fire people and get rid of jobs, we wouldn’t be doing it this way [with consultation].”
“The proposal is to make sure than when I come back in [the future], VUWSA is still functioning and not crashing and burning. This is a big change but it’s not as big as it would be if we did it in four years’ time.”
He conceded, however: “I think VUWSA does fuck up and it’s the nature of the beast.”
The Decision Panel for the subsequent process – the next step which involves consultation with affected staff members – is comprised of VUWSA President Joel Cosgrove, Welfare Vice-President Melissa Barnard, Campaigns Officer Sonny Thomas, and a VUWSA Trust member, an external consultant and a staff member.
The executive has invited submissions on the proposal. While UNITE Union are at present negotiating to extend this deadline to ensure it complies with the 30 days’ notice stipulated under the Collective Agreement, the current deadlines are as follows: requests for oral submissions are required in writing to submissions@vuwsa.org.nz, by 24 September, and written submissions will be accepted until 3 October.