tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28711616121946869582024-02-21T12:13:38.727+11:00People's Tribunal Melbourne, April 2015An enquiry into the effects and context of the University of Melbourne's Business Improvement Plan. The People's Tribunal is a privately funded initiative. This blog proceeds from the inquiry and functions as an archive for presentations from the day and will continue to serve as resource for information and activism relating to the effects of neoliberalism in Australian universities.Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-47001172675337804152015-09-29T13:35:00.002+10:002015-09-29T13:35:55.703+10:00Contents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/statement-of-purpose-inquiry-into.html" target="_blank">Statement of Purpose</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/philip-morrissey-statement-to-peoples.html" target="_blank">Statement to the People's Tribunal, April 2015</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/report-by-ruth-campbell-on-hr.html" target="_blank">Report on the HR Perspective</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/personal-testimony-from-affected-staff.html" target="_blank">Personal Testimony From Affected Staff for the Consideration of the People's Tribunal</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/05/presentation-to-peoples-tribunal-on.html" target="_blank">Presentation to the People's Tribunal on Booz & Co</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/giles-fielke-disruptive-innovation-and.html" target="_blank">Disruptive Innovation and the University</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/justin-clemens-corporate-autophagy-vs.html"><span id="goog_874536746"></span>Corporate Autophagy vs. The People</a><span id="goog_874536747"></span><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/adam-bartlett-devoid-of-truthdevoid-of.html" target="_blank">Devoid of Truth/Devoid of Education: For the agents of change there is nothing new under the sun.</a><br />
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<a href="http://peoplestribunalmelbourne.blogspot.de/2015/07/gill-h-boeringer-concluding-statement.html" target="_blank">Concluding Statement</a></div>
Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-81533906966567135582015-09-29T13:33:00.001+10:002015-09-29T13:41:07.715+10:00Justin Clemens - Corporate Autophagy vs. The People<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3gh1zkjwfpnuab/Justin%20Clemens%20-%20Corporate%20Autophagy%20v.%20The%20People.pdf?dl=0"><i>Justin Clemens - Corporate Autophagy vs. The People</i></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I begin by citing the great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges: ‘I write,’ he
writes somewhere, ‘not for the Platonic abstraction of the public, but for my
friends.’ I too would like to write for my friends. Yet, as another great writer, the
German media theorist Friedrich Kittler put it, the task of writing is to show that
things are worse than they are. I will also try to do this here: the work of writing
is to show friends that things are worse than they are. </i></span><br />
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-25802243475182470802015-07-24T05:59:00.000+10:002015-09-29T13:42:39.989+10:00Statement of Purpose: An Inquiry into the ‘Business Improvement Plan’ Melbourne People’s Tribunal, April 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/to4pvh4asl5ijz4/Peoples%20Tribunal%20-%20Statement%20of%20Purpose.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><i>Statement of Purpose: An Inquiry into the ‘Business Improvement Plan’ Melbourne People’s Tribunal, April 2015</i></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">On 5 December 2013 University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis
informed staff at a ‘Town Hall Meeting’ that an ‘innovative program to revamp
service and support activities and strengthen its position in an increasingly
competitive tertiary environment’ would be introduced over an 18-month
period.
</span></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Professor Davis also informed staff that ‘international management
consultants’ Booz & Co would design and implement the program in
coordination with teams of University of Melbourne staff. The official
University of Melbourne press release reporting Professor Davis’
announcement contained no indications that there would be job losses, or
sustained insecurity of tenure for professional staff. Instead the emphasis was
on the improvement of systems and processes with the resulting savings of
$70m per annum reinvested in teaching, research and engagement.
Nevertheless, BIP ultimately abolished 540 jobs, with all remaining
professional staff positions declared vacant and all staff required to apply for a
diminished pool of jobs. </span></i></span><br />
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-86629820111398168032015-07-24T05:53:00.003+10:002015-09-29T13:39:06.814+10:00Report by Ruth Campbell on the HR perspective<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wipkgurb3rfdqdq/Ruth%20Campbell%20-%20Report%20on%20the%20HR%20perspective.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><i>Report by Ruth Campbell on the HR perspective </i></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">My professional career over 40 years has been in the practice of human
resources. I have been fortunate to have worked in both the public and private
sectors and principally in large organisations. The different environments in
which I have worked have informed my observations of<br />
• the key elements of human resources – what makes it a professional
practice; and<br />
• changes that have occurred over that period.
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Human Resources professionals often bear the responsibility for change
management. Of course change is an essential part of everyone’s working
experience – no-one wants to stand still. Part of the art of the human
resources practitioner is to facilitate the change process but also be the
proponent of and expert in those particular principles and practices which
need to be maintained in a change process. Responsibility for delivering
change however sits with all individual employees led by managers who
understand and practise good leadership. </span></span></i></div>
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-35462785000772038652015-07-24T05:52:00.002+10:002015-09-29T13:42:59.462+10:00Gill H Boehringer - Concluding Statement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/1vy14stezhnhv7k/Gill%20H%20Boehringer%20-%20Concluding%20Statement.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><i>Concluding Statement by Tribunal Panel member, Gill H. Boehringer, former head, Macquarie University Law School </i></a></span><br />
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">A plan based on a $6.5 million consultancy from the USA firm Booz,
international purveyor of “off the shelf” plans to the corporate and military
sectors.
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Major impact of the BIP: 540 jobs to go; 1600 professional staff made to
resign and re-apply for their own positions with re-designed job descriptions.
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-18618918354950708662015-07-24T05:50:00.001+10:002015-09-29T13:39:30.660+10:00Adam Bartlett - Devoid of Truth/Devoid of Education: For the agents of change there is nothing new under the sun.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1m0oiex1sg9cbe/Adam%20Bartlett%20-%20For%20Agents%20of%20Change%20There%20is%20Nothing%20New%20Under%20the%20Sun%20%28Peoples%20Tribunal%29.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><i>Devoid of Truth/Devoid of Education: For the agents of change there is nothing new under the sun. </i></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt;">The rhetoric of change and innovation which is at the heart of the BIP document, as it is
has been at the heart of countless education policy documents for at least 40 years, is at
the heart of the discourse of capitalism itself. ‘All that is solid melts into air’ as Marx put
it: </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">continually</span><span style="font-size: 12.000000pt;">. Change at the level of modification or innovation or whatever term is
currently the vogue is deemed the essential subjective feature for all bodies and
institutions who seek to be counted to exist within its remit. </span></i></span></div>
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-87284499595309162762015-07-24T05:46:00.000+10:002015-09-29T13:40:21.987+10:00Giles Fielke - Disruptive Innovation and the University<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/9hp4s82x4gctnls/Giles%20Fielke%20-%20Disruptive%20Innovation%20and%20the%20University.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Giles Fielke - Disruptive Innovation and the University</span></i></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Before beginning this discussion, which focusses on quite a precise event in the life of a
ubiquitous and therefore unassuming term: disruption, I should like to relay an anecdote
about my stake in today. During time spent in the School of Culture and
Communication’s John Medley Building at the University of Melbourne, I’ve often
crossed between the towers separating the East and West by using the third floor
linkway. From my supervisor’s office (East), and the shared office spaces on the 6<span style="vertical-align: 5pt;">th </span>floor
(West), the linkway on the third floor is part of the most efficient way for me to get
between two of the most important locations for our life on campus. </span></i><br />
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-58363553825189287842015-07-24T05:43:00.003+10:002015-09-29T13:40:01.243+10:00Philip Morrissey - Statement to The People’s Tribunal, April 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Where do we, or rather I, begin? With your permission I will endeavour to
embody an authenticity in which one tries to remain true, ‘not to a “self” but to
the social conditions which have generated one’s functioning persona.’
Accordingly I would like to provide a genealogy that takes into account two
worlds: first the post bellum world of my Aboriginal forbears, its history and its
relation to labour; second, a universal community of the mind, an intellectual </span><span style="color: #141823;">world; the thinkers I immediately referred to when confronted with the reality
of the Business Improvement Plan. </span></span></i><br />
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-15556357401180338392015-07-24T05:37:00.002+10:002015-09-29T13:41:22.793+10:00Personal Testimony from Affected Staff For the Consideration of the People’s Tribunal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><i>The following summary of the Business Improvement Plan's effects on a
sample of University of Melbourne staff was read to the Tribunal by a member
of counsel:
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/l740gdnk4qcnmu6/Summary%20of%20the%20Business%20Improvement%20Plan%20by%20Staff%20Affected%20by%20the%20Process.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Personal Testimony from Affected Staff For the Consideration of the People’s Tribunal</a></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">The following document collates the personal testimony of 10 Professional
Staff of the University of Melbourne affected by the recent ‘Business
Improvement Plan’.
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">This is not a unified or comprehensive collection, nor could it possibly attempt
to represent the 1000 plus staff affected by this process. Rather the following
citations from the personal testimonies received simply aim to give voice to
staff affected and to bear witness to the psychological, emotional and financial
effects endured by these staff: to make local, personal and real the otherwise
abstract process of ‘BIP’.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: rgb(7.843138%, 9.411765%, 13.725490%); font-family: 'ArialMT'; font-size: 12.000000pt;">The following testimonies were collected from staff from various Faculties and
with a breadth of experience at the University, ranging from 4 to 37 years of
service. </span></span></i></div>
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2871161612194686958.post-72414947601308641632015-05-14T17:23:00.001+10:002015-09-29T13:42:08.232+10:00Leo Seward - Presentation to the People's Tribunal on Booz & Co<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/vclxzn2eczeiwxr/Leo%20Seward%20-%20Presentation%20to%20the%20Peoples%20Tribunal%20on%20Booz%20and%20Co.pdf?dl=0">Leo Seward - Presentation to the People's Tribunal on Booz & Co</a></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In December of 2013, the University of Melbourne executive announced that it had begun to implement “an innovative program to revamp service and support activities and strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive international tertiary environment.” The chief engineers behind what was named the “Business Improvement Program” (or BIP), were a management consultancy agency named Booz & Company, now Strategy&, with whom the university had entered into a $6.5million contract. The BIP was rolled out over the following 18 months.</span></i></div>
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Out And Down In The Colonieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02262884470515607451noreply@blogger.com