Western Sydney University Vice Chancellor George Williams has just announced that he wants to sack 300-400 WSU staff members! 

Hundreds of our staff face losing their jobs during a cost of living crisis and a housing crisis. The WSU executive claims this major attack is due to their projected $80 million budget deficit. 

Staff and students should not have to pay for WSU’s failing business model. WSU staff are the ones who make this university run, not the 6-figure-salary executive. Our university should prioritise quality education not profit. 

Staff working conditions are student learning conditions, which is why WSU students oppose these cuts. Staff at WSU are already overworked and underpaid. The more staff are cut, the more the workload is forced on to remaining staff members. These cuts could start with staff and then course cuts could be next. 

And what are our university’s budget priorities? This year, January 2025, WSU announced the goal to set up a “state-of-the-art” university overseas in India. So if the finances exist to create an offshore university, why is it that WSU is crying poor when it comes to our quality of education? 

WSU’s Vice Chancellor George Williams is paid $800,000 a year. That’s more than the Prime Minister! The Guardian's own report concluded that “…Western Sydney University had 15 executives earning more than their [state] premiers, according to the report.” 

No Uni Cuts at WSU oppose these 300-400 staff cuts. We reject the notion that staff and students should pay for our university's crisis. Education should be a right not a commodity. Staff should be valued not discarded.