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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, No. 1, March 1, 1976

Salient Comments

Salient Comments

In the Students' Association policy books are hundreds of motions dealing with workers' rights. Yet when students start employing their own staff, they are conveniently forgotten about.

Salient was aware of the uneasy relationships existing within the Students' Association office and also of the tight financial budget to which the executive was attempting to adhere. But do these factors add up to a reason for dismissal?

Steve's comment that "it had to be sorted out and had to be done quickly" is a good indication of the reasoning used in this affair. His primary emphasis on the financial aspects of the case and "the efficiency of the office", are other clues.

The Students' Association, (with increasing financial pressure) over the past six months, has consistently used the reasoning that if something is not making a profit, then it must be axed. When it comes to staff, it appears that this reasoning also applies.

We are worse than companies downtown in this respect, and perhaps indicative of a Muldoon-style of industrial relations. If a worker in a downtown office was fired (without warning), for the same reasons, would the union have a good case for her reinstatement? This is the standard that we must measure ourselves against.

A sound reason for reinstatement was that at no time did any dialogue take place with Mrs Goodall as to the state of the office and her general financial and administrative handling of Association affairs. Anthony Ward spoke to her after the event, but by then it was too late. For a person who had been on the staff for nearly three years, this is a sad way to go.

Salient has no wish to thrash those who dismissed Mrs Goodall to within an inch of their lives, although it does believe that many questions still need answering.

More important, however, is the future treatment of Students' Association staff.

We believe that executive officers must get away from the attitude that we must get value-for-money, or else the person goes.

We believe that the president should keep a closer eye on staff conditions (including any tension in the office).

We believe that staff should not be dragged into intra-executive political wrangles.