Tim Blair posts on how Melbourne University is going through some cost cutting measures that involve trimming the fat from the Arts Department faculty.
He does the math and discovers that these faculty members average salraies are $105,000 per year.
Which may be why, when surveyed by their union, more than 85% said they were suffering from stress.
Results of the union survey, conducted in May with more than 800 staff across faculties, show general and academic staff feel they are experiencing excessive workloads and work-life imbalance.The union said it was deeply concerned for the health and safety of staff, saying much of the anxiety was due to “ongoing cutbacks” and a policy of not replacing departed staff.
More than 40% of respondents said their workload had increased since two years ago, while 57% said they worked more than five hours’ overtime a week. More than a third said they worked more than 10 additional hours a week, with more than two-thirds of respondents reporting this was done without payment or time in lieu.
More than 85% of respondents said they were suffering from stress, reporting sleeplessness, anxiety, headaches and loss of concentration.
Blair then correctly points out that these “Academicsâ€, supposedly highly trained, and obviously highly compensated, are saying that they are more stressed out than American combat personnel during the peak of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004.
And yet, these “academics†consider the soldiers “dead-enders, hickseeds and dupesâ€.
I say we have them trade places then. Give the soldiers and Marines access to the college girls and have the Art School faculty relieve some stress by carrying a rifle. I’d even let them choose between Iraq and Afghanistan.
Oh wait, never mind. Unlike them, we’d actually LIKE to win.
