Under the phase one change implementation plan, staff members were told on Wednesday that their job will no longer exist and the 12-week redeployment period will begin on December 23.

However, they were previously told the implementation plan would not start until January 11.

The National Tertiary Education Union has said the affected staff will be deprived of almost three weeks during the shutdown when the university will not be open to advertise vacancies or review applications.

"This is a shameful attempt by the university to rush job cuts before the end of the year, depriving people of genuine opportunities to redeploy into other ANU positions," NTEU ANU branch president Simon Copland said.

"The ANU has today made a difficult process much more difficult, flying in the face of their stated appreciation for these long-serving staff."

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An ANU spokesman said available positions were open for affected staff to consider before, during and after the end of year shutdown.

"It is not our usual practice to run redeployment processes over the end of year shutdown, however we are facing unprecedented times," he said.

Meanwhile, the College of Arts and Social Sciences tranche two implementation plan has been delayed until mid-January due to a large volume of feedback on the proposal.