Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Celebrating 20 years
Dealing with an Abbott Govt. Pyne pays homage to Vanstone Cash cow approach to funding Post-election wrap up Indigenous employment targets Industrial actions in Vic & NSW CAE staff fight cuts Job security our priority MOOCs: Dont believe the hype SSAF and student services
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Contents
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Cover image: Ken McAlpine and Kerry Lewis on an NTEU picket line in Victoria in 1993.
Advocate ISSN 1321-8476 Published by National Tertiary Education Union ABN 38 579 396 344 Publisher Grahame McCulloch Editor Jeannie Rea Production Paul Clifton Editorial Assistance Helena Spyrou Feedback, advertising and other enquiries: advocate@nteu.org.au
All text and images NTEU 2013 unless otherwise stated.
NTEU National Office, PO Box 1323, Sth Melbourne VIC 3205 1st floor, 120 Clarendon St, Sth Melbourne VIC phone (03) 9254 1910 fax (03) 9254 1915 email national@nteu.org.au Division Offices www.nteu.org.au/divisions Branch Offices www.nteu.org.au/branches
NTEU takes up the fight Editorial, Jeannie Rea EI Asia-Pacific push for increased higher education investment From the General Secretary
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p. 11
UPDATE 4 5 6 7 8 Marian Baird NTEU Lecture 2013 Silencing dissent in Queensland Howard Florey & Baker IDI Fair process in Curtin restructure Bargaining update Vote Smart victories and losses Strikes achieve good Agreements
9 Actions spur on Agreements in Vic 10 The lack of job security at UTAS Public sector roadshow 11 CAE staff fight cuts 12 Go Home on Time Day CAPA roadshow My Student Debt website Breakthrough on domestic violence Gender pay gap still $1 million Merger creates Federation University FEATURES 18 Campaigning for the smart vote
The Unions Vote Smart campaign was designed to highlight the issues affecting universities through advocacy for the Greens in the Senate, plus Independent Andrew Wilkie and Greens candidate Adam Bandt.
14 CQU and CQIT merger complete UNICASUAL NEWS 15 Job security is our priority INDIGENOUS NEWS 16 Indigenous employment targets 17 Morning Star scholarship tripled Kerrie Doyle graduates Oxford COLUMNS 38 eTeaching in higher education News from the Net, by Pat Wright
Environment ISO 14001
34 Whole-of-University Approach
In response to university mainstreaming of Indigenous student support, NTEU has produced the Whole-of-University Approach to Indigenous Student Support report.
39 TamU celebrates the brave new world Lowering the Boom, by Ian Lowe 40 Lack of respect for higher education Thesis Whisperer, Inger Mewburn 41 Dont follow NZs employment law Letter from NZ, Lesley Francey, TEU YOUR UNION 42 Celebrating our 20th Anniversary 44 Foundation member, Graham Farquhar 45 Celebrating our Foundation members 46 Leading the charge for our union CQU celebrates NTEUs 20 years 47 National Council 2013 50 National Council workshops 51 Life Members 54 Vale David Muffet Cross cultural training 55 New NTEU staff
In accordance with NTEU policy to reduce our impact on the natural environment, Advocate is printed using vegetable based inks with alcohol free printing initiatives on FSC certified paper under ISO 14001 Environmental Certification. Advocate is available online as a PDF at nteu.org.au/advocate and an e-book at www.issuu.com/nteu NTEU members may opt for soft delivery (email notification of online copy rather than mailed printed version). Details at nteu.org.au/ softfdelivery
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Editorial
Jeannie Rea, National President
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE
National President Vice-Presidents General Secretary National Asst Secretary National Executive: Andrew Bonnell Gabe Gooding John Kenny Virginia Mansel Lees Jan Sinclair-Jones Michael Thomson Jeannie Rea Kelvin Michael (Academic) Lynda Davies (General) Grahame McCulloch Matthew McGowan
Linda Cecere Stephen Darwin Ryan Hsu Genevieve Kelly Margaret Lee Colin Long Kevin Rouse John Sinclair Melissa Slee Lolita Wikander
Update
Marian Baird to present 2013 NTEU Lecture
NTEU is pleased to announce that Professor Marian Baird will deliver the 2013 NTEU Lecture on Thursday 5 December in Sydney.
Professor Baird will speak on A Positive Tension: The Academic and Policy Debates. Posing the question of what is the role of the academic in contemporary Australia, Marian Baird will reflect on the past decade of work on gender and public policies and considers the implications for academic life and work more broadly. Consideration will be given to the inherent tensions between active policy involvement and involvement in the modern university, including workload, academic freedom and intellectual integrity. University of Sydney Professor of Employment Relations and proud NTEU member, Marian Baird was recently named among Australias most influential women in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) and
low paid workers, gender equitable organisational change and work and family in regional Australia. Previous NTEU lecturers are Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb in 2011, and in 2012 Australias leading playwright, David Williamson.
For full details of the 2013 NTEU Lecture and to register for tickets, please visit: www.nteu.org.au/lecture
opinion polls about a political matter and any other activity prescribed under a regulation. These provisions greatly circumscribe rights to political freedom, but the latter three items are of the greatest concern. On 12 July, the Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) published a full-page advertisement in the Courier Mail criticising the State Governments attitude to the Gonski Reforms. The Industrial Inspectorate commenced an official investigation in late September of issues relating to political spending that arose from the advertisement, requiring the QTU to participate in a formal record of interview and provide detailed financial records. The Queensland Council of Unions has commenced action in the High Court, arguing that the Act breaches the right to freedom of political expression. New legislation was introduced only last week that waters down the financially robust Queensland workers compensation scheme by restricting common law rights to applicants who have an assessed Whole of Person Incapacity of 5% or more, thus automatically excluding around 50% of applications . Then the Government suddenly introduced a Bill amending the Industrial Relations Act without notice or any external consultation. The Bill is nothing less than WorkChoices on steroids. It includes award and agreement stripping, as well as unilaterally moving around 300,000 senior public service staff onto take it or leave individual contracts. Margaret Lee, Qld Division Secretary
Update
Fair process achieved in Curtin restructure plans
A dispute between Curtin University management and NTEU over proposed academic reshaping of the University has been resolved with the assistance of the Fair Work Commission.
Management withdrew from negotiations to reassess the financial status of the Institute. What was regarded by Research Academics as strategic investment quickly became exposure to debt for the commercially orientated. The strike and the maintenance of the internal work bans saw the Institute pay a 3% salary increase to all staff in July, and it has brought their representatives back to the bargaining table with a desire to reach an agreed outcome prior to the end of the year. There is currently a proposal for a 4 year agreement being considered by the parties that will see NTEU members at the Institute maintain income parity with the Research Sector and improve and protect their conditions until 2017. It is proposed that there be an annual increase of 3% payable January 1 each year, with a firm schedule for the incorporation of staff from other research entities (who are on lesser terms of pay and conditions) into the Collective Agreement by 2017, some improvement in conditions, and a yet to be finalised sign on bonus that will compensate members for the earlier breakdown in negotiations. NTEU members are scheduled to meet to discuss acceptance on October 22. Rhidian Thomas, Industrial Officer will deliver a 10% pay rise (3.5% on 1 Jan 14, 3.25% on 1 Jan 15, 3.25% on 1 Jan 16) and the provision of five days paid leave for both domestic violence and elderly care. NTEU and ANMF members have expressed support for the new deal and the way in which the two unions have supported each other through the process. It is hoped that formal agreement and approval by FWC will take place soon, and the new Agreement will be up and running in the new year.
Early this year, Curtin announced university-wide restructures designed to replace a proportion of teaching and research academic positions with teaching specialist and research specialist roles. In order to implement this new staff profile, the University planned to spill many teaching and research positions, requiring those ongoing staff to compete for their own jobs. The new specialist jobs were to be externally advertised and new selection criteria would be imposed on all positions in the structure. The Union objected to the restructure plans, which contravened the change processes negotiated in the Enterprise Agreement. The resulting dispute ended up in the Fair Work Commission where a settlement was negotiated which ensures: All positions to be filled internally if possible. Job matching rather than spill and fill for teaching and research positions. No new selection criteria to be imposed on existing staff to keep their own jobs. Much better provision of information during consultation and implementation. NTEU Curtin Branch President Tony Snow said the resolution of the dispute means that management is now required to better identify which work or positions it does not want, identify which work would be transferred into new jobs (such as teaching being shifted from Teaching and Research positions into Teaching Focussed or Research Academic ones) and which research areas the University no longer wants. Management must then try to minimise potential loss of jobs through redeployment and measures such as attrition and voluntary redundancy. NTEU Curtin Branch will closely monitor the restructure as it proceeds to ensure the University honours of the settlement and respect the right of staff to job security and fair process.
Update
Bargaining update
Round 6 Bargaining is still progressing slowly, and at many places seemed to grind to a halt as employers waited for the results of the Federal Election. The cuts already announced to university funding, together with expectations of further stringencies and industrial relations demands from an Abbott Government, have had a chilling effect on negotiations.
Agreements have been finalised at Curtin, CQUniversity, Edith Cowan (ECU), Deakin, Sydney and James Cook (JCU). Each have achieved good outcomes across the NTEUs key claims, including caps on teaching hours, the creation of Scholarly Teaching Fellow positions (80 new positions will be achieved at Sydney University), improved career progression for general staff and employment targets for indigenous staff. The Agreement at Charles Sturt University (CSU) has also been finalised after management put their version of an Agreement to a vote of staff and despite intensive campaigning from NTEU, the majority of staff voted in favour of the Agreement. NTEU will nonetheless seek to maintain the rights of its members under the Agreement and will support its approval in the Fair Work Commission. The Agreement includes several key provisions from the NTEU claim, including the creation of new Scholarly Teaching Fellow positions, improved general staff career advancement and targets for employment of Indigenous staff. The average salary increase for staff over the life of the Agreement is around 3.32% per annum. Elsewhere, several Branches have made progress on key claims and would be close to settlement but for salaries. In others, such as the University of Melbourne, the parties are so far apart on NTEU key claims that members are not prepared to discuss the Universitys wage offer. A variety of employer tactics have been brought to bear to slow down or stall negotiations. These include: Meeting for short times once a fortnight. Spending months asking for further elaboration of the Union claims and negotiating the bosses agenda but not engaging meaningfully with the Union claims. Refusing to talk about money until all other conditions are negotiated to finality. Stonewalling on low wage offers.
New recognition for professional and technical staff doing academic work.
Update
P aying administrative increases to reduce pressure on the ground for an early outcome.
Industrial Action
Industrial action has been prominent this round, with the Sydney University Agreement set to be approved in the wake of lengthy strike action 7 days in all. Bans on teaching, consecutive one hour stoppages, amended and supportive email signatures, and bans on open day and graduation ceremony activities were common. The bans on transmission of results proved problematic with the Fair Work Commission interpretation of the current Act leaving branches vulnerable to employer action. Several branches implemented bans on the transmission of mid-year results and set up Exemptions Committees to assist students in need. However, both Monash and Swinburne sought to suspend the action.
students and those who would not know that they had failed a prerequisite unit. In this case, VP Lawler was convinced that the bans were a current threat to student welfare and he suspended the action for two weeks.
Appeal
Vice-President Lawler had anticipated his decisions would be appealed and indeed the Monash decision was appealed by both sides. This came before the Full Bench on 12 August. The NTEU appealed on the grounds that VP Lawlers reliance on past alleged harm, which the current structure of the industrial action was not threatening, was a misapplication of the words in the Act and that therefore there should have been no suspension at all. Management argued that he had erred in finding that there was no current or future endangerment. Management convinced the Full Bench that VP Lawler was wrong to conclude that the NTEUs results ban was not endangering student welfare. The Full Bench did not deal with the NTEUs grounds of appeal, finding there was no public interest in doing so, but upheld the management appeal and ordered a new two week suspension of the Monash action with effect from 9am on 14 August 2013. Of course, this effectively killed the results ban, and also had the effect of suspending all other industrial action for three weeks (the two week suspension plus a fresh three days notice of recommencing action). A detailed statement of reasons for their decision was issued on 26 August and can be found here at www.fwc.gov.au/decisionssigned/html/2013FWCFB5982.htm
The lower house candidates and champions for higher education backed by the NTEU campaign, Independent Andrew Wilkie in Denison and Greens Adam Bandt in Melbourne were returned with increased margins. (For more on the NTEU campaign, see report p.18). Scott Ludlums record in the Senate of standing up for human rights, a fair economy and environmental sustainability has been strong, articulate and consistent. The NTEU was particularly impressed with Ludlums performance in opposing the Defence Trades Control Bill, which curtails the independence of affected Australian researchers and their international collaborators.
Update
Strikes build unions and achieve good Agreements
Following seven days of strikes, the NTEU University of Sydney Branch has won a good Enterprise Agreement and built a stronger, bigger Branch.
The Branch has grown by over two hundred members since the beginning of the year. The Campaign Committee continues to meet and is planning to build a solid, active delegates network as we implement and enforce our new Agreement. All university staff will benefit from the Agreement we have negotiated. It should not be forgotten that the Agreement originally proposed by management in December 2012 would have stripped us of many rights, including anti-discrimination, intellectual freedom, union rights, classification protections for general staff, job security, a quantified research component in academic workloads and a substantial part of our existing sick leave provisions. Review and appeal processes in place to protect staff in dispute with management would have been significantly weakened, making it easier for management to undertake job cut campaigns like the one of 2011/12. It is only the willingness of union members to take strike action that stopped these planned changes. As well as protecting and in many cases strengthening our existing conditions, we have secured a range of measures that will create a fairer and better university for us all, including: 80 new ongoing Scholarly Teaching Fellow positions to replace teaching work previously done by casuals. 40 new Early Career Development Fellowships. An Indigenous employment target of 172 staff. 20 days domestic violence leave. $2 million per annum General Staff Career Development Fund. A General Staff Secondment and Exchange Scheme.
Guaranteed 20% research allocation for teaching-focused academics. Increases to partner leave. Increased redundancy benefits for General Staff. On salary, too, our industrial campaign was successful. Management originally offered staff only 2% p.a. salary increase. This was revised upwards only after strike action, until finally over the weekend we received an acceptable salary offer of 14.5% - which works out at 3% per annum from expiry of the previous agreement (May 2012) to expiry of the new agreement (March 2017). The management offer also includes an extra days concessional leave at Christmas, a $540 sign-on bonus and three research/training days. In the current federal context, this represents a significant result and is testament to NTEU members resolve and the efficacy of industrial action. While we would like to believe the deal is now done, it is important to note that management reneged at the last minute
during the 2009 Enterprise Agreement negotiations on the undertakings it had previously made. Some external members of the University Senate have taken an inappropriately interventionist position in the Enterprise Agreement negotiations, which have further delayed and disrupted a satisfactory outcome. Should these circumstances recur, the NTEU will not hesitate to renew our industrial campaign. Beyond the current negotiations, there remains much to do. The management continues to implement change management processes, staff face pressures from work intensification, and bullying and harassment are an ongoing problem in some areas. The NTEU will continue to advocate and enforce workplace arrangements that are good for students, staff and the University as a whole. Michael Thomson, University of Sydney Branch President
Above: Members take strike action on 20 August. Below: Celebrating the Agreement.
Update
Actions spur on Agreements in Victoria
As in other parts of the country, collective bargaining has been a protracted and difficult process in Victoria.
One Agreement, at Deakin University, has been reached. Given it took nearly two years to reach agreement at Deakin in the previous round, getting sign-off in 12 months is a good achievement. The Agreement, too, is a good one, with a reasonable pay rise that is targeted at the lower paid members of staff. The Agreement also has a good academic workloads clause, introduces paid family violence leave, provides for forty Scholarly Teaching Fellows, facilitates the establishment of a secondment register for general staff, and several other improvements. The introduction of Scholarly Teaching Fellows as a way of tackling the scourge of casualisation, and family violence leave clauses will be achieved at all Victorian universities, despite some management resistance. These will be achievements that bargaining teams, Branches and members will be proud of for many years to come. Unfortunately, most Victorian university Agreements still require considerable work. Nevertheless, bargaining teams are working very hard to get agreements over the line by the end of year, at least in principle. The NTEU has agreed with management to suspend bargaining negotiations at University of Ballarat (UB) in order to transform them into negotiations for an Agreement for the Federation University of Australia (as the merger between UB and
Above: Swinburne staff strike in September. Below: Melbourne staff striking in October. Photos: Toby Cotton
the Churchill campus of Monash University will be known from 1 January 2014). sive in challenging the Union. Some managements (interestingly, particularly at Monash and Melbourne) have been resistant to the Scholarly Teaching Fellows claim; others to the imposition of enforceable caps on academic workloads; still others on one or more of our general staff claims. In turn, management claims around a reduction of redundancy entitlements and discipline protections have been common, with the usual claim for more simplification and flexibility. The ramifications of such a change in management approach need to be given serious consideration by the NTEU when the dust has settled on this round of bargaining. But what we can already say is that there is a pressing need for the union to concentrate its efforts over the next several years on two key goals: building union density and power and providing union members with an extensive programme of union education. These will be the best form of preparation for the next round of bargaining, sometime in or after 2016. Colin Long, Victorian Division Secretary
Industrial action
All Victorian university Branches have had to take industrial action in support of their claims, with most imposing bans on the transmission of results, some banning various forms of administrative work, and most taking strike action for varying periods. Unfortunately, the Union was taken to the Fair Work Commission over the results bans at Monash and Swinburne and lost the cases. As a result, industrial action at those Branches was suspended for short periods of time (see report, p.7). More problematic in the long term was the undermining of this form of industrial action, which has traditionally been one of the most powerful in our arsenal. We are still considering whether further legal action would help to clarify the law around such bans.
Update
The lack of job security at UTAS is criminal
University of Tasmania (UTAS) has been declared a crime scene by the NTEU because of its terrible staff statistics. Job security remains the sticking point to reaching agreement, with no willingness by senior management to provide improvements since negotiations commenced late last year.
At UTAS, 75% of staff are casual or fixedterm and have no job security. The NTEU has undertaken a number of stunts to draw attention to the issue of job security. Everyone knows a number of staff members who are working in positions that are clearly ongoing, but they are employed casually or on a fixed-term basis. Several buildings have been decorated with crime scene tape to outline the issue of job security at UTAS, and media invited to these events were provided with a copy of an NTEU survey that showed that staff morale was extremely low as a result of short term employment and reliance on casual and fixed-term staff. Members at the Tasmanian College of the Arts painted a banner to look like crime scene tape proclaiming that 75% of UTAS
staff dont have job security. The banner was placed outside the student union building, facing the Vice-Chancellors office. The banner was only up very briefly before it was brought down by UTAS, claiming it breached the banner policy. After a more formal request, the NTEU Tasmanian Division was advised by UTAS that Based on feedback received, I am unable to approve the NTEUs application to post its banner on University premises.
The NTEU has asked UTAS to reduce the number of fixed-term and casual staff by changing these to ongoing positions. We would also like to see that when a role is ongoing then staff that have been working for more than three years should have the right to convert to an ongoing role.
Above: Members with their banner facing the VCs office. Below: Job security crime scene in Launceston. Photos by Miranda Jamieson.
of the impact of the Howard era cuts to highlight the very real dangers of the election of a Coalition Government. NTEU ACT Division Secretary Stephen Darwin, was a joint media spokesperson for the Alliance and highlighted the impact of the recent cuts to higher education and the inability of local universities to absorb further reductions in funding. Darwin argued that the recent announcement of the loss of 230 professional staff jobs at ANU was a powerful reminder to the ACT community that they could not afford a Coalition Government. Although the campaign did not succeed in preventing the election of a local Liberal senator, the ACT was one of the few regions in the country where the Coalition vote remained stagnant, suggesting that the Alliances message resonated. It is now hoped this Alliance will be ongoing, drawing together ACT unions to fight the realities of public sector and education cuts that loom with the election of an Abbott Government.
www.canberrajobsalliance.com
Update
CAE staff fight cuts
Hundreds of people have shown their support to NTEU members Lay-Ping Powell and Carlos Marquez-Perez in their fight against attempts to cut their rights and entitlements. They are not on their own, but have become symbolic of the fight against draconian cuts being sought by the Council of Adult Education (CAE) Board.
Union members, family and friends have sent in photos of themselves holding up a sign supporting these two delegates. These photos have been built up in to a montage that can be seen on the NTEU Victorian Division Facebook page. The numbers grow daily. Administration Officers Lay-Ping and Carlos are two of the four delegates at this well-known Melbourne institute. The other two delegates, Tania Daniels and Michelle McCann are teachers, and all together they make a formidable bargaining team. Like most bargaining rounds, there have been highs and lows and the usual run of twists and turns from management. The current Agreement expired in April 2011, an in-principle Agreement was reached in November 2011, the Board reneged on that Agreement early 2012, a new in-principle Agreement was reached in December 2012, the Board reneged on that Agreement mid 2013 and demanded over 30 cuts to the Agreement. Members started to get just a little peeved at this poor behaviour from management. For the first time in their history they took industrial action. Daily stoppages of one minute or more by every member commenced, flyers have been handed out on Flinders Lane, noisy marches around the block with bells and whistles and the Short Course administration shut down for a week are some of the actions by union members. A ban on answering all emails has just commenced. Recent events have caused significant changes to the management of the CAE and not for the better. Over spending on infrastructure followed by the GFC left the CAE in financial trouble. It was rescued by the Box Hill Institute (of TAFE) and became part of the BHI Group, run by the one Board. Soon after, a spill of the Boards Chair occurred and Premier Napthine hand-picked a replacement (Suzanne
Above: Staff at Melbournes CAE taking industrial action in August for the first time since the centres establishment. Below: Members photos in support of NTEU delegates Lay-Ping and Carlos. Photos: Toby Cotton/Gia Underwood
Industrial Officer
Update
Go Home on Time Day for a mentally healthy workplace
NTEU encourages members to participate in the annual Go Home On Time Day on Wednesday 20 November 2013.
How you participate is up to you. You may wish to hold a morning or afternoon tea, a lunchtime yoga class or a post-work picnic with the kids. And, if you are able to, make sure you go home on time! Whatever your workplace decides, Go Home On Time Day is about starting the conversation about working hours, overwork, underwork and work/life balance. A mentally healthy workplace is a more productive workplace, and this year Go Home on Time Day participants are encouraged by its organisers, the Australia Institute, to make a gold coin donation to beyondblue. To support your participation, download free posters, cartoons and infographics at the Go Home on Time Day website.
www.gohomeontimeday.org.au
CAPA roadshow
Throughout a week and a half in October, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has been hitting the road, visiting campuses across Australia and reaching out to postgraduate students through a series of events called The CAPA Roadshow.
Weve been visiting postgraduate associations from Melbourne to the Gold Coast, Newcastle to Fremantle, chatting to postgrads about what CAPA does, why student unionism is important and what the new Government means to universities. The CAPA Roadshow has hosted events in conjunction with numerous postgraduate students associations. Each of these events has provided postgraduate students with an opportunity to come together and network, to hear from speakers and to get to know more about what is happening within the sector. These events have also provided a forum for CAPA to visit some of our most active and engaged campus organisations, as well as newer postgraduate associations and organisations in regional areas, giving them an opportunity to promote the fantastic work they are doing on campus and giving their postgrads a chance to hear from their representatives at a national level.
At our Monash and Newcastle events we heard from our most recent Minister for Higher Education, Senator Kim Carr and the Australian Greens spokesperson on higher education, Senator Lee Rhiannon, who shared their thoughts on what the new Government and Senate mean for the student movement and took time to listen to input from local postgrad students. Our event at La Trobe featured a panel with myself, NTEU President Jeannie Rea and NUS Education Officer Clare Keyes-Liley, where the future of students and universities under the Coalition was discussed. International students in particular found this panel a unique opportunity to learn more about the Australian Government and how its decisions impact them on campus. During the Roadshow, we launched our S.O.S. Save Our Student experience, Save Our SSAF campaign. Were currently surveying postgrads as to what services they use on campus and how they want to see their SSAF spent. Were eager to approach the new Governments policies on SSAF proactively and know that data on the postgraduate SSAF experience will prove valuable in the months to come. The message that has come through strongly from these events has been that in the face of a conservative government, student activism is more important than ever and it is critical that CAPA continues to be on the front foot of issues that matter to postgraduate students. Meghan Hopper, CAPA President
www.capa.org.au
Update
Bluestocking Week 2013: Holding the Line
The theme for this years Bluestocking Week (12-16 August) was Holding the Line.
After the NUS event held back in April declared Our bluestockings are on the line, NTEU was obliged to stand fast! Events were held across campuses across the country, many with bargaining, election and women in public life themes. A highlight of this years Bluestocking Week at Murdoch University Branch was the Womens Walk on Country with Nyungar elder Aunty Marie Taylor (pictured right). Aunty Marie took a group of women around showing them the significance of her land on which the university now sits. Scheduled for one hour, the popular event went closer to three. Bluestocking Week is now established as an annual event every August.
All of this years activities and information on the history of bluestockings: www.nteu.org.au/bluestockingweek NTEUs womens magazine, Agenda: www.nteu.org.au/agenda
mandatory claims on domestic violence leave in 2012, the rate of coverage of these clauses has grown rapidly across industries, with more than 1 million workers now covered by such provisions. There is a growing acceptance of domestic violence as a workplace issue, affecting work attendance, work performance and safety. Of respondents to the Safe at Home, Safe at Work? survey in 2011, 77% who had experienced domestic violence reported that their work performance had been negatively affected. Aside from being the right thing to do, provisions to support workers affected by domestic violence make sense for employers if they consider the costs of lost productivity, increased levels of absenteeism and turnover. For these reasons, WAC and NTEU Executive reconsidered our approach to these claims earlier this year which re-focussed our negotiations to achieving 4 out of the 7 stars recommended by the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, and to aim for one of these stars to be the achievement of additional paid leave. Since this round of bargaining commenced, the degree of public and industry acceptance of these provisions as legitimate workplace matters means NTEU can continue to build on domestic violence provisions in this and future rounds. If youd like information or advice on negotiating domestic violence provisions, and additional leave, please contact the NTEU Industrial Unit.
Sue Kenna, Industrial Officer www.dvandwork.unsw.edu.au/ domestic-and-family-violenceclauses
Update
CQIU and CQIT merger complete
In September this year, when the ink dried on the agreement to merge CQUniversity with the Central Queensland Institute of TAFE (CQIT), the various parties involved heaved a sigh of relief. Everyone seemed happy.
The agreement was a culmination of nearly three years of due diligence and negotiations between CQUniversity, the CQIT, the Federal Government, the Bligh and Newman Governments, the Queensland Treasury Corporation, local industry and community groups.
CQUniversity was happy because the dual sector means it becomes a one-stop-shop for all post-school education in Central Queensland including training and pathway opportunities for all its students. The Federal Government were so happy that they contributed around $74m as part of the 2011 Structural Adjustment Fund/ Education Investment Fund round. Much of this funding will support the actual merger or projects associated with it for example, Mackay will get a state-of-the-art engineering centre and a major overhaul of its TAFE campus. The merger is expected to provide other tangible benefits: overall revenue goes up significantly; student numbers virtually double (though not all at the same level of funding); staffing increases by around a third; and there are some non-dual-sector specific benefits, such as stage two of the recently developed Allied Health Clinic at Rockhampton. So, with the newly merged entity due to commence on 1 July 2014, as well as the additional capital, Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman is understandably in a good mood, declaring the decision signals the start of an exciting new era in post-school education and training for the state, and another first for Central Queensland. However, there are some clouds on the horizon. Given that Queensland now has
Casuals News
Job security is our priority
Over the past two decades, thousands of higher education careers have disappeared or never got started. During this time, universities have expanded and student numbers rapidly increased, and while jobs have also increased, they are increasingly precarious. This is most stark in teaching where the majority of work is now carried out by academics employed casually. This is not all new work: the jobs of academics leaving the system are also being casualised.
NTEU members repeatedly say that job security is their greatest concern. Fear of losing ones secure, contract, or even casual job, has cast pallor over the vibrancy of teaching and research in higher education. The inadequacy of government funding and university managements unpreparedness to prioritise jobs mean that almost everyone worries about the future of their job. So holding onto existing jobs is the first priority. Creating new secure jobs is the other side of the coin. Our insistence in this round of enterprise bargaining upon creating new secure academic jobs (Scholarly Teaching Fellows), numerical targets on Indigenous jobs, and tightening up the HECE provisions (unravelled in the HEWRRs period) continues to demonstrate NTEUs commitment to jobs and job security as core objectives. In the previous bargaining round, in recognition of the rise in research contracts, the research contract conversion clause was pursued, along with ECDFs to create some early career teaching and research positions. There are always two paths to tread in bargaining around secure work. Firstly, the focus must be on turning precarious work into secure jobs, but the other must be upon improving the salaries and conditions of casual and contract workers. In the last round, gaining payment for marking was an important breakthrough to improve the income of casuals, but it also acknowledged that casuals had been forced to give their labour for free. The majority of casual academics want ongoing jobs, as do general and academic staff employed on soft money. It is supposedly soft because it is temporary. Yet the work is not usually temporary as research programs keep going, students continue to need learning developers, advisers, librarians and IT workers, and the logic of outsourcing for any reason other than reducing the payroll is hard to fathom. Universities increasingly use fixed term and casual employment arrangements for general staff in positions where there is clearly an ongoing need for the work, including by characterising income-generating services as external funding, and by blurring the budget lines between internal and external funding to increase the number of positions allegedly linked to external funding. This is no way to run a university system. Since 2001 the total level of full-time employment (FTE), including estimated casuals, has grown by 42%. In 2001, 73.7% of all FTE employees were full time, 10.6% were fractional and 15.7% were estimated casuals. In 2010, just over half (51.4%) of all employees (when measured on FTE basis) of Australian university staff had continuing employment. Almost a third (32.1%) were on limited term contracts and 16.1% were employed on a casual basis. Amongst teaching only staff only 6.1% had continuing employment with 86.5% employed on a casual basis. For research only staff 9.8% had continuing employment with 80.5% being employed on limited term contracts.
Casual Voices
NTEUs website for casual academics (unicasual.org. au) allows members to share their stories as a casual. This is Lisas story.
I love the work of teaching. I hate the conditions. They are honestly worse than when I started employment on checkouts at KMart over 20 years ago. We cant plan our teaching, let alone our lives. We do not get paid for all those extras: the time it takes to deal with a computer malfunction, attend a faculty morning tea (if were invited), go to the toilet, deal with a broken photocopier, or countless hours of HR and student administration. There is no stability of hours from semester to semester, a weeks notice (sometimes less) of teaching hours and subjects, no paid sick or holiday leave, no ability to accrue entitlements like long service or maternity leave, no professional development, HALF the super of our colleagues. I have worked across four institutions now. At one I have worked every year
Indigenous News
Indigenous employment targets are achievable
Since 2001 and the inception of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander provisions in university Collective Agreements, there has been a sustained drive by the Union to ensure that employment opportunities for current and potential Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are created across all levels of the university structure.
In the last twelve years, Indigenous employment across the higher education sector has risen from 0.74% to almost 1% of all University staff (Full Time Equivalent), although employment opportunities have in the main, been in the General/ Professional staff categories, while overall Academic appointments continue to lag behind significantly. In the current round of bargaining, university management concerns regarding placing a numeric target in a Collective Agreement range from the difficulties in attracting suitably qualified Indigenous applicants, to outright hostility at the suggestion of incorporating an enforceable employment target in an industrial instrument and that the policy arena is best placed to achieve greater employment opportunities. In many Collective Agreements negotiated in the previous round, employment targets vary from a proportional target based upon the local Indigenous population where the institution is located, the agreed State/Territory Indigenous populations, to the agreed national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population figure of 2.5%. Recommendations one through three of the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples detail the need to ensure university management set a benchmark target for increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People at their institution. The Review recommends that a target of 2.2% be set, this target represents the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in the working age bracket of 15-64 years of age. In the last eleven years (2001 to 2012) NTEU calculates the average annual growth rates for Indigenous employment to be 6.2%, which in itself is a credible achievement, driven in large part by the work of our members. While the average annual rate of increase for Indigenous employment in the higher education sector is promising, there remains an urgent need to close this employment parity gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. While some universities are strongly committed to increasing Indigenous employment, achieving this goal cannot be left to only those institutions that have a strong commitment. Enforceable employment targets are part of industrial instruments for good reason if targets are left in university policy documents there is a tendency for those targets to be reduced to tokenism or ignored all together. To ensure Indigenous student participation, retention and success at university continues to grow the role of Indigenous staff cannot be understated or ignored. The work that has been achieved to increase Indigenous employment to date is laudable, but no one should rely on good will and warm words. Employment targets are achievable. These achievements can be seen from the rate of annual employment increases in reported employment data. Universities can achieve employment targets and in doing so, will build relationships between the university and the local Indigenous communities. If left to the policy arena only, the potential for lack of action or under achievement is the only too real Indigenous employment targets in Collective Agreements achieve results and we need to be ever vigilant to ensure Universities achieve what they promise in the policy arena.
Adam Frogley, National Indigenous Coordinator www.nteu.org/indigenous
than collaboration. This motion therefore supports the strengthening of the NTEUs stance with regards to the right for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to assert their sovereignty, both within the Union structure and nationally, and to run a broad education campaign on the issues relating to constitutional recognition prior to there being a formal treaty negotiated between First Peoples and the Australian Government. The motion on an NTEU employment strategy recognises that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff numbers in the sector, and membership density within the NTEU, are growing and there is a need to provide more quality employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to work within the union. It also mirrors the mandatory claims presented by the NTEU during the bargaining rounds to increase rates of meaningful employment for First Peoples within the sector. The Indigenous Policy Committee would like to thank the National Councillors for supporting these motions, and welcomes the opportunity to discuss them further with the broader membership.
Celeste Liddle, National Indigenous Organiser
Indigenous news
Morning Star scholarship amount tripled
NTEU is pleased to announce that from 2014 the Morning Star Scholarship will increase from $1,000 to $3,000 per year and will be paid in three equal instalments. This is the fifth year the Union has sponsored the scholarship, funded by an NTEU Life Member in lieu of annual membership payments.
The Morning Star Scholarship was established in 1996 by Pamela and Alan Harris to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to realise their potential in their studies at Charles Darwin University (CDU). The NTEU began sponsoring this Scholarship in 2009. As recognised in a myriad of Government data and statistics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students seeking to enter tertiary education face additional challenges outside of those experienced by non-Indigenous students. Universities across Australia recognise these challenges and offer a range of scholarships to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to enter and successfully complete tertiary level studies. The NTEU has been pivotal in seeking to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed in the higher education sector. Encouraging the next generation of Indigenous academic and general/professional staff is more vital now than ever before. To create an appropriate pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students entering university, the NTEU has established a number of scholarships at institutions across the country. The Morning Star Scholarship at CDU is an example not only of the broader work of the NTEU, but also the work of dedicated individuals at the community level. In 2013 the recipient was Caroline Arbon, a 4th year social work undergraduate. The NTEU congratulates Caroline on her successful scholarship application and hard work toward achieving her degree.
Adam Frogley, National Indigenous Coordinator Further information available at www.nteu.org/morningstar
While both major parties pointedly critical contests appeared to be waged, avoided mentioning universities during as well as a more economical expenditure the election campaign period, the Union than would have been possible in Melachieved significant media coverage of bourne or Sydney. funding and related issues throughout this period, and the issue was frequently raised by the candidates supported by NTEU. While it can hardly be claimed to be an election defining issue, the ALMOST Unions campaign clearly raised the profile of our concerns about inadequate funding sufficiently to see journalists raising the issue independently, including on election night.
HAVE
role of universities in our communities, and in Federal Budget priorities. We will be working to bring our issues to the attention of both the Government and the Opposition. We remain concerned about the agenda of the new Government, and we need to make Labor appreciate the damage they did to the sector, as well as recognising their achievements in government. (These issues are expanded upon by NTEU National President, Jeannie Rea on p.20.) The NTEU has always maintained a fiercely independent political position, acting on the facts at hand. We are not, and have never been, affiliated to any political party. However, independence should not mean that we sit on the fence when the interests of our members and the sector are threatened or affected by the Government, regardless of the flavour of that government. The true measure of our independence can be found in our willingness to consider, debate, and act on the particular circumstances we face. This is the message the Union and our members can now bring to the Parliament with the benefit of some strong advocates.
Most well-respected psephologists will attest to the difficulty in assessing the impact of particular election activities on the Senate vote. The NTEU campaign is no exception. However, it is clear that all bar one of the Senators the Union supported in this election have been elected, with the outcome for Scott Ludlum still in doubt and subject to a recount. In the House of Representatives significant swings in the primary votes accompanied the re-election of Andrew Wilkie in Denison (+14%) and Adam Bandt in Melbourne (+7%). The $1 million allocated to the campaign was a significant sum for the Union, however, in electoral terms it was important to target our expenditure in places where we sought to make the most impact for the money available. As a result, the campaign was highly visible in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and in the seat of Melbourne in Victoria. However, with some exceptions, members in other parts of the country were not exposed to the full weight of the campaign. Different versions of the television ads were run in Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Darwin and Tamworth/Armidale with the expenditure heavily weighted toward Perth and Adelaide (view it online at vimeo.com/ nteutv/votesmart). This gave the Union the most impact in places where the more
Both Adam Bandt and Andrew Wilkie addressed the NTEUs National Council Meeting (3-5 October, 2013) following the Federal Election. It was clear from their presentations that they were both appreciative of the Unions support and keen to bring university funding into the parliament as an important issue in the coming years. There is clearly work to be done to shift the view of the major parties about the
Above: Scene from the NTEUs Vote Smart television commercial. View online at vimeo.com/nteutv/votesmart. Below: Handing out Vote Smart material at a polling booth in Brisbane.
We should be heartened by Bill Shorten repeatedly saying in media interviews, after being chosen as the Leader of the Opposition, that under his leadership the ALP would be the party of research, science, innovation and higher education. He also said in an ABC TV 7.30 interview, We will regain trust of people who used to vote for us or wed like to have vote for us now by having policies which are relevant to the future of Australians lives. While some may accuse Labor of hypocrisy if they did now oppose the cuts they instigated, for many Labor supporters and many in the sector, opposing the cuts would signal the opposite. Labors record in Government of promising increased funding through their 2009 Transforming Higher Education policy and then reneging upon this with $4 billion of cuts since 2011 was hypocritical. Labor must act decisively to redeem its much touted reputation as the party for higher education. The Coalition went into the federal election without a detailed higher education policy, indicative of this not being a priority area, but it was, though, revealing of their policy agenda. The blithe pronouncements had sinister undertones. For example, the promise to work with the sector to reduce the burden of red tape, regulation and reporting, freeing up the sector to concentrate on delivering results and services sounded rather good to a sector overwhelmed by complicated and contradictory compliance demands. However, the recent experience of universities and students with the Cameron Tory government in the UK should have silenced any the enthusiasm. In the UK, reducing the burden of red tape has been used to justify wholesale cuts to universities, schools, health and welfare in the name of reducing unnecessary government expenditure and encouraging the development of big society meaning small government and compulsory volunteerism.1 The Coalition couldnt even make it to the election without starting their attacks upon intellectual freedom. Two days before polling day they announced their intention to review research funding while taking a swipe at specific ARC funded projects. There is more to come.
more realistic and significantly improved indexation. Inadequate base funding per CSP student remains a critical issue. Despite the findings of two commissioned reviews; consistent and united lobbying from across the sector; clear analysis and evidence of the deleterious impacts of the funding gap; advertising campaigns; public meetings and rallies; advocates from outside the sector and even advocates within the party room, the Government decision makers would not budge. Instead, the Government became increasingly strident lurching from claiming they had increased base funding to denying the need for it. Labor made much of the success of their policy to increase the numbers and diversity of students in universities and did fund the increased enrolments resulting from their demand driven system policy. But they paid scant attention to very serious and increasingly obvious deterioration in student education and support due to the funding gap. At least they did budget for the increase in student enrolments with uncapping places. When Senator Carr became Minister for Higher Education in the last weeks of Labor in Government he flew a kite on maybe putting the enrolment caps back. He was howled down. It is not at all surprising that new Coalition Minister Pyne has also flown that kite. However, Pyne is not just motivated by budget savings, but has already abandoned Labors equity and inclusion targets. However, the NTEU can intervene constructively in the enrolment caps debate. We have consistently expressed concern about a demand driven system and competition between universities leading to skewed enrolments with consequent impacts on sustainable planning, jobs and campus and course viability. We can advocate for some decent forward thinking and planning by universities on their expansion and contraction ambitions. After all it is the Union that has consistently argued for workforce planning rather than knee jerk reactions to budgetary shifts and predictions.
contact. Consequently, approaching parliamentarians back in their electorate is the key site for intervention. Whenever advice is sought from politicians and professional lobbyists, they advise finding a small group of champions amongst the parliamentarians, preferably from across the political spectrum, and then link them up. This not new advice, as I remember reading it in my sixth form politics textbook. We do have higher education champions who showed their mettle in the last Parliament. Independent member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie and Greens member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt were consistent advocates for higher education and against the cuts, which is why the NTEU supported them in the last election. Of course there have been many higher education advocates amongst the Labor members, and indeed the life changing possibilities with good education are fundamental to many of their political philosophies. Over the past few years many Labor members have assured us of their commitments to higher education and their support for NTEU positions and many are very knowledgeable about what is happening in universities in their electorates and to their student children. However, this support did not follow through when the crunch came and no Labor sitting members or candidates were prepared to publicly oppose the $2.3 billion cuts even though it would have been a populist move. But the political reality was that the Government was in a crisis of its own making. Internal relationships were highly toxic. However, Labor parliamentarians now have the opportunity to declare whether they will once again stand up for high quality, equitable mass higher education. The NTEU National Office will be initiating new and revitalising old, relationships with new and old allies and foes across the federal parliament over the next few months. The primers on influencing parliament and government all emphasise that lobbying is unlikely to have influence unless you have a public profile and public support. The NTEU does have long term relationships with allies in and outside the higher education sector and the labour movement. Mobilising these relationships in creative ways is the challenge now. The NTEU does, however, move into this new political environment with a high and positive public profile as a trade union and sector advocate that speaks and acts consistently for education rights and opportunities and social and economic justice for all.
1. Rea, J. (2013) What will higher education look like under Pyne, New Matilda, 4 Sept, newmatilda.com/2013/09/04/what-will-higher-ed-look-under-pyne
So what is to be done?
So what should the NTEU do in this new political environment? How should we approach the Government, Opposition, minor parties and Independents? The NTEU does need to re-assess our approach to lobbying and advocacy. We have relied upon visiting parliamentarians at a national level and sometimes in their electorates to press the case on local and national issues. We have made very direct interventions on specific matters; often with some success particular on local matters. Every primer on how to influence parliament and government, insist on the importance of building relationships through direct
University rankings
Oversimplification
In a comprehensive review of a range of university ranking systems (including the three mentioned above) a series of European University Association reports, Global University Rankings and Their Impact, conclude that rankings provide an oversimplified picture of the role and functions
Beauty contest
Another reason that the rankings/league tables have gained such prominence in recent years is that, like beauty, their qualities are in the eyes of the beholder. The
NTEU ADVOCATE vol. 20 no. 3 November 2013 www.nteu.org.au/advocate page 23
Student life
Greek crisis
over 25,000 civil servants who have had their pay cut and will be culled if they cannot find another position by the end of the year. In a letter to the prime minister the president of the Federation of University Teachers, Stathis Efstathopoulos, wrote: With great angst we have ascertained that with the governments decision to place specialist and much valued administrative staff into the mobility scheme our universities are at risk of collapse. Even if we accept that we have a surplus of personnel we cannot, from one day to the next, operate with 40% less staff. In order to function, the University of Athens has to be supported with the staff to run eight libraries, 174 laboratories, 66 uni-
versity clinics established at the biggest hospitals and 18 museums. As a result it would neither be able to register students, already gathered for the start of the new academic year, conduct postgraduate courses or release exam scores. Athens University faces the biggest crisis in its history. It is very likely we will lose the next six months but the bigger issue is that we dont lose the university altogether, he said. It has also been reported that many researchers are believed to have been recruited as administrative staff because of previous funding cuts.
Sources: NTUA academic forum; Helena Smith, theguardian.com, 26.10.13
International education
Milking time
The danger comes when you view international students as income, rather than, well, as students. On the face of it international student income is great in addition to all of the so-called soft diplomacy and internationalisation of curricula (minor details), it subsides domestic teaching and research to a considerable extent, diversifying (as many would see it) the revenue base of our universities and sustaining a multi-billion dollar export
industry that employs literally hundreds of thousands of people, keeping the Australian economy ticking along. Dealing with international students as students, however, is problematic issues arise such as the need for affordable and safe housing, access to health services and support for the families of international students (such as schooling for dependents). This is coupled with difficulties arising from varying levels of English language comprehension and literacy, cultural differences and almost above all the need for many students to work long hours in poorly paid and exploitative jobs to support themselves and any dependents they may be responsible for, and/or to pay back huge student loans back home.
have not recovered so well in the recent gains, due to a number of factors, and are now leading the charge in calling for the new Minister to act. Aside from the impact of the Global Financial Crisis and the associated high Australian dollar, the major reason for the post-2009 decrease in international student numbers and revenue was related to Government policy. One of the important changes made to higher education under the previous Labor Government was to remove the direct link between tertiary education (certificate level and above) and permanent residency, which had seen many foreign students flock into very low level, low end of the market vocational diplomas, often offered by less than reputable private providers. It also led to a growth in disreputable education and immigration agents, creating within the sector a sub-level of pseudo-courses chronically afflicted with infrastructure problems and exploited staff and students. Poor regulation saw overnight providers prone to collapse, leaving students with little recourse and no refunds. In short, Australias reputation as a quality provider of education was under severe threat and the Government had no option but to attempt clean up the sector, especially of those providers there were in effect selling permanent residency and not education.
Thus far, the Minister is trying to play it both ways while acknowledging the past abuses of the system, he has been critical of the previous Governments attempts to remedy these problems
These are all complex issues and are not dealt with well by either the education sector or by government. Yet these issues impact upon both the quality and success of the education experience for international students and create significant workload issues for the staff who teach and support them. The Minister appears to think that the system is broken, a viewpoint pushed strongly by the non-university education providers. Both the Minister and much of the sector cite the fall in international student numbers from its historical peak between 20072009. At the recent Australian International Education Conference, the Minister told delegates that Labor had presided over a decline in education exports from $18.6 billion in 2009 to a little more than $14 billion last year. While on the surface this would appear concerning, the reality is that it is misleading to measure the health of the international education market in the rise and/or fall of income alone. Indeed, while there was a fall in numbers from 2009, the revenue universities received from overseas student fees continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate than preceding period.
concerns raised by scientists. Not surprisingly given Harper once referred to climate change as a socialist conspiracy, one of the early casualties of the Conservative government was the Canada Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science which had provided funding for scientists investigating the causes and effects of global warming. All federal funding for the Foundation was eliminated. The government has increasingly muzzled its own scientists who might dare speak truth to power. Government researchers across all departments and agencies are now prevented from speaking to the media or publishing their research without prior approval from their political masters. In a particularly shocking radio interview, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, Greg Rickford, refused on three separate occasions to answer to the allegation of whether federal scientists are banned from using the word carbon. Rickford recently issued a fund-raising letter that labelled a group of senior scientists fighting to save the internationally renowned Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) from a government shutdown as radical extremists, a term normally reserved for terrorists. The ELA is a unique and vast living laboratory in Northern Ontario ironically in Rickfords federal riding (electorate) that allows researchers from around the world to monitor the impact and recovery of fresh water eco-systems exposed to industrial toxins and by-products. These and numerous other attempts by the government to tighten the screws on scientific research and information have generated international condemnation. Nature magazine called Canadas muzzling of scientists an affront to the free flow of scientific knowledge. A harshly worded editorial in the New York Times suggested that even the well documented hostility toward science displayed by the administration of George W. Bush did not come close to what is happening today in Canada. The Governments attack on science doesnt end there. The Conservatives have also significantly cut funding for basic research. When adjusted for inflation, the three federal research granting councils which provide the bulk of university research funding have had their base budgets eroded over the past six years. Since 2007-08, funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has declined by over 10% in real terms. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Councils (NSERC) funding is down by over 6%, while core support for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has dropped by 7.5%. As a result, the number of university-based research projects deemed to merit research but for
which no funding is available has risen sharply. Last year alone, 65% of all CIHR applications were recommended for funding, but only 9% were able to be funded. Meanwhile, new research funding is contingent on serving industrial and commercial interests. A new strategic partnerships and innovation program in NSERC unapologetically describes its mandate as helping to organise speed dating events to bring interested researchers and companies into brief and structured contact to discuss needs and capabilities. Earlier this year, the government announced that it is turning Canadas renowned National Research Council (NRC) into a concierge for industry. Established in 1916 to conduct basic research, the NRC is being transformed into a call centre for industry, a one-stop, 1-800, I have a solution for your business problem telephone hot line, according to the Minister. No one is suggesting that the government not fund applied research. However, this should not come at the expense of basic, blue-skies research. A narrow focus on commercial outcomes threatens the creativity and unexpected discovery fundamental to basic research. It also distorts the focus of scientific investigation. In the area of medical research, for instance, the obsession with commercial outcomes has encouraged an emphasis on minor modifications to existing drugs and devices, rather than fundamental explorations of illness and prevention. Canadas scientists, academic researchers and the public deserve better. The Canadian Association of University Teachers has launched a national campaign, Get Science Right (www.getscienceright.ca), to bring scientists and the public together through a series of town hall meetings to discuss what the Governments polices toward science mean and what needs to be done to restore the integrity and independence of science. Australians should take heed of the mistakes being made in Canada. For todays Tyndalls, asking fundamental scientific questions like why the sky is blue is getting little reception in our corporate boardrooms or corridors of government power. For that, all Canadians are paying the price.
David Robinson is a special advisor to Education International on higher and vocational education. www.caut.ca David Robinson will visit Melbourne in December to attend an NTEU seminar.
Since 1958, the Australian Universities Review has been encouraging debate and discussion about issues in higher education and its contribution to Australian public life.
Published by NTEU
AUR
www.aur.org.au
General Staff
nteu 2013
general staff
Workloads Classification Professional Identity
conference
Equity
A two-day conference presented by the NTEU. Guest speakers, plenaries, discussions and workshops covering issues important to general staff in Australian higher education.
ER E W H
EN
University of Adelaide
Napier Bldg, Theatre LG29
nteu.org.au/general_staff_conference_2013
NationalTertiaryEducationUnion @NTEUNational #genstaff13
Along with drawing upon the expertise and experiences of NTEU elected representatives and staff, members and others with particular knowledge and research will be represented on panels. These include Dr Ian Dobson (University of Ballarat), Professor Sandra Jones (RMIT), Professor Glenda Strachan (Griffith), Professor Suzanne Franzway (UNISA), Professor Tony Winfield (UniSA) and Dr Maree Conway (HE consultant, Thinking Futures).
For more information please visit to the conference website: www.nteu.org.au/general_staff_ conference_2013 *General Staff are called Professional Staff at all three South Australian universities, as well as at some other universities. This remains a bit of an issue in correct nomenclature! Jeannie Rea, National President
MOOCs
Passive learning
That said, behind the shiny figures suggesting potential markets that attract cash-hungry vice-chancellors millions of students in hundreds of countries doing staggering numbers of courses, with new ones coming online all the time there is a massive and relatively consistent dropout rate. At the NTEU workshop, Professor Stuart Bunt questioned whether passive, rather than massive, might better describe the Coursera student body to date. Using a fairly typical example from UWA where 964 students registered for a MOOC called Ocean Solutions, Professor Bunt said only 500 actually watched the videos in the first week and then only 50 were still logging in 10 weeks later. He likened the potential audience for MOOCs to the millions who might surf the internet and watch cute kitten Youtubes. So, while the MOOC numbers look impressive at first glance, they are virtually meaningless in terms of real student engagement.
journalists as content providers. How soon before todays academic online talent get dismissed in similar fashion?
MOOCs reality
In a recent article The professors behind the MOOC hype, Steve Kolowich revealed the results of an online survey of academics working on MOOCS, conducted by The Chronicle in late February. Respondents said MOOCs required massive expenditures of time and effort. Typically a professor spent over 100 hours on his [sic] MOOC before it even started, by recording online lecture videos and doing other preparation, Kolowich said. In addition, the survey found it takes approximately 8-10 hours per week to maintain and administer such a course, so the impact on an academics normal workload and responsibilities was often severe.
Again, these discussions commonly take place in a rarefied atmosphere that takes little account of already burgeoning staff workloads and cramped facilities. My faculty, the Australian School of Business at UNSW, has just received $4 million for renovations to an existing building that will, we are advised, flip the classroom by moving online material that has previously been delivered in lectures and by focusing in class time on problem solving, team work and group learning. It is not suggested that these classrooms will offer MOOC courses, and it is not even clear that MOOC students, potentially considered the poor cousins of the sector, will be welcome on actual campuses, but plans like these to dramatically change the mode of educational delivery risk further expanding the spatial divide between academics and the students trying to learn from, and with, them. The trend provoked by casualisation that sees many students complete their entire degrees without ever coming into contact with a continuing academic staff member will only be exacerbated by MOOCs. Numerous student surveys reveal considerable frustration at the lack of face time students can access with their teachers so it is hard to imagine MOOCstyle education will suddenly fill them with enthusiasm. We should not, nevertheless, automatically dismiss MOOCs as bound to fail or even necessarily low quality, but it is important to understand what is driving this trend in higher education and what will likely be the fallout. In order to succeed, MOOCs will need what all good educational outcomes require a high and consistent level of resources, securely employed staff who have the time, energy, expertise and focus to engage well with class members and students, freed from money worries and excessive paid employment, who can concentrate on their studies and commit to learning. MOOC fans will say this horse has long since bolted and those of us who still think quality pedagogy requires time and space are hopelessly utopian, but if we do not retain some vision of what quality higher education should look like, this form of online learning may well become just another sign that the real focus is on the price/cost of education and not its true value.
Our concerns
As a Union that advocates both quality education and good working conditions for its members, the NTEU is concerned about several aspects of the MOOC agenda. Firstly, many MOOCs are openly sponsored by corporations and universities in partnership, where the prospect that investment sources might affect course content is a distinct risk. Corporate influence on education is, of course, not confined to MOOCs, but decent public funding is vital for the maintenance of a broader commitment to the social value of learning beyond commercial considerations and corporate ideology. Encouraging further business colonisation of the sector means students may soon be logging in to a McDonalds-funded MOOC on Nutrition or a Philip Morris-funded MOOC on Public Health. Secondly, MOOCs could well become the cheap seats of the higher education sector a further reflection of a stratified, unequal sector where rich students receive personalised delivery, sophisticated content and the social benefits of learning with peers, while those who cannot afford this luxury item will be relegated to a computer terminal at home with little interpersonal contact and fifteen-minute modules that contain lots of pictures and videos, but ultimately superficial subject matter. There will always be a place for the Ivy League elite, we are assured by Gallagher and Garrett (2013:6), but this is a pipedream for the preponderance of students. Thirdly, MOOCs represent a fairly naked threat to the working conditions of existing and future higher education workers. Former McKinsey manager, Fairfax CEO and now UNSW Vice Chancellor, Fred Hilmer, once referred infamously to newspaper
In reality, MOOCs seem depressingly familiar a dressed up form of taylorised education delivery that externalises many of the costs of learning onto the student and falsely equates efficiency and quality.
Even if the MOOC has been designed by a well-known leader in a particular field, once the product has been launched online, it is likely that many academics will struggle to retain intellectual or even administrative control of their intellectual property (IP). Indeed, many major providers require academics to give up their IP rights over whatever MOOCs they develop. In addition, if a course requires more than computerised grading and peer assessment (many will not), marking will most likely be performed by an army of poorly-remunerated casuals. Critics of new management fads are always painted by advocates as hopelessly mired in the past, unable to see the promise or the inevitability of the shiny new thing. In reality, MOOCs seem depressingly familiar a dressed up form of taylorised education delivery that externalises many of the costs of learning onto the student and falsely equates efficiency and quality. MOOCs risk becoming a vehicle for expanding the student cohort without giving them a key resource that normally comes with enrollment fees space space for learning, such as lecture theatres and libraries and space in which to build real time, face to face relationships. MOOCs, university proponents will argue, can become important loss leaders that advertise the institution and its work, perhaps even tempting some students into further study on an actual campus.
References
Gallagher, S. & Garrett, G. (2013) Disruptive Education: Technology-Enabled Universities, United States Study Centre and the NSW Government. Devlin, M., James, R. & Grigg, G. (2008) Studying and Working: A national study of student finances and student engagement, Tertiary Education and Management, 14 (2), pp. 111-122.
Photo: The Wollotuka Institute at the University of Newcastle, NSW. Photo by Celeste Liddle
At National Council 2013, the recommendations from the NTEU Indigenous Member Survey: Whole of University Approach to Indigenous Student Support report were passed unanimously. This report was many months in the making, and came about following a motion that was passed at National Council 2012 to survey Indigenous members on what appeared to be a number of mainstreaming activities that were afoot at universities across the country.
Accounts of mainstreaming
In particular, anecdotal accounts had reached the Indigenous Policy Committee (IPC) that Indigenous student support services were being moved into mainstream areas of the universities. This was, in turn, limiting Indigenous student access to support, limiting Indigenous staffs contact with students and diminishing the rights for Indigenous people to claim a space on campus. Further anecdotal evidence suggested that a number of academic programs were being subsumed into mainstream faculties and departments. Indigenous staff are reporting that mainstreaming of Indigenous knowledges has brought a good many Indigenous academic areas into question and also meant that enabling programs and Indigenous-specific modes of delivery are potentially under threat. However, all this was happening against a backdrop of Indigenous education reform. In 2012, the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples was released. The Review was a highly comprehensive document, commissioned by the Government with the research headed up by Professor Larissa Behrendt of the University of Technology Sydney. There were 35 recommendations from this report; all geared to ensure greater access and outcomes for Indigenous students and staff. Of particular importance to Indigenous staff and centres was recommendation number 10, which states: That universities develop a whole-of-university approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander success so that faculties and mainstream support services have primary responsibility for supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, backed up by Indigenous Education Units. It is fairly clear from this recommendation that what is being called for is the end to ghettoisation of Indigenous support, recognising that all areas across the university need to participate in the nurturing of Indigenous students and the growing of capacity.
What it is not calling for, however, is the dissolving of current Indigenous Education Units. The report stated clearly that it was important that Indigenous centres remain on campus as they serve many important functions; not the least of which being that they provide a visible space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on a university campus. As stated though, the anecdotal evidence being heard by the National Indigenous Unit and the Indigenous Policy Committee was telling very different stories of how the universities were responding to this particular recommendation. It seemed that many staff were unsure of their futures, that centres seemed to be tenuous (or were being completely dissolved, as was the case at University of Sydney), and structures were continually being reviewed. To an extent, the survey conducted by the IPC and the National Indigenous Unit found these ideas reflected in the responses received.
For this reason, documents such as Reconciliation Action Plans and Indigenous Employment strategies were often viewed as not worth the paper they were written on because whilst they stated intentions to engage, those engagements were limited to specific circumstances (Welcome to Country ceremonies for high-level events) and did not seem to translate to a broader and more innovative university engagement. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff were still finding it difficult to achieve a work/life balance because engagement with community was not seen as a valued part of their work, regardless of the benefits that this staff engagement might have for a university, particularly as a way of tearing down barriers between the institution and the community.
convene at the earliest opportunity a high level advisory committee with membership comprising all stakeholders or their representatives. 4. That the Federal Government Department with responsibility for Indigenous higher education, implement an immediate information dissemination and awareness campaign for community, students and staff, providing detail on all recommendations from the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, in particular Recommendation 10. 5. That university management open and maintain appropriate, respectful and effective lines of communication with all stakeholders to a whole-of-university approach. This approach will allow for the ability by community, students and staff to have meaningful input and ownership throughout the process. 6. That universities maintain specified Indigenous and mainstream funding lines that pertain to Indigenous and non-Indigenous student support, within the control of Indigenous Education Units/ Centres and the equivalent mainstream University Student Support equivalence. This will ensure appropriate lines of accountability and acquittal, whilst adhering to the funding requirements detailed in the goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy 7. That university management and the Union work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic and general/ professional staff to minimise negative impact on workloads, morale, work/life and responsibility to community, and discuss possible options for security of employment, career progression and professional development. Ideally this should occur prior, during and after implementation of a whole-of-university approach. 8. That university management work to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to minimise any negative impact on access to appropriate study environments, pastoral and academic support service. Universities should also ensure that students are aware of all current support to allow students to attend to family, cultural, community and employment responsibilities. The NTEU Indigenous Member Survey: Whole-of-University Approach to Indigenous Student Support report is available in full via the NTEU Indigenous website if members wish to read the analysis.
Download the Whole-of-University Approach report at www.nteu.org.au/indigenous/woua
Survey results
From the outlook, the results from the members survey showed a very mixed response to the idea of whole-of-university-approach(WoUA). While most agreed that a WoUA would ultimately be of benefit to Indigenous staff and students they were also apprehensive of the impacts that this would have on staff and students. This was not a surprising result. Indigenous staff and students have been calling on universities for years to examine their internal cultures and see the many ways they are excluding First Peoples. Indigenous anything seems to be a marginalised activity at nearly every university and there have been calls for responsibility to be centralised for a long time now so that gains in Indigenous education form a part of the KPIs of upper management such as the Chancellery. Conversely, most Indigenous staff and students also feel that universities are not adequately knowledgeable to take up Indigenous Australian issues and pedagogies and hold fears that efforts will be half-hearted and/or tokenistic as has been the case in the past. It is clear that whilst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students are keen to no longer be relegated within university structures to the wings, they also hold concerns about how universities will achieve these goals of inclusivity.
Recommendations
The recommendations passed unanimously at National Council are as follows: 1. That the Federal Government does not repeal, subsume or combine any of the current suite of Indigenous higher education program funds into mainstream student support program funding; particularly under the guise of a whole-of-university approach to Indigenous student support. 2. That universities acknowledge and adopt a whole-of-community perspective when seeking to implement a whole-of-university approach. As part of this concept, university management must work with all stakeholders and view community, students and staff not as individual silos, but as a single community. What impacts upon one community member, will undoubtedly impact upon another 3. That universities, who are seeking to implement a whole-of-university approach for Indigenous student support,
Human Rights
Recent actions by NTEU
NTEU National Office regularly sends letters to foreign governments and companies in support of imprisoned or victimised educators and workers, upon the request of education and human rights organisations.
Date Action Requested By Country Addressee/s Issue & Action Taken
Sri Lanka
Defence Secretary
Letter re detention of university students P. Tharshananth and K. Jenemajeyamenan arrested in Jaffna for their alleged involvement in organising demonstrations. Letter re Chinese professor of economics, Ilham Tohti, refused permission to leave China and take up position as a Visiting Scholar at Indiana University, USA
Mamadali Makhmudov
China
President Hu Jintao
Pinar Selek
4 March 2013
Scholars at Risk
Turkey
Letter re Pinar Selek, PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Strasbourg. She was convicted in absentia on 24 January 2013 and sentenced to life imprisonment for her alleged role in a 1998 explosion at an Istanbul market. Pinar Selek denies the allegation that she is a member or otherwise associated with the PKK and claims that the charges against her stem only from her research and writing on Kurdish issues. Letter re threats made to director and staff of La 72 Migrant Shelter in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico. Letter re Bahraini activist Zainab Al-Khawaja (prisoner of conscience). Denied family visits since mid March for refusing to wear prison uniform during family visits. Letter re Mamadali Makhmudov (72). Well known writer sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1999 (denied charges of attempting to violently overthrow the constitutional order and establishing prohibited public and religious organisations) and was due for release. Has had a new criminal case brought against him for allegedly violating prison rules. Letter re death threats against several trade unionists in mining industry (members of SINTRAMIENERGETICA & SINTRACARBON) Further letter re threats made to director and staff of La 72 Migrant Shelter in Tenosique, Tabasco Mexico. Letter re continuing detention in solitary confinement of activists Mohamed Mostafa Youssef; Mamdouh Hassan Mamdouh and Abdelazeem Abdo Letter re attacks (including kidnappings) on migrants by criminal gangs, Tabasco, Mexico. Letter re arrest and detention of prisoner of conscience, Ahmed Douma. On trial for insulting President Mohamed Morsi on TV. Letter re Young Won, Moon Chul, Jung Gwang Young, Lee Gwang Hyuk, Park Gwang Hyuk and Yoo Gwang Hyuk, Ryu Chul Yong, Jang Hae Ri and Roh Ae Ji nine North Korean teenagers (14-19 years old) who were arrested in Laos on 10 May, detained for illegally crossing the border from China and forcibly returned to North Korea.
Mexico Bahrain
Minister of the Interior, Attorney General His Majesty the King (Shaikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa) President Islam Karimov
Uzbekistan
10 April 2013 19 April 2013 29 April 2013 23 May 2013 30 May 2013 13 June 2013
Amnesty International Amnesty International Amnesty International Amnesty International Amnesty International Amnesty International
President Juan Manuel Santos Minister of the Interior, Attorney General Minister of the Interior, Prosecutor General Minister of the Interior, Attorney General Prosecutor General Republic of Korea Ambassador to UN (Geneva), Republic of Korea Ambassador to USA
Human Rights
Date Action Requested By Country Addressee/s Issue & Action Taken
13 June 2013
Amnesty International
Iraq
Letter re Mustafa Muhammad Abbas Farhan, Ishaq Muhammad Abbas Farhan, Saddam Hussein Abbas Farhan, Misar Ali Salman Nasir, Abd al-Sada Sakran Ziyad, Salim Abd al-Jassim Muhammad Mustaf, Kilan Kamil Ali Sharqi, Assim Mazin Hussein Hamid, Firas Abdallah Fathi Abd al-Rahman, Abd Al-Qadir Naji Hussein and Hamid Hudair Thuweini Mahdi all men were sentenced to death in 2010 for their alleged involvement in the bombing of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on 19 August 2009 and have had their application for a retrial rejected by the Court of Cassation on 26 March 2013. Letter re Professor Kemal Grz who has been detained in Sincan prison in Ankara since 25 June 2012 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow or incapacitate the government by force or violence. No evidence of Professor Grzs involvement in any violence or conspiracy to use force has been made public, and he denies all charges against him. Letter re student Suhaib Hassan Swaidan who was arrested on 23 May while volunteering with a Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulance crew and is being detained incommunicado, and his brother, Abdullah Hassan Swaidan who was arrested on 9 May and is also being detained incommunicado. Letter re attacks and killings by security forces of farmers protesting in demonstrations in Catatumbo, and claims by authorities that the demonstrations had been infiltrated by FARC.
Xu Zhiyong
21 June 2013
Scholars at Risk
Turkey
27 June 2013
Amnesty International
Syria
4 July 2013
Amnesty International
Colombia
President Juan Manuel Santos and Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon
Kemal Grz
11 July 2013
Amnesty International
Iran
Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei Director Beijing Public Security Bureau His Majesty the King and Minister of the Interior President Juan Manuel Santos and Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon President Park Geun-hye, Republic of Korea
Letter re student activist Arash Sadeghi who has been on a hunger strike since 1 June in protest against his ill-treatment in Tehrans Evin Prison. He has been held without charge and in solitary confinement since January 2012 and is at risk of torture. Letter re Xu Zhiyong (legal scholar and activist) and his three associates - Li Huanjun, Song Ze and Li Gang detained for their association with New Citizens Movement. Letter re jailing of 13 opposition activists (prisoners of conscience). Request for regular medical attention for Hassan Mshaima (66 year old diabetic and former cancer patient). Letter re plans by paramilitaries to kill members of a Colombian human rights NGO Inter Church Justice and Peace Commission and community leaders from Curvarado and Jiguamiando River Basin. Letter re ultimatum sent to the Korean Teachers & Education Workers Union (KTU) threatening to deregister it if it does not amend its by-laws to ban dismissed and retired teachers from union membership. Also re Governments refusal to register the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU) for the same reason. We respectfully urge you to maintain the KTU registration and to legalise KGEU without delay and to bring your legislation in line with international labour standards.
China
Bahrain
Colombia
14 October 2013
Education International
South Korea
That Tony Windsor was a real problem intelligent, thoughtful and independent. He just couldnt see what an asset Tam U was to his electorate. Were much better off with Barnaby Joyce. Hell do what we tell him to.
And thats only the beginning, Cal told me. There are a whole heap of markets conventional universities are neglecting, he said, rattling off examples, ranging from hairdressing to organised crime. He reminded me that the flourishing Tam U had begun life as Tamworth Hairdressing College. We started to grow when we reframed ourselves as the Tamworth University of the Tonsorial Arts, and everything took off from there. We have never forgotten our roots, he said. But we also know you have to keep growing in this world. If you stand still, you are going backwards. I thought with his grasp of clichs and jargon, surely Cal would soon be head-hunted by a bigger university, or maybe a private sector fink tank? He assured me he isnt interested. Too many restrictions, mate,
Perniciously, the Government wants to remove peoples legislated right to meal breaks and tea breaks. This sounds mean-spirited, and it is.
When the duty to conclude bargaining disappears a suite of other related employee rights disappear with it. Union members will lose their right to take industrial action, which is only legal during collective bargaining or for health and safety reasons. And, once the Agreement expires, all union members terms and conditions will move to an individual agreement based on the expired Collective Agreement. Further, no new bargaining will be able to begin for 60 days from this order. And all new employees will automatically go on individual terms and conditions. Perniciously, the Government wants to remove peoples legislated right to meal and tea breaks. This sounds mean-spirited, and it is. But it is also dangerous these provisions protect employees health, safety and wellbeing. Working long stretches without a break contributes to workplace errors, accidents and workplace stress. Another change among the Governments tinkering is a proposal to take away the right of new employees, in their first thirty days of employment, to be offered the terms and conditions union members have previously negotiated. That legal
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Celebrating our 20th anniversary
This years National Council coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the NTEUs foundation on 1 October 1993.
Five unions the Federated of Australian University Staff Associations (FAUSA), the Union of Australian College Academics (UACA), the Australian Colleges and Universities Staff Association (ACUSA), the Australian National University Administrative and Allied Officers Association (ANU AACA) and the University of Adelaide General Staff Association (UAGSA) were amalgamated to form an industry union covering all academic and general staff. At a reception on 3 October 2013, and at the National Council dinner the next evening, guests and delegates heard first hand accounts of the amalgamation process from those involved in the long struggle to create an industry union, and from senior office bearers of the pre-merger unions. Many former staff of the amalgamating unions also attended. Special guest speakers included Ralph Hall (FAUSA President 1988-90 and foundation NTEU Executive Member), Kerry Lewis (ACUSA Secretary 1988-93 and foundation NTEU Joint General Secretary), Patrick Wright (UACA President 1986-88 and Advocate columnist), Meredith Burgmann (FAUSA-NSW Officer 1977-85 and former President of the NSW Legislative Council), Neil Harpley (FAUSA President 1987-88), Nigel Wood (ACUSA President 1988-90), Jenny Strauss (FAUSA Executive Member 1987-91), Alan Patching (FCA President 1978-79) and Tracey Bunda (Indigenous Policy Committee 1997-2001).
Grahame McCulloch, General Secretary
Above: Celebrating NTEUs 20th anniversary at the 3 October reception in Melbourne: (from left) Adrian Ryan, Ralph Hall, Meredith Burgmann and Neil Harpley. Below: John Graham, Peter Cardwell and Tracey Bunda.
View the NTEU 20th Anniversary slideshow, featuring over 300 images from every Branch covering the last two decades: vimeo.com/nteutv/nteu20years
Arthur Crook (UACA) Bill Ford (FAUSA) David Garlick (FAUSA) Howard Guille (UACA) Pauline Hore (ANU AACA) Anne Learmonth (ACUSA) Gillian Lupton (FAUSA) Rob McQueen (FAUSA) Lyndsay Roper (ACUSA)
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Clockwise from above: Jenny Strauss speaking at the 2013 National Council dinner; Grahame McCulloch, General Secretary at the 20th Anniversary reception; Current and past staff members Kate Wiggins, Sam Maynard, Jo Kowalczyk and Jo Denton; Nigel Wood; Kerry Lewis; Dave Ritchie (CSU) and Terri Mylett (UWS) at the 20th Anniversary reception. All photos: Paul Clifton. See more photos at www.nteu.org.au/20th-photos
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Foundation member Professor Graham Farquhar
Distinguished professor and theoretical biophysicist, Graham Farquhar, is one of the many impressive foundation members of the NTEU and we honour him in this our 20th anniversary year.
Graham, a biophysicist with the Australian National University (ANU) Research School of Biology in the College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, has an extraordinary list of career achievements including receiving a Queens Birthday Honour in June this year, a shared Nobel Prize in 2007 and helping create a new strain of water efficient wheat. Graham began studying physics and applied mathematics at Monash University in Melbourne, moved to ANU for one year, before completing his degree in biophysics with Honours at the University of Queensland. He then went on to complete his PhD at ANU and then began his academic career there in 1976. He joined the then Federation of Australian Universities Staff Associations (FAUSA), one of the NTEUs predecessor unions over 30 years ago and has been a union member ever since. One of the terms we hear a lot in Australia is that of a fair go. This is something I believe in very strongly and the Union fights to ensure that university staff do get a fair go, he said. Although, the ANU has always been very supportive of me and provides a marvellous environment for my research to take place, its good to have the Union that sits outside the universitys hierarchy, with influence and a capacity to pool its resources to improve the working conditions of university staff, especially junior lecturers, tutors and staff in insecure employment. Job security is their core challenge and the Union can work with them so that they can have a strong voice. Graham comes from a farming family. His grandparents were farmers in Tasmania and his father, a prisoner-of- war in World
Above: Graham Farquhar speaking at the awarding of his Einstein Professorship by the Chinese Academy of Sciences earlier this year. Photo courtesy ANU. Right: Grahams NTEU Foundation Member certificate.
War II, decided to get an education upon his return to Australia. He became an agricultural extension officer (communicating between farmers and scientists) with the Tasmanian Department of Agriculture and then with the CSIRO. In my family, it was always thought that to do something useful for farming would be a great thing to do, and my work has always been interesting and challenging in an area that I think is important, he said. Graham says his parents inspired him to become a scientist. He recalls a time when his father was sent, by the CSIRO, to the United States. He came back with a textbook on biology and he said the in thing was going to be biophysics. In 1982, Graham led a group of researchers at the ANU, who developed a model that could calculate the water-use efficiency of plants. A year or so later, a chance meeting with an old McKinnon High School colleague brought Graham and CSIRO plant researcher, Richard Richards together. Both were living in Canberra at the time and both were trying to develop drought resistant plants Graham as a theoretical physicist and Richard as a plant breeder. Graham and Richard teamed up to test this model (published in 1984) to develop a new strain of water-efficient wheat that grows better than other wheats at low rainfall. Richard named this wheat strain Drysdale reminiscent of Russell Drysdales paintings depicting Australian dry conditions. What has been great about the work is that the technique and knowledge underlying it can be applied to other plants, Graham said. Since the mid 1990s, Graham has been a contributing author and reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which in 2007, along with Al Gore, was a joint-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Celebrating the NTEUs Foundation Members
In 2013 we are celebrating 20 years of united union representation for workers in tertiary education. As part of the celebrations we are acknowledging those who have been loyal members of NTEU and its predecessor organisations for these 20 and more years.
Called our Foundation Members, over the coming weeks more than 4000 people will be receiving a certificate (pictured on opposite page) and a commemorative badge (right) acknowledging their years of membership. The NTEU thanks them sincerely for their commitment and support for the Union over these two decades, and hope that this continues for many years to come. The old adage says The union is its members. This is especially true about our Foundation Members, who are the foundations upon which this Union has been successfully built.
As well as his research work, Graham continues to lecture undergraduate students in Biology. As a lecturer he has concerns about the demand driven funding model in universities. Since students have become the customer, it is much harder to offer guidance and advice to students about their study decisions and there is also pressure on lecturers to make particular courses attractive in terms of results, he said. Over the years Graham has witnessed changes in university governance that focuses on management models. As universities have become more streamlined and now function on more of a top-down approach the involvement of ordinary academics in decision-making seems to be considered too slow a process. He remembers when universities exercised a greater bottom up approach and academic governance provided the opportunity for ordinary academics to engage in genuine debate regarding the decisions of a university. He believes that members of the Union should be involved in the academic governance of our universities. Graham was also one of the 1000 professors and associate professors who signed an open letter, published in major newspapers across the country, on 1 May 2013 to the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, as part of the NTEUs Uni Cuts, Dumb Cuts campaign condemning the $2.3 billion funding cuts to higher education, which were announced on 13 April 2013. The cuts to education were very disruptive for us. ANU had made plans for numerous research projects and the funding for staff based on an understanding that there would be an increase in funds. Then suddenly, we got the rug pulled out from under us. These changes were extremely dislocating. Grahams other career achievements include his recent election as a Foreign Associate to the US National Academy of
Science and an Einstein Fellowship by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Einstein Professorships are awarded each year to 20 distinguished international scientists actively working at the frontiers of science and technology. He is also a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Society. Most notably, in June this year, Graham was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to science in the areas of plant physiology and climate change. Graham was also one of an impressive number of NTEU members who received a Queens Birthday Honour.
The fact I was even considered was wonderful, and a complete surprise. Then to receive the letter to say I had been awarded it was just even more fantastic. Its nice to try and help society its even nicer to be recognised for that work. What is wonderful about the Order of Australia is that the public, family and friends can recognise this one, as opposed to other achievements that only scientists know about.
Helena Spyrou, Education & Training Officer
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Leading the charge for a one-industry union
I joined the Federation of College Academics, later the Union of Australian College Academics (UACA), 30 years ago. On my first foray at a national level in Adelaide in 1983 (or 84), the first person I met was our then Assistant Secretary, Grahame McCulloch. As the years went by and we listened to Grahame, now the Secretary, with his wheeling and dealing, we were carried away to almost believe that it could happen. Outside the meetings and away from his rhetoric, his drive for the oneunions and others from early NTEU days, reminisced and told stories of battles along the way. In our Unions story, we need to remember and acknowledge the leader of the charge for a one-union industry. Grahame McCulloch really did seem like Saint George leading the charge. It was not only a matter of merging of unions but also of repelling selective vested interests of some other unions!
Illustration: Grahame McCulloch as St George, Australian Campus Review Weekly, 13-19 Feb 1992.
CQU celebrates 20
On a very hot day in September, the CQU Branch held its celebration of the 20th anniversary of the NTEU, with a barbecue, some music (provided by Stephen Butler and local Greens candidate, Paul Bambrick) and speeches.
Bill Byrne, Labor member for Rockhampton, addressed the assembled members on the importance of unions in contemporary Australia. He provided a chilling account of the Newman Governments unconscionable attack on public servants. Bill said that he was at a loss to explain why Newman was so vicious in attacking workers rights and jobs (thus far, 20,000 losses and counting). Of course, transferring the resources devoted to the public good as pelf for the private sector has to be an important factor. Unfortunately, Queensland has a unicameral parliament, so there is no upper house to provide protections from the excesses of the elected
government and ministers. Bill said that the loudest and most effective voice speaking up against this conservative tide is coming from the unions. Thus, for Bill Byrne, the role of unions is, as it has always been, protecting the rights of workers. He concluded by saying that unions were needed in Queensland now more than ever. Queensland Division Secretary, Margaret Lee, spoke of the achievements and challenges of the NTEU over the past 20 years. She acknowledged the importance of the NTEUs role in using enterprise bargaining as a successful strategy in setting minimum terms and conditions on behalf of its members. She acknowledged the significance of the rule change in the late 90s that allowed general staff to become NTEU members. Margaret also spoke of the importance of worker solidarity Margaret said that membership density was a positive antidote to born-to-rule managerialism, and noted that while the NTEUs membership fluctuated, national membership was growing, and Queensland NTEU membership had grown by 20% in the past 15 months. This reflected the continuing importance of the NTEU in the sector. Nonetheless, maintaining and growing membership would be a continuing challenge for the Union over the next 20 years. Notwithstanding the challenges the NTEU faces, Margaret believes that the Union will continue to set the best possible standards of employment for the higher education sector. Margaret concluded with some advice she had once received from an elderly retired underground coal miner who told her that you have to love all your members whether they deserve it or not, because thats part of the job; and that The rules of life are simple: Join; if you dont like whats happening dont leave, change it; read, for an hour a day; and soaps cheap!
John Fitzsimmons, CQU Branch President
Above: Gerard Ilott, Amie Zelmer, Margaret Lee, Lynn Zelmer, Leonie Short singing at the 20th celebration.
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Above: National Council meeting in progress. Below: Jeannie Rea, National President (centre) chairing the meeting flanked by the National Officers: (from left) Kelvin Michael (Vice-President Academic), Grahame McCulloch (General Secretary), Matthew McGowan (National Assistant Secretary) and Lynda Davies (Vice-President General Staff).
business. The strengths of the Unions vigorous and exhaustive decision making processes kicked in as reports were made and motions were considered across a range of issues. Following the usual numerous rewrites, these were often unanimously endorsed and by the closing sessions there was a strong consensus on the direction and particulars of the NTEUs national program of work over the next year, as well as on the parameters of a new strategic campaign plan. The National Office now takes carriage of this program under the direction of the National Officers and the National Executive on which all Divisions are represented. moved to have the NTEU play a part in the political debate over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples sovereignty of this land called Australia. The motion was unanimously endorsed.
Enterprise bargaining
While the industrial focus was on advancing and bringing to a successful conclusion the current round of university enterprise bargaining, this did not stop Councillors looking to the ongoing issues and raising others. Amongst these issues are the ways that 457s visas may be (ab)used in universities, and the need to investigate and take on the deleterious industrial and educational impacts of the multiple teaching sessions structure of the university year. We have come a long way from being able to control exploitation of academic and general staff though clauses on span of teaching periods and of hours!
Indigenous business
As always, the first motions to be considered followed the report of the Indigenous Policy Committee Chair Terry Mason, who
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It was also agreed to scrutinise future enterprise bargaining claims and clauses through a gender lens. More specifically this would mean identifying and monitoring the impacts on women, both positive and negative. University Branches undertook to work with the National Office in ensuring that their universities are complying with the new Workplace Gender Equality Act (WGEA), which replaced the previous EEO legalisation. The new Act is considerably stronger thanks to effective lobbying by women in and out of Parliament. Organisations, including universities (and the NTEU), now not only have to gather and analyse their data but also to measure progress against Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs).
Major issues
The decision was made to hold a major conference on insecure work in the higher education sector to draw attention the exponential rise in casual employment in university teaching, the proliferation of research contracts, limited term employment on soft money and outsourcing and contracting out. The conference will focus on organising amongst and for insecure workers, as well as public advocacy and campaigning for secure employment. The focus on education and research policy was firmly upon the NTEU doing our own research to provide the evidence and internal knowledge on major issues to enable the Union to better position and campaign for change and improvements. Council voted to focus upon the inequities in external grant funded research processes; review the ERA and stop the misuse in performance appraisal; investigate the negative impacts and outcomes of franchising; take on the quality discourse and also the many issues around the increased reliance upon ICTs in teaching, including the current MOOCs enthusiasm. There were three plenary sessions, on enterprise bargaining, the NTEU election campaign and the changing shape of the tertiary sector. Rather than a panel of speakers, this year the plenaries operated as open mike sessions, which enabled more delegates to be heard.
Above: National Officers with Andrew Wilkie, Independent Member for Denison. Right, top: Ged Kearney, ACTU President. Middle: Jade Tyrell, NUS President. Bottom: Lesley Francey, NZ TEU President.
and expressed their gratitude for NTEU support at national to campus level. NTEU delegates applauded the student unions for their support of staff, especially in contentious bargaining campaigns involving strikes and results bans. ACTU President, Ged Kearney gave a stirring and important speech where she outlined the need for the trade union movement to connect with people. Her address attracted thoughtful questions and comments, which she took on board in further developing the ACTUs policy and campaigns The President of our sister union, the New Zealand Tertiary Education Union (TEU), Lesley Francey, told a chilling story of rampant neo-liberal attacks upon the integrity of higher education governance, funding and student support. However, she assured the Council that the TEU keeps up the fight mitigating some of the extremes and also making some gains, relying upon the strength of being an industry union and increasing density and membership. Independent MHR for Denison in Tasmania, Andrew Wilkie and Greens MHR for Melbourne, Adam Bandt also addressed the Council to thank the Union for support in their re-election campaigns and pledged to continue being advocates for higher education and workers rights.
Guest speakers
Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal TAFE Secretary, Pat Forward addressed the Council on the wholesale destruction of the public TAFE system and the union campaigns. The student union presidents, Jade Tyrell from the National Union of Students (NUS) and Meghan Hopper of the Council Australia Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) spoke of their campaigns this year for university and students funding
Workshops
For the first time in some years, Councillors had the opportunity to participate in short workshops. These were on MOOCs, negoti-
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ating techniques, campaigning, analysing university data and social media (see p.50). The workshops were appreciated both for the content and the opportunity to meet with councillors from other universities and develop networks on matters of particular interest. The consensus was to continue with these next year with topics already being suggested. Council voted to establish a postgraduate scholarship in recognition of Dr Carolyn Allports contribution to the leadership and development of the NTEU in her 16 years as National President. The 20th anniversary reception on the first evening was a highlight, as was the attendance at the Council of life members including leaders and activists who forged the mergers that made the NTEU the Union for people working in higher education (see p.42).
Jeannie Rea, National President See more photos at www.nteu.org.au/ncm2013-photos
Above: Councillors voting on a motion. Below: Dustin Halse (Swinburne), Ruth Barton (RMIT) and Ryan Hsu (Swinburne/National Executive). Below left: Terry Mason (UWS/IPC), Virginia Mansel Lees (La Trobe/National Executive) and Ramesh Presser (NAVITAS). Below right: Tony Brown (UTS). All photos by Paul Clifton
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National Council workshops
At this years National Council, delegates participated in a series of short workshops. Not spooked by MOOCs but alert and alarmed
NTEU President, Jeannie Rea with Professor Stuart Bunt (UWA) presented a workshop that explored the impacts of the Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) initiative on Australian universities and how this is already determining the direction of the discourse, policy and activities on the applications of digital communication technology in learning and teaching, on flexible delivery, education quality, allocation of resources and the future of the academic profession. National Council passed a motion to develop a white paper to inform the NTEUs policy position and advocacy on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and higher education. Amongst other things, the white paper will address the current take up by Australian Universities of partnerships to deliver MOOCs. See also: Sarah Gregsons article on MOOCs (p.32) and Pat Wrights column (p.38) in this edition of Advocate. a case study, Daniel looked at the role of social media as a tool for digital organising, and as a way of identifying new activists, particularly when combined with organising platforms/databases such as Nation Builder. Key points made by Sarah and Daniel were about the iterative nature of social media engagement. Their take home message was, A social media campaign is the who, what, when and where of listening and responding to members and supporters, iterating content and collecting and activating supporter relationships in order to accomplish a clear and actionable objective. National Councillors provided plenty of questions about the capacity for social media to contribute to grassroots campaigns, and the resources necessary to develop a meaningful social media presence. equivalent (FTE) statistics with the number (head count) staff data. Ken also pointed out that a common mistake many people make when dealing with staffing data is to assume that the term actual casual refers to the number (head count) of casual staff employed.
Negotiation tactics a brief overview of the theory and an insight into the practice
Helena Spyrou, NTEU Education and Training Officer, facilitated a workshop on negotiation. An example of how negotiation dynamics and tactics can be used when negotiating with the employer both during bargaining and in dealing with grievances and disputes was provided through the live simulation of three 10 minute scenarios: an individual grievance, a potential collective dispute and finalising a sub-clause in a bargaining negotiation. NTEU expert negotiators Linda Gale (Vic), Kathy Harrington and Annie Buchecker (SA), Josh Gava (NSW) and Michael McNally (Qld) gave award-winning performances in their role of either employer or NTEU representative. At the end of each scenario the group briefly deconstructed the tactics used by each party.
Campaigning workshop
Senior State Organisers, Jo Kowalczyk (NSW) and Kate Wiggins (VIC) presented a workshop on campaigning to a plan. The workshop, which was well received by participants, was timely given the debate on Council floor about the importance of campaigning to build strength in our Branches in order to get strong Agreements at the table. One participant described the workshop as the missing piece of the puzzle. Participants talked about key elements of a comprehensive campaign plan, looked at an external and internal examples of a successful campaign that had been planned, and reflected on their current practice and the risks of not campaigning to a plan and/or not using multiple integrated strategies. Both sessions ended with a constructive discussion about future training opportunities in this critical area.
Boys living with cancer need male role models to help with their development and condence at camps which involve everything from rolling in mud to laser tag.
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Life Members
Eight exceptional NTEU members received Life Membership at the 2013 National Council.
and is the Director of the Universitys Celtic Studies Foundation. She currently holds a large Australian Research Council Discovery Grant with two colleagues (Professor Ron McCallum and Associate Professor Toni Schofield) investigating the efficacy of OHS prosecutions in NSW and Victoria. Her colleagues have always noted her strong sense of social justice and concern about equity and fairness. Just one example: Suzanne played a key role in proposing reforms in regard to gender and diversity and on issues ranging from workplace bullying to the establishment of equity scholarships in her Faculty. On the Branch Committee, Suzanne was always prepared to give her opinion. Alongside this came support for the Union and support for the other Branch Committee members. those around him. In many ways he has been like an older brother to members, someone who can be strong when needed, compassionate and helpful, but also very ready to laugh and have fun. Were proud of Dwight and proud to nominate him for this award.
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Reflecting on her time with the NTEU, Jan says that the greatest satisfaction has come from working with Branch and Division staff and members to build an effective and successful organisation with good delegate and membership structures. Jan will be a huge loss to the Curtin Branch, but through her strong union commitment, dedication and determination to maintain, or better, staff conditions she has left the branch in a strong position to face the union challenges on the Curtin campus into the future. 2013 Enterprise Agreement, where her sound and reasoned counsel ensured that the University management was not left unaware of the requirements of our staff to maintain their quality in pedagogy and research in these difficult times. Her advocacy on the Workload Advisory Committee provided an effective counter-balance to the forays of others. She worked hard at making what could have been described as good idea damaged by administrative mendacity, accountable. The ACU Branch is poorer for her going, and asks that this award is seen as an acknowledgement of a commitment to improving the lot of the academic staff member in the regional environment. A commitment that was approached with sincerity and integrity for many members in the Victorian Division have heard of BJ and know that these qualities were on show at a time of great challenge to the union movement.
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Honouring a previous eras warriors
In a long overdue gesture, Derek Kew and Ian Hawkins were honoured with NTEU Life Memberships at 2013 National Council.
Ian and Derek were truly icons, paving the way for the rest of us. We owe them a great debt.
Derek Kew
Derek Kew was the first President of the Council of Academic Staff Associations (CASA) in Victorian CAEs, and a long standing member and office holder of the Association of Professional Staff (APS) at RMIT. Derek set the tone and style of CASA as being a united organisation that would take no nonsense from Directors, and kept reiterating logical and reasonable positions. If sweet reason failed, picket lines were organised, and Councils targeted, so that Councillors had to feel directly accountable for what they were allowing their Directors to do. CASA wasnt prepared to just go away. Part of CASAs strength was empowerment of its constituent staff associations. Decisions were not foisted on them by the CASA executive, but were jointly developed. Consequently local staff associations remained strong in membership numbers and local industrial muscle, with members feeling able to protest as they have the support of their colleagues. Even heads of departments were members. Derek along with other members of the Executive of the APS fought and won a long campaign against the then Director of RMIT, known as the Brigadier because of his military background. The APS contested the direction of RMIT under the Director. The APS was influential with the professional staff of RMIT and was significantly represented on the Academic Board. The differences between the Director and the APS were such that it was either the Director or the Executive of the APS would have leave RMIT. Derek was an advocate within CASA of direct involvement and assistance in disputes by members of the CASA Executive if the local staff association had been unable to resolve the dispute. Sometimes employees of CASA were involved in the dispute, but quite often the CASA intervention was undertaken by CASA Executive members from different institutions.
Arthur Crook, Ian Hawkins, Matt McGowan, Derek Kew and Grahame McCulloch at Ian and Dereks Life Membership presentations at National Council 2013.
Ian Hawkins
Ian was a active member of local, state and federal organisations from 1967 until retirement in 1994. Memberships included Teachers College Staff Associations prior to autonomy, and Vice-President of the Council of Teachers Colleges Staff Associations which campaigned for autonomy and the formation of the State College of Victoria. Ian was Executive Member of CASA, the State College of Victorian Staff Associations Council (SCOVSAC) and the Union of Australian College Academics (UACA) from their formation until his retirement; second President of CASA; Executive Member of the Federation of College Academics for many years including one year as treasurer; President of the Academic Staff Association at the Melbourne Institute of Advanced Education. He represented staff on many government and Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission (VPSEC) inquiries and committees; represented CASA and staff on the VPSEC inquiry into the roles and composition of the CAE Councils. Ian continued Derek Kews leadership style but added his own inimitable overlay, of always able to see things from management perspective. To be fair was his favourite saying. Quiet, empathic but also like a rock under pressure, Ian got through to our opponents, and patiently dealt with their defences and rationalisations.
gain or glory, he has served members in whatever position is thought best by those members. Associate Professor Hunt was absolutely fearless in representing the Union and its members interests throughout his distinguished academic career, and we have no doubt that his academic progression suffered as a result of his efforts on behalf of us all. In particular, the lead role he played during many bargaining negoti-
ations, where he fought to either extend or maintain our workplace rights, often under very difficult circumstances, did not endear him to University management. This was a source of some pride for Ian, as it was a pretty good indicator of the very effective role he played for all Flinders staff during those negotiations. Associate Professor Hunt was always willing to provide advice to subsequent Flinders Branch presidents, and the
advice he gave was very much appreciated. He was also an excellent mentor to those serving initial terms on the Branch Committee and has been very generous with the time he gave to us all. He has been a true comrade to many colleagues over 43 years and life membership of the NTEU is fitting recognition for his staunch and selfless contribution to the Union, which he proudly joined as a foundation member.
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Vale David Muffet
NTEU notes with sadness the passing in Melbourne in May 2013 of David Muffet.
After an initial working life encompassing school-teaching and the military, David made the career change to tertiary education administration in the late 1970s, becoming Assistant Registrar and then Academic Registrar at the (then) Caulfield Institute of Technology. David contributed to a distinctive Victorian culture of general staff identity and assertiveness which saw the emergence of an industry-specific union (the Victorian Colleges Staff Association, later as the Australian Colleges and Universities Staff Association, one of the three major components of NTEU) in 1979. For his own part, while supportive of union involvement amongst his staff, he focussed on the professional development side and played a key role in the creation of what is now the Association for Tertiary Education Management, also being editor and co-editor of its journal the (now) Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. A supportive and sympathetic boss, he was a dynamic and charismatic leader who enhanced the profile of administrative staff within his institution. He represented the best spirit of Australian egalitarianism, treating people on merit, not on the basis of hierarchical position. David also enjoyed the respect of his academic colleagues, a status probably bolstered by his completion of a doctorate in the early 1980s. Looking for a new challenge, David left the (by then) Chisholm Institute of Technology in 1984, to become the Australian Electoral Officer for Queensland, eventually returning to Melbourne to take up the Victorian version of that role in 1991, a post he held until his retirement in 2001. Retirement plans were cruelly affected by the onset of Alzheimers and a long illness followed. Vale David Muffet.
Paul Rodan NTEU Life Member
all levels of the cultural training framework, the Indigenous Policy Committee and Union education staff, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, will facilitate three pilot workshops in early 2014. In implementing the training framework and workshops, the Union will invite members of the University Branch Committee and relevant Division and Branch staff to meet with members of their local Indigenous communities. The aim of each workshop will be to make connections, in particular, where the Elected Officials and Staff of the Union can learn about the local communities in cultural, historic and political terms and conversely, for those communities to have the opportunity to learn about the Unions work to progress Indigenous education, employment and social justice. Through this sharing of knowledge and current understanding workshop participants will together begin to develop the content of the framework. Following the first three pilot workshops the Union, in consultation with the local Indigenous communities, will conduct a review of the content of the framework and method(s) of delivery. It is imperative that local community members are involved in the framework review, to show respect to those community members and to ensure the community is comfortable with the content and delivery. The implementation of the cultural competency training framework will form the basis on which relationships between the Union, community and members will work now and into the future. In replicating the many variances in cultures practiced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander across Australia, no two training workshops will be the delivered in the same way. The diversity in our cultural training framework must recognise the difference in communities; this is vital to ensure involvement and participation from Indigenous communities across the country. The Union will also offer training to local communities on the work of the Union and how we may be able to assist those communities with issues pertinent to them, such as lobbying, campaigning and developing funding submissions. The National Education and Training Unit alongside the National Indigenous Unit looks forward to working with communities, members, Branches and Divisions to see this important training undertaken by all elected officials and union staff in to the future.
Adam Frogley, National Indigenous Coordinator and Helena Spyrou, Education & Training Officer.
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New staff
Advocate welcomes recent new staff to the Union.
tor. Before joining the NTEU, she worked for the ACTU, gaining experience in large scale campaigning and delivering intensive education programs for union officials. Kate has experience working with unions across many sectors and industries in her role with the ACTU. Kate is passionate about values based organising and campaigning. Outside of work Kate enjoys her role on the John Cummins Memorial Fund, a union affiliated charitable fund, cooking, reading and spending time with her young son.
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