NTEU Members unanimously call Vice-Chancellor to account
Macquarie University staff met at lunch yesterday to hear from union officials and to plan further action after the University Management dramatically escalated its dispute over enterprise bargaining and has refused to negotiate with the NTEU on the key issues of job security and pay for staff. At least 40 staff have been stood down without pay for withholding around 15,000 students marks.
NSW Greens MLC John Kaye and University of Sydney National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) Branch President, Michael Thompson addressed the meeting, carrying a message of support from NSW parliamentarians and union representatives across the country to Macquarie staff affected by the University Management's actions.
Macquarie University staff are angered by the management's hardline industrial tactics and seek an immediate return to good faith bargaining.
The following motion was unanimously passed at the meeting, attended by over 150 NTEU members:
“This meeting of the NTEU Macquarie Branch condemns the University Management for their failure to negotiate in good faith on the key issues of job security and pay.
We call upon the Vice-Chancellor to negotiate directly, in good faith, with the NTEU.
We deplore the continued misuse of MQ Announcements to broadcast misleading statements about the NTEU’s industrial action and bargaining claims, without a right of reply, and demand a cessation of this practice.
We reaffirm our determination to maintain our industrial action as a demonstration of our commitment to our bargaining claims.”
Branch President, Cathy Rytmeister, says that NTEU members at Macquarie are united in the industrial action, involving both the academic and professional staff of the University.
“Over half of all academics at the University are NTEU members, and a majority of those seem to either be taking industrial action or supporting those who are taking the action. We’ve received thousands of dollars in donations, but if we are going to outlast management, we’ll need more so that our members can still enjoy Christmas with their families,” Ms Rytmeister said.
“Like John Kaye said at the meeting, the fight at Macquarie and UNSW at this time is about busting Unions and is essentially a struggle for the future of the tertiary sector: quality education and research over corporatisation and profit,”
“The truth is that staff in universities do have strong collegial ties which won’t be smashed. The NTEU is here to make sure of that, and we’re here for the long haul,” said Ms Rytmeister.
Members at Macquarie Uni and UNSW have together produced a YouTube clip to educate the wider public about their current campaigns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOTou7PJj3I
Comments
[ +5 ] i couldn't care less about double-marking - at least we'd get our results. as the above poster said, ALL the students would be marked the same anyway so what does it matter?
Like • Dislike •[ 0 ] "In my experience of double-marking, the person who has actually taught the course and knows the content well tends to give a slightly higher grade (about half a grade higher) while the person who hasn't taught the course and is less familiar with the content marks harder. Is that what you want?".
Like • Dislike •That sounds like somewhat of a threat?
Double-marking is not an issue, because all the papers would be remarked, meaning all the students would be equally affected. In the end there would be little to no difference as the marks are scaled anyways.
[ +2 ] Sorry GG - yes, I should have said, MQ students. The MQ and UNSW Branches, while both part of the NTEU, have some different approaches on the ground - because we are dealing with different management approaches. I'm the Branch President at MQ, so I don't have any control over what happens at UNSW, but I understand their strategy and I support it. Perhaps you could talk to a union rep from UNSW and learn more about what is happening there - the VC is putting quality at risk by trying to force academic staff to hand over student exams so that they can be marked by someone else. In my experience of double-marking, the person who has actually taught the course and knows the content well tends to give a slightly higher grade (about half a grade higher) while the person who hasn't taught the course and is less familiar with the content marks harder. Is that what you want?
Like • Dislike •[ -1 ] *shame unsw students CANT
Like • Dislike •[ +1 ] I don't know how many more times I will have to say this, but: NO-ONE will lose their visa because of these bans. Any student at risk of this can apply for an exemption via www.mqstaff.org/students.
Like • Dislike •Shame UNSW students can apply for exemption on a MQ website. For crying out loud what abt the UNSW students Cathy?
[ -1 ] I don't know how many more times I will have to say this, but: NO-ONE will lose their visa because of these bans. Any student at risk of this can apply for an exemption via www.mqstaff.org/students.
Like • Dislike •[ +1 ] Maybe they should withhold the results until internationals can't renew their visas. Since our universities have been funded by fee paying students from overseas academic quality has gone down the plug hole. Where else in the world can you buy your post graduate degree without being able to speak or write the language of tuition? Standards have become so low in Australian universities that it has become a joke. The only people making money are the writing services. I have students in my class (post graduate) who can barely string a sentence together, and have no idea about academic writing, and don't understand that they can't plagiarise or copy, and they get distinction, because they pay. Also, they are planning on doing a PhD, but I suppose that's no problem, since their supervisor will most likely be a casual, who is afraid of losing their job and will agree to anything coming from management. A degree from an Australian university will soon be worth nothing.
Like • Dislike •[ 0 ] No, I did not say anything about the relative intelligence of unsw or mq students. I'm asking (not-very-nicely) for the (not-very-nice) people, who have identified themselves as unsw students, to nick off. I went to UNSW for my undergrad and am at MQ as a graduate student so I KNOW for a fact that every single one of the students at both institutions (except for those who have raved on about their love for the UNSW VC) are extraordinarily intelligent! ;) Chill.
Like • Dislike •[ -2 ] A little bit of inconvenience? 15,000 marks equates to 15,000 students not being able to enrol, find work, graduate, renew visas. wow
Like • Dislike •[ -4 ] "leave us to debate the pros and cons of this with some modicum of intelligence"
Like • Dislike •so ur saying that only mq students r intelligent? i think this comment alone says more about ur intelligence than anything else i need to say.