August 07 E Bulletin
NTEU DEAKIN BRANCH ENEWSLETTER 6 AUGUST 2007
In this edition:
1. Proposed merger of Arts and Education Faculties
2. Deakin claims it will save jobs in Geelong while continuing to make Deakin staff redundant
3. Tax Statements
4. Federal Election
5. Casual Employees
6. Probation Win
7. Recruitment Day 29th August Burwood Campus.
8. Union Material for distribution
9. Review of Teaching and Learning
10. AWAs
1. Proposed merger of Arts and Education Faculties
The proposal to merge the Faculties of Education and Arts is continuing to gather momentum despite protestations from senior management that no decision has been made. As Chair of the Staff Liaison Committee I have written to the Director of HR seeking some detailed information about the merger, providing comments passed on by staff and seeking answers to a wide range of questions.
One of the main questions relates to the undisclosed academic benefit of the merger. So far the University has failed to provide staff and the NTEU with any rationale for the merger beyond potential salary savings.
Staff are rightfully concerned about possible job losses and the NTEU is urging the University to assure staff that if the merger proceeds that job losses will be kept to a minimum and that displaced staff will be redeployed as a matter of priority.
We have also relayed to management that some staff within these Faculties had expressed concern that they were unable to determine whether the proposed merger was a good or bad option because the level of information provided was not sufficient to make such a determination.
The differing Academic Workload models operating in the Faculties have also been raised with senior management and many academic staff are concerned that pressure on the combined Faculties will result in the adoption of a work load model consisting of the worst aspects of both the current Education and Arts Faculty models.
Staff in the Faculty of Education seem to be largely opposed to the merger, for good reason. A number of general staff jobs are at risk if the merger goes ahead. The NTEU is seeking information from and offering assistance to any staff in the faculties who are concerned about the merger.
2. Deakin claims it will save jobs in Geelong while continuing to make Deakin staff redundant
The University has been making bold statements in the Geelong papers and in the Herald Sun claiming that Deakin was in the process of developing a Silicone Valley in Geelong and that this development will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs.
While we welcome the possibility of new jobs being created at Deakin, it seems a little at odds with the continuing run of redundancies and senior management’s push to reduce general staff numbers by 200 over two years.
3. Tax Statements
Union Membership Tax statements. There was a notice in the
"Advocate" earlier this year that indicated that
statements could be accessed on your personal page.
Members who pay by payroll deduction will have already received
their group certificate with the Union dues on their group
certificate.
Members who pay by direct debit out of a bank account or credit
card will need to access the statement by logging onto the NTEU web
site at www.nteu.org.au
Log in your personal details and then go to your personal
page. You will need to scroll down the page and on
the right hand side of the page there will be an icon that says
“print Tax Statement”.
If you have any difficulties please contact the NTEU National
Office on 03 9254 1910.
4. Federal Election
Howard Government changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act may disenfranchise tens of thousands of young people as the changes make it harder to enrol and harder to update personal details.
In addition to the more difficult requirements to prove your identity to update your details or to enrol, as a first time voter the electoral roll will be closed earlier. The electoral roll will be closed after 3 days from the time election writs are issued for those people updating their enrolment details.
The NTEU is asking Academics to advise students of these significant changes and to provide further information especially to first year students to ensure they are not prevented from voting in this year’s Federal Election.
The Local branch has posters and leaflets for distribution, just contact jomh@deakin.edu.au or nteu@deakin.edu.au. A Powerpoint presentation and further information is also available.
Make sure your students are not disenfranchised.
5. Casual Employees
Ask members to sign up casual employees if they are
employing casual/sessional members of staff. Casual
Membership forms are available on www.nteu.org.au/join
6. Probation Win
A recent dispute between an NTEU member and the University was
resolved when the University reversed it decision to extend the
member’s probationary period. The NTEU wishes to advise all members
that extension to the Academic probationary period is not
contemplated by the relevant EBA provisions. Any Academic members
who believe they have had their probationary period extended in
contravention of the EBA provisions should contact the
NTEU
7. Recruitment Day 29th August Burwood Campus.
The NTEU will be conducting a recruitment walk around at the Burwood Campus on Wednesday 29th August, from 10am. Any members who are able to help should contact Marion Grybas (grybasm@deakin.edu.au).
8. Union Material for distribution
Members should request from either Marion Grybas
grybasm@deakin.edu.au or Jo Mc Mahon Hide jomh@deakin.edu.au
material for the recruitment of new members
9. Review of Teaching and Learning
The University commissioned an outside consulting firm to do a review of Deakin’s teaching and learning earlier this year. The consultants’ report is worth a read, as it makes many points that staff and the NTEU have been making for years, including about the problems with SETU and over-emphasis on compliance. We eagerly await the university’s response to the review’s recommendations.
10. AWAs
The NTEU had another great success with its campaign against AWAs across the university sector. In a massive waste of resources, universities were forced by an interfering third party – the Commonwealth Government – to offer all of their staff AWAs last year. Of the 150,000 staff offered AWAs, 2000 took up the offer. That’s about 1.3%. University staff have made their choice clear – they prefer a NTEU-negotiated collective agreement. My sources tell me that the take-up at Deakin was two existing staff members! What a waste of time and money!
In solidarity,
Colin Long
President, NTEU Deakin Branch
Marion Grybas, JP Executive Officer, EMAIL: grybasm
NTEU Deakin University Branch
( 03 9244 6874 Fax 03 9244 6322
The Deakin Branch Office is situated at Room H 304 Burwood
Office
The hours are 9.00.am - 5.00pm
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
If you require urgent industrial advice please contact
NTEU Vic Division ( 03 9254 1930.)
The Industrial Officer is Garry Ryan and his email address is
gryan@vic.nteu.org.au