La Trobe University Branch
Welcome to the La Trobe University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). The NTEU is the Union that represents the industrial and professional interests of all university staff.
Our main office is located at Room 225b, David Myers East Building, Bundoora Campus Phone 9479 2124. FAX 9479 1503. nteu@latrobe.edu.au .
- New Collective Agreement 2009
- Branch Newsletters
- Heat Issues
- How Do I Become a Member?
- Organisational Change
- Quality Assurance of Units
- The Branch Committee
- Committee Meetings 2009
- Branch Location & Contact Details
- Branch History
- National NTEU Campaign Update
- UniSuper
- Useful Links
- Branch Financial Statements 2007/2008
New Collective Agreement 2009
The new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement 2009, is available on the People and Culture page of the La Trobe University website.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/pc/index.htm
| Agreement Summary | Summary presented to membership meetings about the new collective agreement. |
Branch Newsletters
| LTU Branch E-Bulletin 25 November 09 | This edition includes how to vote on the new enterprise agreement, hot indoor temperatures, new branch staff member, workload management system, 2009 tax statements online. |
Heat Issues
Management has a legal duty of care to prevent staff and students from being injured or exacerbating existing injuries, including those caused or worsened by heat. Your individual health issues and circumstances must be taken into account by your supervisor. If you believe you are working in unsafe conditions you should ask to be relocated or to go home. Symptoms of heat stress include dehydration, swollen ankles, heat rashes, heat fatigue, headaches and so on.
Even if you are not experiencing symptoms the University heat policy applies to you. If your working environment exceeds 32 degrees and you can't be relocated to a cooler environment you are entitled to go home without loss of pay.
Incident reporting and issue resolution
- The union recommends that you submit an online OHS Incident report when your workspace becomes too hot.
- Forward the incident confirmation number to your employer and employee health and safety representatives (their names can be found here), Gary Nolan (Manager, OHS), and the NTEU La Trobe Branch (nteu@latrobe.edu.au). State that you want the matter dealt with using the OHS Issue Resolution Procedure.
If you don't have a health and safety representative in your area any other rep on the list can be asked to assist. The more formal reports the university receives the more likely it is that positive action will be taken.
For more information on heat stress
Trades Hall's OHS Reps Heat page
Victorian WorkCover Authority Working in Heat page
How Do I Become a Member?
The National Tertiary Education Industry Union is a specialist union solely representing staff in tertiary education.
All general staff members, academic and research staff members, university company staff members, and staff of student unions are eligible to join the NTEU.
Membership forms can be returned by internal mail or in person to the union office: NTEU La Trobe Branch Room 225b, David Myers East Building, Bundoora Campus.
In addition to industrial representation your membership also entitles you to a range of discounts and services.
| Membership Form | |
| Casual Membership Form |
Organisational Change
Senior officials of the NTEU will be meeting once again with the Vice-Chancellor in the week commencing 20 October 2008 to discuss the latest developments concerning the general offer of voluntary redundancies.| Letter to VC - 1 Sep 2008 | The Branch wrote to the University to seek confirmation about rumours of large reductions in staff numbers. |
| Response from VC - 3 Sep 2008 | Email to all staff from the VC regarding the administrative change program. |
| NTEU response to VC - 11 Sep 2008 | Letter from NTEU to VC regarding Administrative Change Management and Budget Issues. |
| Letter to VC - 30 Sep 08 | Request for more detail about the rationale for redundancies. |
| Response from VC - 14 October 2008 | Note that this response does not address our questions concerning the classification levels and numbers of redundancies. |
Quality Assurance of Units
The University has decided to place a great deal more emphasis upon the quality assurance of units. The NTEU La Trobe Branch is working to ensure that instruments are properly validated and that student evaluations are not the sole measure of teaching performance. Management has committed to meeting with us and the new DVC (Academic) in the New Year to discuss the QAU issue so please keep sending feedback to nteu@latrobe.edu.au .
| New QAU system for 2009 | Meeting on 16 June 08 with DVC Academic and PVC Curriculum and Academic Planning to discuss a new student evaluation and quality assurance of units system. |
| Reply to Uni from Branch on QAU | After consultations with members the Branch responded in writing to the University on 22 November 2007. |
| Response from Uni on QAU | After a meeting with Branch respresentatives the University responded in writing on 1 November 2007. |
| Summary of QAU feedback from NTEU members | The following is a summary of feedback to the Branch from union members about the QAU instruments. |
| NTEU La Trobe Branch response on QAU results | E-mail sent on to members from the NTEU La Trobe Branch on 29-10-07. |
| VC's QAU e-mail to the Deans | E-mail from the VC to the Deans sent on 26 October 2007. |
The Branch Committee
The Branch Committee and Executive are elected from the Branch membership every two years. The next election will take place between May and August 2010.
LA TROBE BRANCH
The 2008-2010 Branch Executive are as follows:
Branch Executive: Virginia Mansel Lees
(Branch President), Margaret Botterill (Branch Vice President
General Staff), Nellie Green (Indigenous)
Committee Members: Ann Copeland, Dr Mary
Debrett, Riki Lane, Graham Murray, Dr Jack Reynolds, Dr Sean
Slavin, Dr Rhonda Small, Dr John Tebbutt, Caroline Wright-Neville,
Dr Graeme Byrne (ex officio member).
BENDIGO SUB-BRANCH:
Ian Tulloch (President), Mary Martin (Vice
President), Tracy Quick (Secretary)
ALBURY-WODONGA SUB-BRANCH
Virginia Mansel Lees (President), Dr Martin Fussell (Acting Vice
President)
Committee Meetings 2009
Meetings begin at 1pm and are held in the NTEU's Bundoora office, Shop 10C, The Agora.
Semester 1
February 18
March 18
April 18
May 20
June 17
Semester 2
August 19
September 16
October 14
November 18
December 9
Branch Location & Contact Details
The Branch Office is open Monday through Friday and has a wealth of information on union membership – application forms, the benefits available to members, regular union publications and so on. Please feel free to call us or drop in any time.
Bundoora Branch Office:
Room 225b, David Myers East Building
Serena O'Meley - Branch Industrial Organiser
Tim Rodrigo - Branch Organiser
Phone: 03 9479-2124
Fax: 03 9479-1503
Email: nteu@latrobe.edu.au
Bendigo Sub-branch:
Ian Tulloch
Sub Branch President
Room: Arts - Level 2, Room 3.06.
Sub-Branch Office: Business Building - Level 2 Room 2.16
Phone: 03 5444-7338
Email: itulloch@latrobe.edu.au
Wodonga Sub-branch:
Virginia Mansel Lees
Branch President
Health Sciences Building Room 6113
Phone: 02 6024-9807
Branch History
| Branch History 1967 - present | The Staff Association, which later became part of the National Tertiary Education union, was established at the same time as the University. Click on the link to read about the history of the institution and the union. |
National NTEU Campaign Update
The National Office of the union runs campaigns on a number of issues such as higher education funding, protecting higher educaton from the impact of free trade agreements, and academic freedom. To find out more please click here, this link takes you directly to the National Office Campaigns page.
UniSuper
UniSuper is the super fund for people working in the higher education and research sector.
The NTEU is represented on the Board of Directors by NTEU National Assistant Secretary, Ted Murphy.
For more information visit the UniSuper website.
| The role of staff representatives on UniSuper | Find out more about the role of UniSuper staff representatives and NTEU La Trobe Branch endorsement. |
| Current UniSuper Representatives | Staff Representatives |
| The Basics of UniSuper | A useful tutorial on UniSuper |
Useful Links
Some useful links to non-government organisations, union related sites and government sites are provided here. Their listing does not imply endorsement of their contents or the organisations' philosophies in any way.
| Union Links | Links to the ACTU, VTCH, ICFTU, Evatt Foundation, APHEDA-Union Aid Abroad, National University of East Timor - Library Project, ATUA, NIBS and on-line journals: LabourNet, and Workers Online |
| Government Links | Links to DEST, ARC, HREOC, AIRC, Parliament House and Victoria Online |
| NGO Links | Links to FoE, Liberty Victoria, AFTINET, Corporate Watch, Our Community |
Branch Financial Statements 2007/2008
| 2007/2008 NTEU La Trobe Branch Financial Statements | 2007/2008 NTEU La Trobe Branch financial statements and general meeting details. |