General Meeting 14 August 2008

At a General Meeting of the Wollongong Branch of NTEU held on Thursday 14 August, three motions were passed unanimously. These motions relate to the following.

Background

The NTEU served on University management:

• a Log of Claim - 30 May 2008 and
• a ‘Right to Organise’ claim - 11 July 2008.

These claims were served in order to progress the next round of collective bargaining and in order to restore the employment rights and conditions that were lost as a consequence of the HEWRRs.

In a meeting of the Academic Staff Consultancy Committee on 18 July 2008, the Deputy Vice Chancellor John Patterson stated that management considered the two claims to ‘overlap’ and that management had no intention of engaging on these issues until after the expiry of the current Enterprise Agreements (on 28 November 2008).

Motion 1

This meeting of members:

• condemns the refusal of University management to commence good faith bargaining with the NTEU prior to the expiry of the current collective agreements;.
• condemns the refusal of University management to remove the HEWRR restrictions from our workplace, given the Federal Government’s repeal of the Howard Government’s HEWRR legislation; and
• calls on University management to meet with NTEU representatives forthwith to commence negotiations for new Collective Agreements and to address all  HEWRR matters contained in the Right to Organise claim.

Motion 2

This meeting of the NTEU Wollongong Branch:

• notes the unilateral announcement by the Vice Chancellor on 11 August 2008 of a 4% salary increase from 31 March 2009;
• further notes that this does not represent a real pay increase but rather a small adjustment to salaries that fails to keep pace with current CPI and other more positive salary outcomes in the sector.

This meeting of members calls on the University to deliver further and real salary increases that: enable members to secure genuine wage enhancements; are commensurate with higher education sector outcomes; and are part of the collective bargaining process.

Motion 3

Should management fail to respond constructively to our requests to meet to progress the collective bargaining process and respond positively to the Right to Organise claim, by close of business on Friday 22^nd August, NTEU members authorise their union to commence an organising and political campaign, inclusive of meetings, petitions, media campaigns, representation to local MPs and a range of other activities.

THE NEXT STEP

The NTEU will be forming a campaign committee to enact Motion 3.  If you are willing to contribute to the campaign, please send an email to Jo (joannek@uow.edu.au) or to me and we will advise the time and venue of the campaign committee meeting.

In solidarity,

Kim Draisma

President