This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but is accessible to any browser or internet device. More information here.

University of Western Sydney

Welcome to the NTEU-UWS Branch Website

NTEU is a specialist national union solely representing staff in tertiary education.  In all Australian universities, NTEU represents academic and research staff, general staff, ELICOS teachers, and staff of Student Unions and university companies.

The NTEU-UWS Branch provides an advocacy role for all staff at the University of Western Sydney and staff in UWS entities such as uwsconnect and UWS Conference and Residential Colleges. The NTEU has staffed offices at Hawkesbury and Parramatta North Campuses.

NTEU-UWS supports staff in workplace and industrial matters and ensures that the Academic and General Staff Enterprise Agreements are implemented. Your elected NTEU-UWS Officials carry out ongoing negotiations to ensure pay and working conditions for all staff are maintained and improved. The NTEU with the broader Australian Union and Community movement is also campaigning for fairer federal industrial relations policies for example the recent abolition of HEWRRs and the Review of Higher Education announced by Julia Gillard for this year.

Your elected Officials consult with members at regular General Meetings to ensure your democratic voice is heard in protecting and extending the quality of our working and leisure lives. 

Join the NTEU today or contact the Branch Office or your nearest elected Official or Delegate for more information. 


Contact Us

 

Offices and Staff
NTEU Branch Committee Phone and email details for the President, Secretary, Vice Presidents, and Committee members.

Top


Join the NTEU

There are a few ways you can join the NTEU - online or by downloading a membership form and sending or faxing it to Helen Hinley on 02 4570 1761.

Further information about the benefits of joining the NTEU can be found here.

UWS form

Top


Cat's Blog

Cat's Blog Check out what the Branch Organiser is working on this week to help you improve working conditions and quality of education at UWS.
OUM campaign Mercury Aug 7 article

Top


UWS Workloads Project

 

UWS Academic Workload Policy Research Project 

Name of Principal Investigators: Dr. Elizabeth Watson, Robyn Moroney, Anne Maureen-Scarff, Genevieve Kelly

 

Academic workloads have been the subject of much discussion but little depth research. The diversity of models for workload allocation combined with the complexity of interpretation and application have made it difficult to identify equitable practices. Academic work is often invisible because it is performed in isolation, so that there is little evidence of how real time is divided between the demands of teaching, research, administration and community service. A lucid description of what it means to be a scholar, and the ways in which this is helped or hindered by workload policies, is much needed in the area of higher education research. The research project we are inviting you to become involved with, aims to fill this gap. A year long research project to look into workloads is being conducted at the University of Western Sydney in 2008, by a group of researchers from three UWS Colleges. Some in-kind administrative support is being supplied by the UWS branch of the NTEU.

 

Complete the Survey and return by mail to Kylie Morgan at SJSC, Bankstown Campus, Room 1.G.54 by AUGUST 15. 

 

This study has been approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee HREC 08/081.  If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this research, you may contact the Ethics Committee through the Research Ethics Officers (tel: 02 4570 1136).  Any issues you raise will be treated in confidence and investigated fully, and you will be informed of the outcome.

 

 

Survey Complete the Survey and return by mail to Kylie Morgan at SJSC, Bankstown Campus, Room 1.G.54.

Top


Newsletters and e-bulletins

NTEU UWS sends regular e-bulletins and newsletters to all members.

July 2008 E-bulletin
January 08 E-bulletin
April 2008 Branch Newsletter

Top


Collective Bargaining 2008

 

What is Collective Bargaining?

 

Collective Bargaining is the process by which salaries and employment conditions are determined for university staff. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) represents staff in negotiations with management that result in an Enterprise Agreement. An Enterprise Agreement is a legal document that sets out pay rates, hours of work, leave and other conditions for staff. The current Enterprise Agreement for academic staff at UWS expires in December 2008 and negotiations for a replacement Enterprise Agreement are therefore underway.

 

How do I join the NTEU?

 

If you are not already an NTEU member and would like to join your colleagues in the NTEU you can do so online: www.nteu.org.au/join

 

How do I get more involved?

 

If you would like to join our collective agreement reference group, contact Cat Coghlan in the Branch Office on 9685 9928 to indicate your interest. The reference group will provide regular feedback to our NTEU bargaining team by email as negotiations progress and feedback on issues and strategies is required.

 

Bargaining 2008 Updates

May 2008
Log of Claims On Friday 30 May 2008, the NTEU served its Log of Claims on University management for the next collective agreement. Read on for a full list of what the log includes...

Top


Casuals


Casuals

UWS has it's own social networking site for Sessional (casual) staff.  Check it out here!


Visit UWS Sessional Staff network

With over one-third of employees being casual workers, tertiary education ranks as one of the most casualised industries in Australia. Casual employees in our industry are frequently exploited, underpaid, overworked and left with few avenues for assistance or redress.

It is therefore important that you are aware of your rights and entitlements under the current UWS Enterprise Agreements for Academic and General Staff. It is also a good idea to join the National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU) because the union is experienced in enforcing these conditions and ensuring that casuals get a fair go.

If you are a casual staff member and want to join, go to the 'join' section of this site

For answers to all your questions about being a university casual and how NTEU can assist you, please visit our special casuals website, www.unicasual.com.au or download 'Smart Casuals', the NTEU handbook for casual and sessional university staff (2007 edition).

If you want further information contact the branch office and we can put you in touch with a delegate in your work area.

Top


Enterprise Agreements for Academic and General Staff

The current Enterprise Agreements for Academic and General Staff contain the bulk of members' entitlements that the Union has negotiated with UWS Management.

UWS ACADEMIC STAFF ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2006 – 2008
UWS GENERAL STAFF ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2006 – 2008

Top


2008 News and Events

What's On! Up to date record of events in your city.
Federal Budget The NTEU Briefing Paper on the 2008 Federal Budget. If you have any queries please contact Terri Mac Donald on 03 92541910 or email tmacdonald@nteu.org.au
Wine Club & Union Shopper FREE membership FREE delivery and up to 70% off retail prices there are great saving to be had.
Mental Health Legal Services Project, PIAC Over the next two years the MHLS Project will explore the unmet legal needs of people who are mentally unwell and through piloting innovative strategies, enable those needs to be better met. They are seeking comment from interested parties.
HEWRRs is dead! Follow the latest news on the Rudd Government's changes to workplace relations and how they relate to Higher Education.
Shiftwork How to avoid negative impact of shiftwork on your health.
Stress A major study in the UK has confirmed the effect of work stress on heart disease, and found the problem more prevalent among younger workers.
Your Rights At Work

Top


Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA

 

Help us receive funding for your Community Education Volunteer Work for Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA

 

Did you know that any time you have spent campaigning or talking to the community, union members and delegates around global issues or topics covered in Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's Community Education Program could be turned into government funding for Union Aid Abroad?

 

If you have spent any time during the past financial year (i.e. between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008) campaigning, talking to or training union members, community groups, fellow staff etc about issues such as human rights and labour rights in developing countries, the impacts of globalisation or a host of others global issues you can donate these hours to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA. Just fill in the Volunteer Form and return it to us by Friday 11 July 2008.

 

The government will then allocate us proportional funding out of a pool of international aid funds for every hour our volunteers declare. Last financial year union trainers, organisers and volunteers “donated” to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA the time they spent training or working on these issues.

This gave us over $4,000 extra for overseas projects.

 

So please, just take a minute to add up the time spent in training sessions, at activist group meetings or addressing your union, and send the attached form back to us by Friday 11 July 2008

 

Please note that time spent on fundraising or office administration support or the locally based Your Rights at Work campaign cannot be counted in this process.

 

If you have any queries regarding this letter please feel free to call Antoinette Abboud on 02 9264 9343 or email at aabboud@unionaidabroad.org.au

 

 

 

Relief Appeal

‘This is a humanitarian disaster on an unimaginable scale and we are asking all Australians to donate through Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA to the disaster relief work already underway by Norwegian People’s Aid and grassroots organisations on the ground’ said Sharan Burrow of the ACTU.

Please encourage family/friends/colleagues and all unionists you talk to, to support Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's appeal on Burma.

 

Here's a chance for all of us to support the Australian union movement's aid agency and ensure support goes DIRECTLY to the people impacted. Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has worked for a long time with the people of Burma. The projects are not inside Burma but with the refugee and migrant worker communities on the Thai-Burma Border. The decision not to work inside Burma is a policy decision in line with the ACTU's policy. (Please contact Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA or Alison Tate at the ACTU if you would like more information on this). However Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), the humanitarian aid agency of Norwegian trade unions do have local and international staff based in Rangoon. Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's appeal will deliver assistance directly and accountably to local people via NPA.

 

The situation current in Burma:

The situation is grim. Days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Rangoon, local residents are still fending for themselves with little or no help from local authorities. There are reports of tens of thousands of lives lost and we can only expect that number to grow as long as aid delivery is delayed by the military Junta.

People now are in desperate need for food, water, shelter and medical aid. The people responding to their needs have been the monks of Burma who are sheltering people in their monasteries and providing as much food aid and water as they can. 'Most people are homeless, without water and without electricity. I believe that soon our people will be starving,' said a resident from Shwepyithar Township. 'Most people are drinking dirty water.'

Norwegian People's Aid is currently assessing the damage and the needs of the people and it still finalising the details of its relief effort. However we are determined to get aid to the people in greatest need with your assistance.

 

Funds raised by Australian people through Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA:

These funds will go directly to Norwegian People's Aid's Rangoon office who will work with grassroots associations in Burma to get aid to people in need.

Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has a close relationship with both Norwegian People's Aid and the National Council of Unions in Burma and are resolute that aid will go to the people in who most need it. Those people who were already made vulnerable by the military regime and who have been made desperate by this cyclone.  Top priorities for aid are of course clean water, food, shelter and medical assistance.

How to make your donation to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA's Burma Cyclone Appeal

Telephone: 1800 888 674 Fax: (02) 9261 1118 or email: office@unionaidabroad.org.au for enquiries.

Cheques: can be made out to Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA and posted to:
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA, Level 3, 377-383 Sussex Street, Sydney NSW 2000.

Or Online: To make an online donation with your credit card (Visa or Mastercard only) simply:

  1. Click here to access the secure online donation form
  2. Go to Section C ONE-OFF DONATIONS and select One-off donation - Burma refugees from the drop-down menu

 

Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA was established to contribute directly to countries and regions of the world where men and women workers are disadvantaged through poverty, a lack of workplace, denial of labour and human rights, civil conflict and war.

Union Aid Abroad is committed to justice and solidarity and to self reliance, not charity. It builds self-reliance through support to educational and training projects for workers and their organisatons in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, Southern Africa and the Caribbean.

Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA is supported by individual union members, the ACTU, unions, workplaces, AusAID and the Australian public.

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA is an Incorporated Association (Y1103419) and endorsed as a deductible gift recipient with the Australian Taxation Office, (ABN 76 425 451 089). Donations of $2 or more to the "APHEDA Overseas Project Fund" are tax deductible. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA is fully accredited with the Australian Government's overseas aid agency, AusAID, and is a signatory to the Australian Council for International Development's Code of Conduct.


Contact Details
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA
Ph:  (02) 9264 9343
Fax: (02) 9261 1118
office@apheda.org.au

 

Top


Women

Women's Rights at Work

The NTEU is a union committed to enhancing the participation and voice of women members. Women hold positions of influence and power at all levels of the Union, are active on the Union's enterprise bargaining teams, and contribute to the development of the Union’s strategy.  The Union has been a leader in many areas concerning women and their professional and employment rights, and provides support for other women through the ACTU and othernon-government organizations.  NTEU published the first national pay equity study done in Australia, and this has encouraged a broader commitment to pay equity within the labour movement.  At a national level, the NTEU Women’s Action Committee and the annual Women’s Conference develop this work.

Click here to get Information on what the union is doing nationally.

Please find attached the Unions NSW Women’s Rights at Work – we are hoping to get as many petitions as possible signed ahead of the Sydney Productivity Commission hearing on Tuesday 20 May, so if you can fax back to Unions NSW by Monday 19 May, that would be great. Fax details are on the petition.

Invitation to the UWS Women’s Network Seminar

 

Gender Equality in Australia – Are we going Backwards?

 

Wednesday 4 June, 12-1.30pm, Lecture Theatre 2, Building 4, Campbelltown Campus

 

With special guest speakers Eva Cox, Emma Partridge and Amanda Tattersall.

 

Download the flyer.

 

Maternity Leave Petition
UWS Women’s Network Seminar

Top


Members Equity

Burma Response Media release re Members Equity's contribution to relief campaigns for the recent natural disasters in China and Burma.
Rate sheet, Jan 2008 Updated rate sheet for your reference. Fantastic news on the Online Savings Account interest rate which will increase by 0.80%, meaning that ME offers one of the top two rates in Australia.
Boosted On-line presence for ME! Members Equity Bank to launch new upgraded website, and new campaign for Online Savings Account.

Top


Audited Financial Reports

Audited Financial Report for the year end 30.06.07

 

Financial Report

Top


Cases Committee

vacation leave
Cases Committee
Branch Personal Case Protocol
2008 Benefits Guide Access the 2008 Workers Compensation Benefits Guide

Top

Members Area

Use your NTEU membership number or an assigned username to login, get help with the login process or recover a lost password.

Member ID/Username

Password

Latest News >>

>> More News

Sundries