SYDNEY UNI BARGAINING SCUTTLED – Staff Meet to Discuss Response
Wed 24 Sept 2003
Sydney University staff will meet at 12 noon today to plan their response to the University management’s last minute decision to renege on the signing of a proposed three-year enterprise bargaining agreement covering all workers at the institution.
Today’s meeting had originally been arranged to approve the terms of the agreement, and a formal signing ceremony between Sydney University management and the National Tertiary Education Union had been scheduled for later this afternoon.
These arrangements were cancelled after University management contacted the NTEU late yesterday to advise that the agreement was off.
Management’s decision follows the announcement by Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott that universities will lose $404 million in public funding unless they force staff to accept a range of hardline industrial conditions, including placing university staff on individual contracts.
“Staff are angry about management’s back flip and the NTEU expects that a large number will turn up to today’s meeting to consider their response, including the prospect of industrial action,” said Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary, who is in Sydney to address the meeting.
Negotiations have been underway at Sydney since October 2002, part of a sector wide enterprise bargaining round presently underway at all 38 of Australia’s public universities.
“The University's withdrawal from the agreement is a disgrace. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gavin Brown, condemned the Government's proposed workplace reforms for universities at a Senate Committee on Monday, yet now he is prepared to walk away from a cooperatively negotiated agreement that provided clear benefits to both staff and the University.”
“The NTEU is concerned that the turmoil at Sydney University is just a taste of what we can expect to see occur at other campuses as a result of the Government’s proposals,” said McCulloch.
Today’s meeting will take place today from 12 noon to 2pm, at the Badham Lecture Theatre, near Graffiti Tunnel, Sydney University. Media will be admitted towards the end of the meeting for the vote on what action NTEU members will take.
Following the meeting staff will march to the main quadrangle, where a press conference will take place.
Further information can be obtained by ringing the Sydney University NTEU Office on 02 9351 2827.
FOR INFORMATION AND COMMENT
Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary
Michael Thomson, Acting President, NTEU University of Sydney Branch