University of Ballarat says “WorkChoices” means no choice
JOINT ACTU/NTEU MEDIA RELEASE
17 January 2006
The effects of the federal government’s new anti-worker industrial legislation will be immediately felt by staff at the University of Ballarat, with its announcement that all new appointees will have no choice but to sign an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA ) if they want to be employed.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow said today that “This is proof of the government’s real agenda – to enable employers to remove the right of workers to collectively bargain, and force them onto AWAs that reduce wages or conditions. This is not about giving employees better choices, it’s about giving them no choice but to accept whatever the employer offers, or not have a job.”
NTEU Victorian Division Secretary Matthew McGowan said that the AWA that new staff will have to sign strips away important employment conditions, and is the same as the AWA currently being offered to all existing staff.
“The AWAs will remove important conditions of employment. No negotiation, no choice. This is an Australian university saying ‘Take it or leave it’”.
Mr McGowan said that the University’s announcement made a mockery of the government’s rhetoric about providing university staff with ‘genuine choice’ about what type of agreement they are employed under.
“With the University of Ballarat being the only public university to force future staff onto AWAs, the management will entrench the University as an employer of last choice in the Higher Education sector.”
For further information and comment:
ACTU : Meaghan Telford – media enquiries, 0409 510 879
NTEU: Matthew McGowan, Vic Div Secretary, 0417 054 110
Dr Jeremy Smith, Uni of Ballarat Branch President, 0429 334 938