WORKCHOICES FOR UNIVERSITY STAFF FINALLY ABOLISHED
8 August 2008
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) today welcomed the Rudd Government’s amendment to the Higher Education Support Act 2003, which removes the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements (HEWRRs) as a condition of university funding.
This latest amendment to the Commonwealth Grants Scheme Guidelines, signed by the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, on 29 July, was necessary after the Coalition disallowed a similar amendment on 14 May.
Mr Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary, said today:
“NTEU would like to thank the Minister for sticking to her commitment to abolish the HEWRRs.”
“The introduction of the HEWRRs, which preceded the WorkChoices legislation, imposed WorkChoices-like conditions on universities that threatened funding if universities did not comply. These conditions included all institutions being forced to offer AWAs to staff, and the removal of any restrictions on casual and fixed-term employment.”
“NTEU is now confident that the current round of collective bargaining can proceed without any undue interference from the Commonwealth. We will be seeking agreement on issues that are important for sustaining high quality education at our universities such as providing greater employment security for teaching and research staff.”
“We thank the Minister for sending a clear message to universities that they can now enter into new collective agreements which will benefit the institution and its staff without having any funding threatened.”
“Logs of claims have been served on all universities, and now that the uncertainty about the HEWRRs has been removed once and for all, we call on all institutions to immediately commence negotiations around new improved agreements.”
For further comments please contact:
Paul Kniest, Policy and Research Coordinator (0418 170 622), pkniest@nteu.org.au