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Results Bans: Support your stood down colleagues
Please support your colleagues who have been stood down by contributing to the special UNSW Local Hardship Fund:
Click this link to donate directly
https://www.nteu.org.au/shop_tools/donations/unsw
Or make an EFT Transfer or Deposit at:
NTEU UNSW BRANCH
Commonwealth Bank
BSB: 062303
ACC: 1050 3694
Or make a cash donation at the Branch
*All unused moneys will be returned to donors.
Anonymous donations cannot be returned.
Comments
[ +1 ] I think this is a terrible thing to have happened. I think the NTEU actions affect students, but it's like a chicken and egg story, who started the problems first?? watch movie
Like • Dislike •[ +2 ] What's with the user pays mentality "Students who stood up"? "But you can't expect students to pay those unprofessional lecturers (unlike yourself) more money for shoddy lectures, can you ???"
Like • Dislike •UNSW Lecturers deserve more money in line with other Universities, but an increase in Lecturers wages should not mean a commensurate increase in student fees. The government should fund Universities properly, without squeezing students to fund pay increases, instead of...say....bombing foreign lands.
As for "shoddy" and "unprofessional" Lecturers...have you heard of performance management? If someone isn't performing, then provide EVIDENCE (you know evidence, that thing you're meant to provide in your essays when making your argument?). Once evidence of poor performance is provided to the Lecturer in question, then there is a formal process in the enterprise agreement which seeks to improve performance, which includes termination if the University can prove their case.
So in short, the issue of the performance of individuals, and the collective pay of Lecturers are not linked. If you are worried about the standing of your degree as a student (which of course you should be) wouldn't you want your Lecturers paid in line with (not behind) their colleagues elsewhere rather than losing them to the University of Sydney or elsewhere?
[ 0 ] Assailed now for four decades by what Eagleton calls these "bloodless, boring bureaucrats"— the ideological managers for the high age of mediocrity— universities have seen no comparable zeal since the University of Cervera VC's address to Ferdinand VII in 1830s Spain, wherein he declared its abhorrence of “the dangerous novelty of thinkingâ€. Public intellectual remains a high-risk occupation. But throughout history public universities have had one central social responsibility: to speak the truth to power. Our stood-down colleagues have done just that: all strength to them!
Like • Dislike •[ -1 ] Out of curiosity what is the NTEU's response to VC Hilmer's claim that the majority of UNSWs revenue comes from volatile sources and hence it would be impractical to offer fixed term arrangements for all staff for fear of what would happen if these volatile sources don't bear the fruits they normally do?
Like • Dislike •[ -1 ] Recent Graduate. You can't just pack up and leave an institution that you've been working at for most of your career and have loyalties to, to work elsewhere. These staff members are not individualists. They want better conditions for everyone and to see positive change rather than simply walking away without having their unsatisfactory working conditions addressed, which severely impact upon students' quality of education. The latter of which is always at the forefront of their minds.
Like • Dislike •Your friends who are students at UNSW wouldn't be so affected if management had dealt with the academic staff's qualms more fairly. By threatening, and then proceeding to, cut staff's pay is a pretty harsh move.
[ -3 ] I'm a unsw student and I've had my marks withheld.. so what? it's gonna get sorted in week or two anyway... no big deal... strikes are fun and very educational... mean while... I don't trust the VC cause he's a total suit... (read his story)... and I'm not so keen on unions cause they hide the poor performers in their ranks and they attempt to create a monopoly on labour at the expense of the unemployed... but anyone who badmouths unions will get an earful from me cause opposing unions makes you a conservative anti-democratic reactionary, (me excepted cause you know I love'em)... anyone who claims they're totally in the right is full of ... also non of this hoohaa warrants adjectives like 'disgusting' or 'bloody outrage'... maybe 'unfortunate' and 'amusing'... also we need less building projects and fluff and better lecturers less admin and more electronic sorting outing... some academics are bad they should be found and fired some admin are doing jobs that can be eliminated they should be moved to a job computers cant do or fired... the ones who are left should be paid more... but before any of this fire the VC to clear the air and hire someone good and have their pay cut ... also "Robert Candelori" a googling of your name speaks for itself... ethically challenged *thumbs up* anyone else?! good! now get over yourselves and back to the picket line! :D
Like • Dislike •[ +1 ] why harm students that trying to get graduate positions ???
Like • Dislike •[ -1 ] What about the professional and technical staff? Do any of you lecturers actually give a toss about them? Or is everything about you and your well paid behinds?
Like • Dislike •[ +1 ] We have been provided with a way to receive our marks should we need them for graduation or other reasons. If lecturers need to use my marks as ammunition, I'll clean the barrel myself. It would be nice to see some bonus marks though. Any student outraged by the 'inconvenience' should seriously harden the &$%# up.
Like • Dislike •[ +1 ] @ Anon academic and Stood down Lecturer:
Like • Dislike •Firstly - as you both stated, what was conducted was legally protected industrial action. That is, UNSW can't fire you or discriminate against you for your action. What they are entitled to do is to withhold your pay for the period that you are taking said industrial action. So, in that respect, I don't believe they have acted unlawfully.
Secondly - irrespective of 'title' (with specific reference to the point about your colleague who left for USYD 'two levels down'), I would be interested to see what earnings staff are actually getting for the work that they are producing (both teaching and research), relative to other Go8 universities, or any other Sydney / NSW universities generally, for that matter.
Thirdly - if I'm not mistaken, nobody is being pushed onto fixed term contracts; rather, permanent staff who are leaving are being replaced with new hires on fixed term contracts. As with any other workplace and workforce, hiring on contract basis for the first year or two is a safe way for an employer to ascertain the value of the employee that they have hired, and allows the employer to reward good service with bonuses and permanency, or terminate bad service that doesn't add value, depending on the employee. This is at the heart of the results / reward system that any good workplace should be based on.
I would rather that my university rewards good academics and penalises poor academics, than provide a blanket coverage that breeds poor performance below the median. In the banking industry, anecdotally, union protected positions have extremely mixed performance, as 'bad' employees have no incentive to improve in order to obtain their benefits. On the other hand, employees on individual contracts with appropriate incentives are generally good performers overall, due to the result / reward built into their contracts and conditions.
Nobody deserves a payrise on the back of tenure at a university, or anywhere else for that mater. If you're not doing any more, or performing any better, than you did (or should have been required to do) 5 years ago, in fairness, you don't deserve any more than CPI wage increases over those 5 years. This applies in accounting, this applies in law, this applies in finance, and it also applies in the relevant divisions at university as well. To suggest otherwise would be to reward incompetence at the expense of rewarding deserving employees.