All Posts
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Share your experiences as a casual or contract worker
Unions have launched a new inquiry into insecure work in Australia.
Workers will have the opportunity to share their stories about the impact of casual and contract employment alongside community groups, unions and employers in a new national independent inquiry to investigate the extent of insecure work in Australia.
The inquiry is part of the Secure Jobs. Better Future campaign, and will be open for submissions between 2 November and 16 December, before public hearings in each state in February and March.
Share your story
The NTEU is asking you to share your experience and views of insecure work, particularly casual work in the higher education sector.
Submissions will be able to be lodged on the campaign website, securejobs.org.au, or by phoning a special insecure work hotline on 1300 362 223 (toll free).
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NTEU publishes green universities report
The Functional Dynamics of Green Universities was written by John Rafferty and Carolyn O’Dwyer of Charles Sturt University, with support of the NTEU NSW Division. It came out of a NSW union conference in late 2010, which examined the potential contribution of workers in the education and services industries to promote sustainability within their workplaces and their unions.
The impetus for this report came from NTEU members who wanted to unpack some of the language around sustainability initiatives and green scorecards on campuses and develop a model for ongoing engagement. The writers issue a challenge to the Australian higher education sector to broaden and intensify its efforts for sustainability and embed these into their culture and practices.The report is available for download below and from www.pushingtheboundaries.org.au/reports
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NTEU survey reveals CSU staff are overworked to the point of illness
The NTEU CSU 2011 Annual Survey has returned some alarming results, revealing that 58 per cent of academics are being overworked to the point of illness. The survey also reveals that 57 per cent of academics have suffered deterioration in family relationships, due to excessive workloads and work related stress.
A staggering 94% of surveyed academics said they frequently work more than their regular weekly hours, with 87% frequently working weekends. The survey also found 58% of respondents reported teaching workloads that breach the new workload regulations contained in the CSU Enterprise Agreement.
NTEU CSU Branch has written to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) outlining some of the results and seeking the widespread teaching-related overload at CSU to be addressed as a matter of priority. You can read a copy of the letter here.
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NTEU at the Secure Jobs, Better Future launch
UWS casual academic, Chris Elenor, spoke about his experiences as a casual worker at the launch of the ACTU’s Secure Jobs, Better Future campaign yesterday.
While national figures indicate that 40% of the Australian workforce is employed in some form of insecure work, the situation is even more stark in higher education. Recent research has revealed that 60% of the academic workforce in universities is employed on a casual basis.
Secure Jobs, Better Future is a national campaign to improve the rights and working lives of Australians employed in insecure work. More information about the campaign can be found here.
Chris Elenor is the newly elected chair of the NTEU National Academic Casuals Committee. Some of his experiences as a casual worker were published yesterday in SMH online.
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Congratulations Cathy Rytmeister
Congratulations to Cathy Rytmeister (NTEU Maquarie Branch President), who last night received recognition for her union activism at a Unions NSW award ceremony.
Cathy Rytmeister receives union activism award from former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.
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Brave New World? More like an old undemocratic one.
NSW State Secretary, Genevieve Kelly, has penned the following letter (Campus Review, 15 August 2011) in response to Fred Hilmer’s argument that modern university governance needs fewer elected representatives.
“Academics – and particularly historians – must have stifled a laugh when they read Fred Hilmer’s prescription for a “brave new world” of university governance. (Campus Review, June 14). According to the UNSW vice-chancellor, modern university governance needs fewer elected representatives, to create a more streamlined approach.
Reading between the lines, it’s clear Professor Hilmer thinks a university council should be little more than a rubber stamp for the whims of its executive. Elections are a messy business, after all, and to quote Campus Review, “Hilmer believes elected representatives on a council end up representing their constituents
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NTEU on Facebook
To complement our existing communication methods, the NTEU NSW Division has established a Facebook page to provide members and supporters with updates on what is happening in Branches across the state.
If you are on Facebook, please like our page: http://www.facebook.com/nteunsw• -
Don’t miss your chance to transform your thinking
Time is running out to register for Transforming Australia – jobs, industry and the green economy, the first national professional conference of its kind.
With the Federal Government announcing its carbon pricing policy on Sunday, there has never been a better time to get informed and discuss the impacts of a carbon constrained economy on jobs, industry and regional economies in particular.
Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to the debate. -
New publication for NSW General and Professional staff
A new electronic publication for NTEU general and professional staff members was launched yesterday. Stories sourced from across the state highlighted important victories recently won by NTEU general ...
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UNITY IN DIVERSITY: Health Sciences staff find common ground
A proposed restructure within the Faculty of Health Sciences has galvanised clinical education staff. Facing a new structure that appears to have written them all out of a job in 2012, the group has joined together as NTEU members to tell management they’ve got it all wrong. Here is there message about the importance of working in union to achieve collective
Branch Contacts
Branch Office
Black Rose Bdg Armidale Campus
University of New England
Phone: 02 6773 3175
Fax: 02 6773 3973
une@nteu.org.au
http://www.nteu.org.au/une
Tim Battin
Branch President
tbattin@une.edu.au
Trevor Smith
Branch Organiser
tsmith@nteu.org.au
