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NTEUesday

Posted 27 October 2010 by Jayne van Dalen (Edith Cowan University)

Dear Member,

ML Staffroom
Despite the persistent efforts of the Union at many levels the ML staffroom is now apparently closed. There is a notice on the door saying that the staff room is closed and that 16b is available as the staff room.  The Union is perturbed about the lack of genuine consultation about this issue. Consequently the NTEU  has lodged a dispute, with a view to taking the matter to Fair Work Australia.
The saga continues and we wish to meet to try to resolve these issues as soon as possible.
We are also looking at proposed group meeting facilities to assess their true availability as alternatives to the staffroom. We are concerned that some of these facilities are only available to book are a part of an agreement with either WAAPA or the Aroma Cafe and not open to bookings by staff/students.

Staff Joint Consultative Committee
We have strong representation on these committees. Proposed topics for discussion at the next meeting include
§  Use of ICT in teaching and learning

§  Pay equity for library staff

§  Intellectual property, plagiarism and authorship

§  Deregulation of sector in 2012

§  New Accounting system forcing staff to take leave

§  Staff contracts – work at any campus

These are excellent forums in which to raise work place issues so if please contact members of the committee if you wish to have any matters raised. Academic SJCC members are myself, Ute Mueller, Geoff Lummis and Ian Bennett. General Staff JCC members are Steve Harrison, Kathryn Clarke and Judy McCulloch. 

Directions
I conducted our first committee meeting yesterday in my new role. At that meeting I tabled some noteworthy items from the national conference. A theme motion was passed at this conference that attempted to set the agenda for the union as whole for the next three years. Future campaigning will focus on:
§  Lobbying at a federal level – opportunities presented by the role of the greens;

§  Convening a major conference on future directions for Australia’s Universities

§  Active Branch and Division education and action program

§  Alliances with undergrad and post grad students, other education unions, Vet, policy organizations.

Also under discussion was the fact that in 2012 the tertiary sector is to be substantially deregulated opening the way for other providers (VET) to provide all or part of University degrees. This is a challenge for the Union and for this branch.

Local
At a local level we have been busy. Apart from ongoing grievances I personally have been involved in two misconduct cases, both time consuming but I think with good outcomes for the University. We are still dealing with issues around the implementation of OE. I thank Judy, Arnold and Jayne for their work in this area.

Tony Fetherston

Branch President