NTEU News | 14 June 2013
An attempt by Swinburne University to certify a non-union agreement with a small group of newly appointed staff at its subsidiary Swinburne College, which offers courses in Foundation Studies, Pathways, and English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students, has failed.
The move was challenged by the National Tertiary Education Union, which described it as an attempt to slash working conditions, and Swinburne College ultimately withdrew the application.
Swinburne College was ordered by Fair Work Commission Deputy President Smith to pay $33,655 in legal costs of the NTEU.
Kamal Farouque, of prominent industrial law firm Maurice Blackburn, said it’s unprecedented for an employer to pay costs in this situation, and it only occurs when the Commission finds that the application made was made vexatiously or had no reasonable chance of success.
Swinburne was on shaky legal ground in seeking to have this sub-standard agreement certified. This scheme was devised to make an agreement with four unrepresented staff to avoid bargaining with about 100 other employees and the union.
This kind of chicanery is something I would expect to see in a dodgy small business operator trying to bypass the protections in the Fair Work Act, not a self-proclaimed internationally renowned higher education establishment like Swinburne.
