Gillard consolidates her leadership – now for the real challenge
Labor’s situation in the national political debate deteriorated significantly during the last parliamentary session when a ham-fisted attempt to ram media reform through a parliament that the government doesn’t really control failed, and the latest manifestation of the Gillard-versus-Rudd leadership battle played itself out with a spectacular contribution by the former arts minister Simon Crean. Dr Nick Economou, edXpress’s political guru for the duration of the election campaign, provides some perspective. Read more
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Don’t be fooled by Victorian Govt’s TAFE sweeteners
Some media outlets and others initially praised the new Victorian Premier, Dr Denis Napthine, for pledging in his first week of office to pump $200 million over four years into the beleaguered TAFE system. But, as NTEU Victorian Division Secretary, Dr Colin Long warns, we shouldn’t be fooled. Read more
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Purple days at CSU
NTEU members at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have hit upon a creative way of supporting their local enterprise bargaining team – wearing purple on the days of the negotiations with management. Dr Sue Wood, NTEU CSU Branch President, talked to edXpress about how ‘purple days’ worked. Read more
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Industrial action over collective agreement looms at Melbourne
Members at the University of Melbourne have had enough of delays on a collective agreement and have voted unanimously for a Fair Work Commission ballot to allow them to take protected industrial action. Voting opens April 16, and closes on April 30. Ted Clark, the NTEU Melbourne University Branch President, warned edXpress that academic freedom is also under threat. Read more
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‘In principle’ wage deal at ECU
NTEU members at Perth’s Edith Cowan University (ECU) voted last month in favour of an ‘in principle’ Agreement, guaranteeing a 4% per annum wage increase over the next four years, a career development fund for professional staff, differentiated academic roles and the conversion of some casual positions. Gabe Gooding, the NTEU WA Division Secretary, told edXpress it was the first Enterprise Agreement at ECU to cover both academic and professional staff. Read more
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Industrial action on agenda at Deakin
Deakin NTEU members voted on Tuesday (9 April) to apply to the Fair Work Commission for a protected industrial action ballot if there is no progress on its collective agreement negotiations by 17 April. Dr Colin Long, Victorian Division Secretary, is leading the bargaining team and told edXpress that staff were fed up. Read more
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Creating secure jobs and a better society
The ACTU’s National Community Summit on insecure work, held in Canberra on March 13-14, brought together a range of disparate forces and organisations to start developing a response to the growing prevalence of insecure work and related issues. Michael Evans, the NTEU’s National Organiser, attended and reports for edXpress. Read more
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Remember when?
The Q&A session, “Spooked by MOOCs?” at last week’s NTEU National Teaching Conference raised a number of interesting issues. There seemed to be a general consensus that the current open access and free offering was not sustainable as a business model, which after all is paramount in shaping all decisions about higher education in the 21st century. Read more
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Strikes force USyd to negotiate
NTEU members at the University of Sydney held a very successful strike on March 7 but it took a further two-day strike on March 26-27 to force university management to negotiate seriously on a collective agreement. Michael Thomson, NTEU Branch President, told edXpress that finally some progress is being made. Read more
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University teaching in the spotlight at NTEU Teaching Conference
The holding of the National Teaching Conference at Melbourne’s RMIT University from April 4-5 was a new initiative for the NTEU. Over 100 attended, with some describing it as the most useful conference they’d ever been to. NTEU National President Jeannie Rea explains why it was time the spotlight was firmly fixed on university teaching and teachers. Read more
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Going Troppo? Restructuring at JCU
James Cook University (JCU) will become ‘the university of the tropics’, according to the recently released review report, JCU: The Future – Crystallising our Purpose, with teaching, research and community engagement focused on a single theme – the tropics. Massive changes to jobs and working conditions are also proposed, according to Janice Wegner, NTEU JCU Branch President. Read more
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Big response to UNSW survey on workplace bullying
At the NTEU National Council last October, delegates voted unanimously in support of a campaign against the bullying scourge that has afflicted many higher education sector workers. The UNSW Branch undertook a survey of members. Sarah Gregson, the UNSW Branch President, sent this report on its results to edXpress. Read more
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“Will teach for food” sessional campaign takes out ACTU Award
On March 6, the NTEU’s sessionals campaign at Swinburne University won the prestigious ACTU Award for the Best Workplace Campaign in 2012. Division Industrial Officer and campaign leader, Josh Cullinan told edXpress that the starting point had been the late payment of sessional staff. Read more
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Enrolling the next generation of voters
“I want my students to become thinking voters. That’s why I’ve volunteered to become an NTEU Democracy Advocate,” says Robyn Moroney. Moroney, a senior lecturer in nursing at UWS, is one of the 100 NTEU members to volunteer to remind students to enrol to vote and spoke to edXpress about how she’s fared so far. Read more
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More super news
UniSuper is one of ten finalists for Super Fund of the Year in the Chant West/Conexus Financial Super Fund Awards. UniSuper is also one of seven funds that have been nominated in more than five categories. It’s good news for UniSuper members, says NTEU National Assistant Secretary, Matt McGowan. Read more
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Member Advantage – adding great value to your union membership
The NTEU has just launched a new member benefits program, offering members an extensive range of membership benefits and discounts. The program has been developed jointly with Member Advantage, a leading provider of member benefits and services that works with a number of trade unions to deliver membership services. Read more
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Investigation into claims Canada is muzzling its scientists
The BBC announced earlier this month that Canada’s Information Commission is to investigate claims that the government is ‘muzzling’ its scientists by imposing rules which prevent them from speaking freely about their publicly funded research. Read more
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