By Jeremy Smith
Last year an education alliance was formed among student unions, the NTEU and other campus unions and the vice-chancellors, in opposition to the Howard government's tertiary education funding cutbacks.
It was quietly acknowledged in the NTEU at the time that the alliance with the vice-chancellors was likely to be brief. It was destined to fall apart in time, with pressure from DEETYA, and due to splits.
The link with the National Union of Students was seen as more tangible and durable. It was always the crucial element in the campaign to defend education. Nonetheless, since the August budget it has produced little by way of concrete joint work.
It is time to renew commitments to an education alliance. This is especially true of the NTEU. To defend education against further ravages, NUS and the NTEU must begin seriously to build the campaign together at the national level and on campuses around the country.
The recent experience of rising militancy in some branches of the NTEU gives a glimpse of the possibilities. Strong campaigns at UNSW and Sydney University that have actively involved the members have forced back-downs by the vice-chancellors in enterprise bargaining negotiations.
At UNSW support from the student guild proved an important component of the campaign to win a better deal from the employers. On the campus level, campaigning could be strengthened by joint NTEU-student union committees.
A renewed alliance will have to be stronger on the national level.
The recent motion passed by the NTEU national executive in support of the NUS national day of action on March 26 will help the NUS organise a sizeable mobilisation.
However, the joint actions around the country last May were based on a substantial effort by the NTEU to mobilise its members. The next national day of action should be accompanied by strike action and joint protests. The initiative formulated at the NUS conference in 1996 of joint NUS-NTEU ad hoc committees organising on campus has not emerged and needs to be encouraged.
The obvious time would be around the May budget. There has been some suggestion from the NTEU national leadership that a rally in late April may be appropriate. This is the kind of initiative needed, but it should involve some level of strike action and should target the government's big business-led West review.
The NTEU has been busy fighting for decent deals out of the current round of enterprise bargaining. On several campuses we have had to fight a rearguard action against employer attempts to destabilise the union using Reith's new industrial legislation.
The results have been mixed, but some of the outcomes are good. The wider campaign to defend and extend education would benefit enormously from joint endeavours by staff and student organisations.
[Jeremy Smith is a member of the University of Ballarat NTEU branch executive.]