BY NICK FREDMAN
LISMORE — In a victory for unionism in the higher-education sector, staff at Southern Cross University have decisively voted down a short-term enterprise bargaining agreement aimed at marginalising the National Tertiary Education Union.
After protracted negotiations punctuated by a number of strikes, rallies and mass meetings, SCU staff signed off on an enterprise bargaining agreement in 2001 that expired on June 30.
A clause of that agreement stated that negotiations for a new agreement had to begin by April this year. In March, the NTEU and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), the two unions representing staff at the university, lodged comprehensive logs of claims with management.
However, management argued that a number of factors meant the university was "entering a period of uncertainty". These included the federal government's plans for the sector and, more bizarrely, the war in Iraq. Management presented a plan for a one-year agreement that would roll over existing conditions and give staff two lots of 2% pay rises. This was to be followed by negotiations for a new three-year agreement.
The NTEU rejected the deal, pointing out that it would mean an unnecessary delay in negotiations over workloads, casualisation, parental leave and many other issues of concern to staff, that it outlawed industrial action during this period and that it offered a pay rise inferior to that already being won at other universities in the current round of bargaining.
Unfortunately for those hoping for a united staff response, the CPSU not only agreed to — but also campaigned for — the deal, arguing that it was fair and the best that could be achieved.
By mid-July, it was clear that the university's financial situation would remain sound, even if all the government's regressive plans for the sector were adopted. Management has also been embarrassed by media reports that vice-chancellor John Richard had received significant salary increases in the previous year. With a package of $460,000 a year, he is the fourth best-remunerated vice-chancellor in the country, despite running a small regional university.
On July 24, the NTEU announced it had unilaterally declared a bargaining period, which would legally allow industrial action, and that a general meeting would be held to vote on action aimed at forcing management to the table. Within two days, management announced that a deal had been struck with the CPSU to put its one-year agreement to a staff ballot, which was held from August 4 to 15.
One hundred staff members attended a meeting called by the NTEU on August 6 to discuss the ballot. At the meeting, NTEU general secretary Grahame McCulloch argued that SCU management wanted to delay the fight over a substantial agreement because it hoped that the federal government's attacks on higher education workers would be successful, making it harder for unionists to win a good agreement.
The union's SCU branch president, Paul Gannon, told those present, "It's up to us to unite and stand firm against this government's attacks".
Out of 1200 staff, 161 staff voted in favour of Rickard's offer, while 402 (71% of those particpating) voted against. Gannon commented "staff at the university will now be pressing the vice-chancellor for serious bargaining with the NTEU without delay".
From Green Left Weekly, August 20, 2003.
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