The new student organisation at the University of New South Wales, established as a result of the Howard government's "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) law, is forcing staff earning $40,000 or more per year onto individual contracts (AWAs — Australian Workplace Agreements).
When this news began circulating around student and union activist networks, the UNSW Kensington campus student guild executive, led by National Labor Students-aligned president Xavier O'Halloran, gave the guild staff at Kensington 24 hours' notice to finish their employment. Staff employed by the student guilds at the Kensington and COFA campuses have been made redundant in preparation for the establishment of the new UNSW student organisation.
After negotiations involving the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), Kensington campus student guild staff were guaranteed employment until the end of November.
The new student organisation is in fact a company governed by a board made up of students and university management representatives. In preparation for hiring new staff (a minority of whom will be staff of the old organisations), the new student organisation also lodged a non-union workplace agreement, which will cover all staff earning less than $40,000 per year.
Susan Price, the UNSW branch president of the NTEU, told Green Left Weekly that campus staff were appalled by the student representatives' actions. "At a time when workers are under attack from Work Choices, this new student organisation is offering staff either Howard's workplace agenda or no job at all.
"NTEU members working in student organisations have been an integral part of the campaign against VSU, which is a direct attack on student representation on campus. This is a slap in the face to student-staff solidarity."
According to Price, negotiations for the establishment of the new organisation took place in secret, without consultation with unions. Citing a "commercial in confidence" arrangement, student representatives and university management had refused to divulge details of the new organisation's structure or employment policies, until recent weeks when staff were finally briefed.