Ted Murphy (1957 – 2022

Former NTEU National Assistant Secretary Ted Murphy sadly passed away on 8 August.

TED RETIRED in 2010 after a career spanning three decades with NTEU and one of its predecessor unions. Then General Secretary Grahame McCulloch gave the following Life Membership notation for Ted at the 2010 National Council.

“Ted commenced work with the Council of Academic Staff Associations (CASA) – the Victorian affiliate of the Federation of College Academics – as Research Officer (1982), Industrial Officer (1984) and Secretary (198693). With the formation of NTEU in 1993, Ted became the foundation secretary of the Victorian Division and subsequently assumed the post of National Assistant Secretary in 1997.

Ted’s personal capacities and capabilities are well known to his many friends and colleagues not only in NTEU but also in the wider labour movement – exceptional intellectual and analytical ability, sharp political and negotiating skills, integrity and moral rigour and a highly refined rhetorical ability.

Using these skills he has been a leading industrial and policy advocate in the Australian university and college systems, in the Labor Party at local Victorian and National levels, and in the trade union movement nationally and internationally. His achievements are extensive and of enduring value to NTEU members throughout Australia, and include: • The establishment of an industrial agreement dealing with the use and abuse of fixed term contracts in

Victorian colleges (1985) - the first ever such industrial instrument which laid the foundations for the extensive regulation of contract employment across Australia. • Protections against ill-health termination of academic staff (including preservation of disability pension standards) in the first national academic awards (1988). • One of the principal architects of NTEU’s national

coordinated bargaining strategy and the key negotiator in establishing initial Collective Agreements in Victoria (1992 -96) and subsequently in many other parts of the country. • Successful interventions on behalf of NTEU at

ALP National Conferences to protect and enhance key elements of Labor’s higher education policies including public investment, regulatory principles and academic freedom. • A critical role in the merger of SSAU and TESS to form UniSuper and his subsequent emergence as

Deputy Chair of the Fund. As a leading member of the UniSuper Board he has protected the 17% employer superannuation contribution and used his superior negotiating skills to prevent the erosion of superannuation standards by employer representatives advocating so called flexibility. • Ensuring the maintenance of NTEU’s high industrial standards in all Collective Agreements through his role as ‘gate keeper’ of the mandatory settlement points - leading to the epithet Dr No. • Representation of NTEU, EI and the ACTU in international bodies (WTO and ILO) on trade policy and labour standards.”

Ted will be greatly missed by his many friends and colleagues in the trade union and labour movements. Vale comrade!