‘While the last round of bargaining was particularly difficult as we tried to repair the damage inflicted by the Howard years and WorkChoices, we hope to have a less drawn-out struggle this time.’
g n i r a p e r P for
e v i t c e l col
g n i n i barga
04
he NTEU’s membership is growing, thanks to the efforts of our staff, delegates and members, and, in particular, our growth team. Membership growth is vital to building our strength in preparation for a new round of collective bargaining next year. While the last round of bargaining – which seems like we only just finished – was particularly difficult as we tried to repair the damage inflicted by the Howard years and WorkChoices, we hope to have a less drawn-out struggle this time. This will largely depend on ensuring that our claims are manageable and well supported by members, and on the level of our organisation, industrial strength and willingness to take action in support of our claims. Nevertheless, there are many issues that will take some effort to negotiate. These are already causing members considerable concern. Indeed, these are the perennial issues of the contemporary tertiary education sector. They are also the issues around which we need to start campaigning now, if we NEXUS SUMMER 2011
haven’t already, in order to achieve a groundswell of activism. (Note that these issues are focused on universities only because TAFEs are currently in bargaining, as is reported on page 18 of this issue of Nexus.)
Workloads – academic and general
Workloads continue to be a major source of discontent, conflict and stress for staff. The long-term decline in public funding for universities despite the enormous increase in student numbers has meant work intensification for most staff, whether academic or general/professional. Adding to the pressure are increasing administrative and compliance burdens, additional teaching periods, with shorter times between them, and complex, often punitive, attempts to measure research performance.
Teaching and research
In the wake of the ERA exercise, many universities sought to implement new or refined definitions of research activity. Too often these
have been based on the now-defunct ERA journal rankings, or apparently designed to get rid of certain staff. All NTEU branches will need to be vigilant about definitions of research activity and the protection of the right to conduct research in the next round of bargaining. Related to this is a real need for the union to come to grips with the reality of teaching-only or teaching-focused positions. For years we have defended the teaching-research nexus, ignoring the fact that a large amount of teaching is currently performed by non-research active staff in the form of casuals. We need to consider if we would be better off trying to create some real contracts or ongoing jobs that are teaching-focused and reduce the need for casuals. Such jobs could be at the entry level, with good career paths and the opportunity to move into research-teaching jobs. Importantly, there would have to be an agreement with managements that the level of casualisation would be reduced in return for the recognition and creation of such teaching-focused jobs. I welcome a discussion around these ideas.