SuperCasuals Updates By Dustin Halse Recruitment & Campaign Organiser, Victorian Division
The Victorian Division SuperCasuals campaign team has been busy of late. Campaign activity has commenced at a range of Victorian universities and members of the Victorian Casuals Council (VCC) have organised an inaugural SuperCasuals Bluestocking Week event. Here are some of the actions currently underway.
Bluestocking Week #MakethePledge Swinburne University is the only Victorian university that guarantees paid leave for casual staff experiencing domestic or family violence. Research shows paid leave makes a big difference to those trapped in domestic violence situations. Victorian Casuals Council (VCC) members Amelia Sully, Eleanor Kennedy, Jo Taylor and Dr Bel Townsend, in collaboration with NTEU National President Jeannie Rea, have written to Victorian vice-chancellors asking them to #MakethePledge to extend domestic and family violence leave to all staff. On Thursday 18 August, NTEU will be announcing who has taken the pledge and who needs some encouragement. We invite you to get involved in this celebration of pledges and help us deliver domestic and family violence leave to all casuals in the sector. To find out more email Jo Taylor jtaylor@nteu.org.au.
Deakin SuperCasuals kicking off Deakin casuals have agitated for a SuperCasuals campaign to commence on site for some time. Heeding the call, local activist and VCC member, Dr Bel Townsend, together with the SuperCasuals campaign team, recently designed and sent an action survey to thousands of Deakin casuals.
Hands Up for Secure Work at University of Melbourne Job security is an enormous issue at the University of Melbourne (UoM) with the largest cohort of workers being employed on a casual basis. NTEU has responded by launching a ‘Hands Up for Secure Work’ campaign to securitise the work of eligible casual and fixed-term staff. Eligible professional staff casuals have strong rights to apply for conversion to ongoing work and casual academic staff have the capacity to agitate for the creation of teaching specialist (periodic) positions in their faculty. To date more than 150 UoM staff have joined the campaign and put in an application to be converted to secure work. For those interested participating in the campaign get in touch with local Organiser Chloe Gaul cgaul@nteu.org.au, and read the full story on page 6 of this issue of Connect.
Victorian Casuals Activist Day On Thursday 2 June, the Victorian Division held its inaugural Victorian Casuals Activist Day. Nearly 50 NTEU members came along to discuss and explore how SuperCasual activists can collectively win better working conditions. Presentations from local activists involved in current and previous SuperCasuals actions described the methodology of a successful campaign. The emphasis of the day was rested upon highlighting the strength and agency of casuals to lead the change towards secure work. Casual members, delegates and activists interested in joining a campaign or participating in campaign training, please contact Dustin Halse dhalse@nteu.org.au. supercasuals.org.au
Nearly 400 responses were received in the space of a week and a list of prominent issues have come to the fore. Mass meetings across three Deakin campuses attended by nearly 100 casuals have been run and local campaign teams are being formed. In the coming weeks look out for further information regarding Deakin SuperCasuals events. If you are a Deakin University casuals and want to join the local campaign team shoot us an email at supercasuals@nteu.org.au, we need your help!
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Connect // Volume 9, no. 2
Semester 2, 2016
Below: Deakin SuperCasuals campaign meeting.