Qld Division

www.nteu.org.au/qld

Division Officers Qld Division Secretary: Michael McNally Division Asst Secretary: Brad Astbury (to Feb 2020) Division President: Andrea Lamont-Mills Division Vice-Presidents: Leonie Barnett (Academic) (to Aug 2020), Garry McSweeney (General) Division Staff Division Industrial Officers: Noeline Rudland, Rohan Hilton, Rob Rule, Kyla Johnstone, Alex Cousner Senior State Organiser: Michael Oliver Division Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organiser: Phil Mairu (to Feb 2020) Division Training & Recruitment Organiser: David Szumer Branch Industrial Organisers: Peter Whalley-Thompson, Angela Scheers Branch Organisers: Erin Campbell, Kate Warner, Stewart de Lacy-Leacey, Patsy O’Brien, Melissa Webster.

Image (this page): Griffith Branch Vote No zoom party, September 2020. Images (opposite page): Adam Stodden (GU) #SaveHigherEd National Day of Action selfie, 21 May 2020; Ramsay Centre protests at UQ. 40 The Queensland Division represents more than 4,100 members at the seven Queensland public universities. The Division also has members at the Brisbane (Banyo) Campus of the Australian Catholic University, Bond University, and various higher education private providers across the state.

Pre-COVID-19 It’s hard to believe that there was a time before COVID-19. The second half of 2019 was very positive for the Queensland Division. Our priorities of Agreement implementation through collective campaigns, member training and development and an improved communications strategy were bearing fruit. Membership continued to grow, so much so that we avoided the usual dip in membership that occurs each year in February/March. The final Agreement in Round 7 Enterprise Bargaining was achieved at the University of the Sunshine Coast in September. Industrial action taken by members was key to the improvements gained in the Agreement. One of the key development strategies that we planned for 2020 was to use the ‘EBfree’ year to build our organising capacity through our elected leaders. The first stage of this was a planned workshop with all of the Branch Committee members from across the state in Brisbane in early April. This was the first thing that we cancelled as a Division due to COVID-19. COVID-19 The impact of the global pandemic has been terrible on the Division’s members and staff. Key challenges for the Division have been: • Initial uncertainty of members in their workplaces about health and safety due to the possibility of coronavirus infections on campus. • Massive workload increases with the transition of student services and teaching and learning to on-line delivery in very short time frames. • The loss of insecure employment and its impact on casual and fixed-term staff and members. • Large scale redundancies and severances that have decimated many work places. • The complete abandonment of the sector by the Federal Government. On the other hand, there have been many positives: • The ability to connect to large numbers of members (and non-members) via Zoom. • Member engagement in collective campaigns around Health and Safety,

Workloads, Insecure Work, University

Funding and Right to Information. • Demonstrations of solidarity by members showing a willingness to sacrifice their pay and leave entitlements to save the livelihoods of colleagues. The staff of the NTEU Queensland Division have done a fabulous job during this time with Division Council passing the following motion in July:

This meeting of Queensland Division Council notes the amazing efforts of the staff of the Division. All staff have done an amazing job with huge workloads and transferring to working from home. As a Division, we have been able to maintain the exceptionally high levels of industrial support we provide to members while increasing our campaigning around many issues critical to the membership. Our staff have worked brilliantly in extraordinary circumstances and the Division Council thanks them for their efforts.

Job losses, Job Protection Framework, voluntary redundancies & variations It is impossible to reflect on the 2019-2020 year without looking at the efforts of the NTEU to secure improved job security for members through a nationally-negotiated, nationally-agreed Job Protection Framework. Facing the reality of tens of thousands of job losses in the sector, the national leadership of the Union sought to negotiate a framework of Enterprise Agreement Variations to prevent stand downs and limit redundancies and create rights for insecure workers which they had previously never enjoyed. In return, university management representatives sought concessions around pay and leave. In the end, just as agreement was being reached on a framework, the coalition of Vice-Chancellors splintered and the national framework fizzled.

Subsequently, in Queensland we have negotiated Variations at QUT. The Variations provide for no forced redundancies before July 2021, the creation of 40 fixed-term retraining positions to allow staff at risk of redundancy to change careers and stay at QUT, and the retention of some fixed-term and casual work for insecure workers. In exchange, staff will forego the 2% pay rise due in December for 12 months, forego their annual leave loading in 2021 and will have a 4-day closedown between Christmas and New Year. More than 90% of the QUT staff who participated voted in favour of the Variations. Management tried negotiating Variations at both Griffith and James Cook, but were unable to come up with the commitments we required for job security and/or external

oversight. We campaigned against both those variations. Griffith are not able to proceed after academic staff rejected the Variation to the academic Agreement. Unfortunately, we narrowly lost the Vote No campaign at James Cook 51% to 49% and management are proceeding with the Variation there (after having to give various undertakings to the Commission to remedy their ‘inelegant drafting’). At CQU, where management decided to cut staff rather than negotiate a Variation, we have seen 200 staff depart with voluntary redundancies and another 100 made forcibly redundant. That equates to roughly 15% of the continuing workforce at CQU and does not include all the insecure workers who have simply lost work. The impact of these losses will be far-reaching and ongoing not just for the remaining staff at CQU but also the regional towns that the university serves. Managements at the Universities of Queensland, Southern Queensland and the Sunshine Coast have all indicated that they will not be pursuing variations to their Agreements. However, they like all Queensland universities are going through rounds of voluntary resignations/ retirements/redundancies/severances. The fallout for the membership as a whole is yet to be felt, but has already been felt at the CQU Branch.

Campaigns & lobbying During the second half of 2019 the Division was campaigning on a number of fronts. At the political level, we campaigned hard and successfully to defeat the ‘Ensuring Integrity Bill’ with the support of Queensland crossbench Senators.

The Division was actively engaged with the student strikes for climate campaign with many members and Division staff attending rallies in Brisbane. Members set up an NTEU Climate Change Action Network with a goal of lobbying our institutions to divest from fossil fuels and support other climate change actions. The Queensland Division building also went solar. and the implications for academic freedom in our universities. The initial decision that Ridd’s employment was unlawfully terminated and then the award of nearly $1.2 million in damages/compensation have unfortunately been overturned on appeal to the full Federal Court. Members at UQ and across the Division campaigned strongly against the creation of a Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation. UQ management proceeded despite the objections of the majority of staff and the Faculty Board of HASS that rejected the proposal. The Branch has continued to pursue the matter and is currently awaiting an external review of UQ management’s decision not to release the Philanthropic Agreement with Ramsay in response to our Right to Information application.

Membership growth & development As reported above, membership continued to grow steadily over the second half of 2019 into early 2020. The figure as at 30 June 2019 was 3,680 and had grown to nearly 3,800 by February. There was a massive increase in membership as the impact of the pandemic became clear with an almost 10% increase in membership in three months meaning we finished the year with an all-time high membership of 4,150. Pleasingly, despite significant membership loss at CQU where 15% of the workforce were made redundant voluntarily or forcibly, the Division is holding steady. The Division will continue to stand strong in the face of continuing uncertainty. Building upon a strong foundation of solidarity, the Division is well positioned to continue the fight for members’ rights and for a better sector for all. ◆