WA Division

www.nteu.org.au/wa

Division Officers WA Division Secretary: Jonathan Hallett Division Assistant Secretaries: Richard Hamilton (Academic), Corinna Worth (General) Division President: Catherine Moore Division Vice-President: Sam Green

Division Staff Senior State Organisers: Donna Shepherdson, Paul Benson (leave coverage, April to June 2020) Industrial Officers: Katherine Morison (to March 2020), Simona Grieco (to April 2020), Joe Fiala (from April 2020), Nashell Ireland (from June 2020) Division Organisers: Eileen Glynn, Raechel Smith, Ryan Costello (to July 2020), Beth Cole (on extended leave from Dec 2019), Claire McKinnon (from Dec 2019), Phil Chilton (from April 2020), Henry Booth (from Oct 2020) Member Services Officer: Jayne van Dalen The Western Australia Division represents just over 2,600 members at the four public universities in WA: Curtin University, Edith Cowan University (ECU), Murdoch University and the University of Western Australia (UWA) as well as the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA). The Division also represents members at Student Unions at all the four public universities, Research Institutes (largely affiliated with UWA) and private providers such as Navitas.

A year of extraordinary change, challenge and growth We have continued the reorientation of the WA Division towards an organising model at Branches and bedding down the new staffing structure and roles adopted mid-2019. We completed a review of industrial servicing in the Division with outcomes including changes to databases and file management processes, realignment of some workplace issues to Branch-based staff and transition to new referral processes. Individual member queries for industrial advice and representation are now increasingly being directed towards our Member Services Team, freeing up our Organisers located on campus to work with delegates and members to take collective action and support local campaigns. Other staff professional development has included Mental Health First Aid and workplace health and safety training. In addition, most Branch Presidents have completed training on deep organising, and this has continued to be rolled out further among other elected officers. The impact of COVID-19 and the loss of international student revenue has reverberated throughout the sector and Union. Responding to COVID-19 meant diverting much NTEU work online and internal adoption of new software and systems to maintain member support and activism. Staff and officers have rapidly developed new skills in digital organising and online collaboration. WA was fortunate to be able to implement return to campus COVID-19 Safety Plans ahead of the rest of the country with a comparatively short period of lockdown with NTEU staff working from home. The membership of the WA Division has significantly increased this last year in part due to a large boost during the initial stages of the crisis and then continued growth over recent months with Branch activity on poorly thought through change processes, excessive workloads and other attacks by management on jobs and working conditions. ECU Branch has done significant work in reviewing university policies and supporting members through challenges in working from home and returning to work post COVID-19 shutdowns. University of Notre Dame Australia enterprise bargaining progresses slowly in fits and starts and work with private providers has had a national focus on wage theft.

Events for Bluestocking Week, Wear it Purple Day and IDAHOBIT were held online and innovative socially distanced campus events. WA Branches supported national campaigns against the Federal Government’s reforms to higher education including local actions, lobbying mobilisation and joining with Student Guilds at UWA and Curtin in rallies.

Win for whistleblowers and academic freedom Murdoch University withdrew all legal claims against whistleblower member Gerd Schröder-Turk in February and will no longer attempt to prevent Gerd from serving on the University Senate. This brought to a close almost a year of campaigning and legal action.

In the final settlement of the case Murdoch agreed to an ‘independent review’ of Senate procedures/protocols. Subsequently TEQSA also reported that “Murdoch had been at risk of non-compliance due to an inconsistent application of its own Admissions practices, which resulted in the admission of some international students (in 2018) who were ill-equipped to progress through their course of study” further vindicating the whistleblowers’ actions.

Protecting jobs at UWA: If the work stays, the job stays The extreme financial pressure stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic required extraordinary measures to avoid mass job losses. NTEU negotiated a Jobs Protection Framework at The University of Western Australia to maximise job security during this time of crisis for our sector with temporary variations to UWA’s Enterprise Agreements, in conjunction with a Memorandum of Understanding. The proposal involved staff making temporary sacrifices in return for an enforceable commitment to protect jobs to substantially reduce forced redundancies, prevent unpaid stand-downs, minimise potential job losses in 2020-21, and provide greater security for casual and fixed term staff. The variations were supported in June by 79% of voting members in an internal ballot

followed by 77% support in a vote of all UWA staff. A new Our Workload Commitment campaign has subsequently rolled out across the University, with the purpose of building unity, monitoring workloads and collecting data for any industrial disputes that may be necessary to enforce the University’s Workload Framework or the job protection measures of the temporary variations.

Major wins against non-union ballots attacking pay and conditions While the COVID-19 crisis has had a financial impact on Curtin University, the hard work of the staff accompanied by the University’s accrual of a large investment reserve over the past decade has meant that Curtin is one of a very few universities across the country capable of weathering this storm relatively unscathed.

The 55% majority rejection in September of Curtin management’s proposal to freeze salaries sends an important message that staff were not convinced of the necessity to give up a pay increase in order to preserve jobs, and value the delivery of quality education over protecting investment reserves and a profit at any cost. Following the ballot result to not forgo the 2% pay increase due 30 June 2021, the premature and unnecessary step taken by Curtin University management to press forward with its program of mass voluntary redundancies, painted a disappointing picture of disingenuous consultation and disregard to the constructive views offered up by staff and the Union to date. Murdoch University staff also voted in September to overwhelmingly reject management’s attacks on their pay and leave conditions with 73% voting no to a proposed variation to their Enterprise Agreement. Murdoch management had failed to be transparent in their dealings with staff and NTEU about university finances and refused to provide any commitment to the protection of jobs. Murdoch even tried to exploit the vulnerability of their most insecure workers by offering a $500 inducement to vote against their and their colleagues’ best long-term interests. Staff didn’t fall for it and the tremendous rejection of Murdoch’s Senior Executive drive to attack staff pay and conditions tells the University that NTEU members are a united and powerful voice. In a tragic end to this reporting period an incident on a construction site at Curtin University on 13 October resulted in a loss of life and injury to others. We send our sympathies to these families, our solidarity to our CFMEU WA colleagues and continue to pledge our support for the labour movement’s continuing efforts to ensure every worker returns home from work safely. #StandUpSpeakOutComeHome. ◆

Images (this page): Becky Ioppolo (UWA) #SaveHigherEd National Day of Action selfie, 21 May 2020; Members painting the WA Division’s Save Higher Ed Jobs banners; Social media graphic celebrating the Union win at Curtin University, Sept 2020.