Sentry, Dec 2020

SENTRY Music & Gaming

Casualisation during Coronavirus

Playing the game of 2020

COVID, crisis & community International students and our way of life Save Jewellery & Small Objects

Don't be a Tool Published by National Tertiary Education Union

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dec 2020

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vol. 1 no. 7

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nteu.org.au/sentry

CONTENTS

COVID, crisis & community

Playing the game of 2020

COVID has shown how connected international students are with so much of Australian life.

Dan Golding's working life has experienced extraordinary highs and lows during 2020.

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Cover: Entrant in the United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives to help stop the spread of COVID-19. (Samuel Rodriguez)

Sentry is a free online news magazine for NTEU members and Australian higher education staff.

Sentry will be published during the COVID-19 shutdown in between publication of the Union's regular member magazine, Advocate.

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More than just money

Don't be a tool!

When international students 'go home' Australia loses more than just money.

Clare Poppi and others are fighting to save Jewellery & Small Objects at Griffith University.

Sentry will be published in May, June, August, September, October and December.

Advocate will be published as usual in July and November.

SENTRY ISSN 2652-5992

Editorial 01 In case you missed it... 02 Current disputes & actions 13 Casualisation during Coronavirus 14 Kylie Moore-Gilbert freed 16

Sentry

Published by National Tertiary Education Union PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia ABN 38 579 396 344 All text & images ©NTEU 2020 unless stated Publisher

Matthew McGowan

Editor

Alison Barnes

Production Manager

Paul Clifton

Editorial Assistance

Anastasia Kotaidis

Sentry is available online free as a PDF and e-book at www.nteu.org.au/sentry

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DECEMBER 2020

EDITORIAL

In 2021 we’ll be fighting for our future As this most difficult of years finally reaches its end, we reflect on how a COVID-driven 2020 has made us confront the biggest crisis that higher education has ever seen, and what lies in front of us in 2021.

...the Morrison Government has just announced a raft of changes to the IR system that, at first glance, will make many workers worse off and make insecure work more attractive for employers, not less.

The theme of this year’s NTEU National Council, held online in October, was 'Fighting For Our Future'. And in many respects this is the reality, as universities and staff continue to grapple with billion dollar revenue shortfalls, the collapse of the international student market, the challenges of working and delivering courses remotely, and most seriously, the loss of thousands of jobs that has affected insecure workers the most.

This has occurred in a framework where the Federal Government has provided no real rescue package or relief for universities; moreover, it passed legislation that reduces overall public funding for the sector by $1 billion and doubles the cost of many courses for students, especially in the humanities.

National Council adopted a set of priorities to guide our work next year which includes: • Engaging in campaigning, public advocacy and action to achieve a stable and fair funding system.

• Working to prevent job losses.

• Continuing to develop a culture that supports and prioritises

organising to build our Union’s power and member engagement.

• Developing strategies and materials for campaigning on the protection of jobs, wage theft, insecure work, and healthy workplaces.

We must also prepare the Union at all levels for bargaining in 2021, and we will continue to advance academic and intellectual freedom, freedom of speech and institutional autonomy.

As I write this, the Morrison Government has just announced a raft of changes to the IR system that, at first glance, will make many workers worse off and make insecure work more attractive for employers, not less.

We will need to work collectively with the rest of the union movement in 2021 to oppose these changes.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your wonderful support throughout this year and to wish you a happy and safe festive season.

See you in 2021!

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Alison Barnes, National President

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CATCH UP

NEWS & CAMPAIGNS

In case you missed it....

Job cuts are people cuts Following 250 voluntary separations, and hundreds of fixed-term and casual staff losing work, the Australian National University has announced that it 'will require a further reduction of 215 positions'.

The NTEU ACT Division called on all ANU staff, students, alumni and the broader ANU community to stand together to resist job cuts at ANU.

Watch the video M Find out more and join the campaign a

Fight Swinburne cuts

Fund investment at La Trobe

ACU told to defer bad budget

Swinburne was well protected from the economic impacts of COVID-19, and yet it is proposing to make 10% of the workforce redundant – one of the highest rates of job losses at an Australian university.

NTEU is calling on VC John Dewar to reverse the proposed course cuts in the Schools of Education and Humanities and invest real resources into regional Victoria.

Over 500 ACU staff and the NTEU told their university Senate to defer job and pay cuts until management comes to the table with real transparency and proper consultation.

Join the campaign a

Read the open letter Book-Open

Sign the Petition File-Signature

Save UQ Architecture UQ Architecture is having a Spill and Fill that members have been campaigning against. There was a rally at UQ on 27 November, and on 2 December our enormous petition was presented to the Dean and Head of School.

Read more about the campaign a

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MEMBER EXPERTS STUDENTS & SOCIETY

COVID, crisis and community The Coronavirus pandemic has shown just how connected international students are with so many other aspects of Australian life.

Indeed, the intent of some of the work I have undertaken at the Mitchell Institute has been to highlight how the international student crisis is not just a university problem.

Over the past fifteen years, the number of international students has more than doubled.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic, there were more international students in Australia than people living in Canberra.

The economic impact that comes with such a large population is often cited. At $40 billion per year, international education is indeed an important industry.

However, international students are also an important part of many communities, a fact that those of us who work in universities may understand more than other Australians. continued overpage...

Peter Hurley Victoria University

Image: Kevin Laminto/Unsplash

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STUDENTS & SOCIETY

MEMBER EXPERTS Despite the depths of this crisis, there are green shoots of renewal emerging. Perhaps the time is also right to consider how we would like to rebuild the international education sector so that it can continue to function in everyone's interests.

A PERSONAL CRISIS It is as if our collective ability to handle the devastation caused by the pandemic has limits, with boundaries demarcated by some notion of citizenship.

Some of those exposed to the worst parts of the pandemic are people in a state of transition or impermanence.

Year 12 students transitioning to university have had their plans disrupted. Casuals and employees in insecure work have had to struggle for support such as JobKeeper.

International students are by definition 'temporary residents'. As non-citizens, they are ineligible for government support in Australia.

They are often far from the support of their family. Relying on charity and relief funds was not what these students had envisaged.

One of the features of debates concerning international students is that is very difficult to break free of an economic discourse. The economic value of international students is often emphasised.

This is legitimate in the sense that everyone has an economic existence.

This has also meant that there are many advocates for international students in various levels of government.

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However, it has also meant that the personal dimensions of the current crisis becomes elided. A loss of international students becomes akin to a failed harvest or a problem with a supply chain.

It is as if our collective ability to handle the devastation caused by the pandemic has limits, with boundaries demarcated by some notion of citizenship. The actual experience of international students can be met with a shrug, an unfortunate occurrence but little different to a broken down truck.

INSTITUTIONAL CRISIS Those working in higher education understand how international students are intertwined with the health of our institutions.

The broader interconnectedness is clear. A health crisis (the pandemic) has caused a change to migration policy (closing the borders) which has caused a crisis in the international education sector, which has caused our higher education institutions to experience an unprecedented level of turmoil. The scale of job and budgetary losses is breathtaking.

There is also a sense that the current situation is a reckoning and that Australia has been over-reliant on international students for some time.

This may be the case, but I think it doesn't quite take into account the history of international education policy and the uniqueness of what is occurring. Australia has used international students to supplement the income we provide to our universities for almost thirty years.

Yes, the growth in international students over the past fifteen years means that the fall we are currently experiencing is from a great height.

But the fall would still have been great, and would still have inflicted immense pain, if it occurred with a much smaller international education sector.

It is easy to forget how ridiculous the closing of Australia's international borders, let alone state borders, was as a proposition one year ago.

GREEN SHOOTS OF RENEWAL Throughout the pandemic, one question has lingered; when is it going to end?

The prospect of a vaccine tantalises a return to some form of normality.

For international students, they may be able to resume interrupted studies.

For those of us working in universities, it may mean that we can continue the work that we do without the threat of wider cutbacks or redundancies.

STUDENTS & SOCIETY

MEMBER EXPERTS In chancelleries around the country, there may be desperate sighs of relief at the recent small increases in student visa applications, presaging a pathway back to normal.

During times of crisis, Australia turns to its university sector to make sense of the world. The extraordinary role of epidemiologists and other researchers during the pandemic are testament to this.

International students are an integral part of the policy background that has enabled universities to undertake the research, teaching and learning that makes universities so valuable in times of crisis. In my mind, such an occurrence shows that separating out the interests of international students from the rest of us is a futile task. Indeed, what is in their interests is in many other people's interests as well.

International students are an integral part of the policy background that has enabled universities to undertake the research, teaching and learning that makes universities so valuable in times of crisis.

It is likely that the return to some normalcy in the international education sector is not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

It may also be wise to add 'how' to the discussions. This will ensure that Australia rebuilds with a sustainable and equitable international education sector that is in everyone's interests, including international students themselves.

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Dr Peter Hurley is an Education Policy Fellow at the Mitchell Institute

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MUSIC

MEMBER STORIES

Playing the game of 2020 The thing that I’ve noticed about 2020 is how much energy I’ve spent on the things that really should have nothing to do with my job.

I’m not even talking about the new era of recording lectures at home. I’m not talking about communicating with students exclusively via forums or as black boxes over Zoom. I’m not talking about endless, interminable, eye-watering, headache-inducing online meetings. For better or worse, when you look at a pandemic year, it at least makes some kind of vague sense that these things have become part of our work lives at universities.

What I’m talking about is the energy spent in 2020 on trying to keep a job, and trying to keep that job as something you actually want to live with.

I’m talking about the endless worrying and strategising about bottom lines and vice chancellors and redundancies and restructures. About what to do if a spreadsheet somewhere indicates that you and your colleagues are no longer a net positive for the university. What’s the plan? How do we make sure that the right people are hearing the right things? That the publications are being logged – in the right FOR code – and that your profile is up-to-date for the unknown moment when a decision maker casts their cost-saving eye across your name and your profile here on planet Earth.

Dan Golding Swinburne University

The thing is, 2020 was otherwise quite a successful year for me, taken in complete isolation. I’m a researcher and teacher in the Swinburne Media and Communication department, and my work covers film, games, and music. These industries were worth studying in 2020. The film industry continues to find creative workarounds for both making and watching movies despite difficult times.

To tell your COVID-19 story to the NTEU member community, please contact Helena Spyrou

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The games industry became, Steven Bradbury-like, one of the only creative industries who could carry on work as normal during a pandemic.

Drawing on my own research, I created a soundtrack for a videogame (called Untitled Goose Game) that became the first game soundtrack ever nominated for an ARIA. I have been extremely lucky, and usually, I’d be working to turn that luck into a good story for the things that I study and for my university.

Instead, how much time did I spend worrying and talking about the Morrison Government’s back-ofa-napkin plan for defunding of the entire sector, its passage through parliament (thank you, Centre Alliance), and the impact it would have on my ability to do my job?

MUSIC

MEMBER STORIES As well as the year of the pandemic, as well as the year of online everything, 2020 was for uni workers the year of trying to pre-empt and manage a series of terrible decisions made many layers above your pay grade.

Instead of thinking about research, instead of thinking about teaching, we thought about plans for the future, and plans for unemployment.

Far, far, far too many have been forced to enact those plans.

Those who remain at our universities, when not facing a cruel kind of survivor’s guilt in a sector destroyed by politicians and all-too-willing university leaders, will have to figure out what comes next.

At a time when the Government should have enabled its universities to excel and lead the pandemic recovery, they instead tasked every university worker with watching their own back.

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How many sums did I do over student debt, fees and government contributions? How often did I wonder about, if my area folded, whether there’d be anything left of my field at all nationally to turn to? Too much of 2020 was this. At a time when the Government should have enabled its universities to excel and lead the pandemic recovery, they instead tasked every university worker with watching their own back.

A still from Untitled Goose Game

At a time when Vice-Chancellors should have enabled their staff to show each and every student why a life of debt might still be worth it, they instead tasked us with spending what little energy we had left with running redundancy interference.

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STUDENTS & SOCIETY

POLICY & LOBBYING

When international students 'go home' Australia loses more than just money There’s a real tendency to speak of international students as sources of income by the Government and university leadership.

As university funding has been continuously cut by governments over the years – both Liberal and Labor – universities have become incredibly reliant on international students paying high fees choosing to study at their universities in order to boost operating budgets.

Some of them had made it into Australia prior to the borders closing, only to be stranded in lockdown, their casual jobs gone and their families back home unable to assist...

This outlook has gone hand-in-hand with an increasingly neoliberal push on campus, with universities pushed to become more like businesses than institutions of knowledge and, most recently, the passing of the JobReady Graduates legislation proving that the Government only values learning geared towards individuals becoming units of production they approve of following graduation.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the international student market has collapsed and in more ways than one, universities are going to be poorer for this in 2021.

Yet, I want to put all that aside and speak personally about international students in a way which does not revolve around finances.

Celeste Liddle National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Organiser

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I have completed a Masters this year and 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year to undertake studies.

The isolation of studying from a lounge room, separated from my classmates, lecturers and tutors, yet trying to form some sort of collegiality as we worked through the course materials was rough.

But what I was going through was nothing compared to some of my classmates. A very high proportion of the cohort I was in were international students and they were having an incredibly hard time.

Some of them had made it into Australia prior to the borders closing, only to be stranded in lockdown, their casual jobs gone and their families back home unable to assist because they were in the same

situation. Helpfully (yes, I am being deeply sarcastic), the best our Prime Minister could come up with was to tell these students to 'Go home!'

Universities don’t just stand to lose money next year, they stand to lose the unique insights that international students bring to class.

Some of my classmates became reliant on community organisations and student unions this year in order to simply have something to eat.

I’m concerned that due to this, students and staff are set to have a less rich experience on campus, particularly as an Aboriginal person who knows how hard our members work to embed Indigenous perspectives in the academy. That is if courses that attract international students are able to run at all.

Then there were my classmates who had been unable to get here prior to the border closure. It was a humbling moment for me when I realised that the tutorial I was attending was happening over ten different time zones.

Some of my classmates were dialling in at 4am their time so they could complete the course requirements.

STUDENTS & SOCIETY

POLICY & LOBBYING

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Block Place, Melbourne, during lockdown (Wikimedia Commons)

It’s more than the struggle though.

As a domestic student, the amount of knowledge I gained from my international classmates was simply extraordinary. Their different worldviews and experiences challenged me endlessly and pushed me to gain a significantly broader education than I would have otherwise had.

We talk often about the world becoming more 'globally focussed' in the time of social media but I don’t think this is necessarily the case until you are thrust into an environment of knowledge exchange and you learn from the perspectives available to you. I found that my learning experience was enriched beyond measure due to the generosity of the cohort I was in.

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JEWELLERY

MEMBER STORIES

Don't be a tool!

Saving Jewellery & Small Objects 'Don’t piss off a jeweller or she will make passive aggressive protest earrings'.

I posted this on my Instagram page after finding out that the entire department I work in as a sessional academic is slated to be cut as part of Griffith University’s 'Roadmap to Sustainability' workplace change proposal. It feels more like a roadmap to disaster.

When I teach students about art jewellery, one of the key conceptual areas we explore is the political power of jewellery – how what we wear is an outward signifier of our internal beliefs and values. How we adorn ourselves in public can make a strong protest statement as we expose others to our ideas and viewpoints.

The street, the shops, our workplaces, our bodies – these are the galleries for art jewellery and we can operate outside of the static institutional gallery environment.

This power of jewellery as a protest symbol was on display as students handed out free protest badges calling on the public to 'Save our Studios!' Everytime I wore my earrings in public, someone would ask 'What’s J&SO?' and I could answer with a rather cranky diatribe about what was happening at Griffith and what they could do to support us.

Clare Poppi Griffith University Image: Paige Cathcart

The print-making studios also understand the importance of their medium being wearable and screen-printed t-shirts were made by students, for students and all these accoutrements were worn by protesters at the

To tell your COVID-19 story to the NTEU member community, please contact Helena Spyrou

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rally held on 20 November to protest the cuts at Griffith. Our bodies were placards, our bodies were places of political territory.

A few people have asked me what the importance of Jewellery & Small Objects (J&SO) is in the broader academic profile of the University. I understand this query, when many people do not understand the importance of arts and culture in general, let along a niche area like J&SO. Being immersed in this field, one of the key social benefits that I see of J&SO, beyond its supportive and inclusive community environment, is its profound impact on women.

We are a predominantly female area with an all female staff (technician included) and a majority of female students (men are welcome though – join us!). The stereotype of jewellery being a 'female thing' acts as a safe gateway for women to enter a workshop environment and is less intimidating for some students than a male dominated workshop.

JEWELLERY

MEMBER STORIES of the trimester they are soldering, forming, riveting and fabricating works to exhibition standards.

J&SO’s value in empowering women to be confident and successful in a traditionally male dominated industry is vital.

After writing this, I’m off to my own studio to work on some pieces I am making for a touring exhibition next year and finish off some commission work that I have been neglecting due to my Trimester 3 teaching commitments. I will be using the technical skills and critical thinking which I learnt as a J&SO student, skills which have meant I have had a successful art practice since graduating 10 years ago.

J&SO’s value in empowering women to be confident and successful in a traditionally male dominated industry is vital.

Sadly, for once I feel relieved that I am ‘just’ a sessional staff member who does not rely on Griffith and an academic career as my main source of income and livelihood.

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Clare Poppi's 'Save J&SO' earrings

Sign the Petition File-Signature

I cannot express the satisfaction I get as a teacher, seeing my students transition from abject fear of an LPG gas flame torch to complete mastery and confidence using a wide range of tools, machinery and equipment.

I regularly start the trimester standing next to an individual student with shaking hands, needing emotional support and encouragement to use a drill press and by the end

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INDUSTRIAL

NEWS & CAMPAIGNS

Current disputes & actions A rundown of disputes and actions the NTEU has been prosecuting on behalf of members across the country.

$6M RECOVERED AT NEWCASTLE NTEU members at the University of Newcastle (UON) who were forced to take annual leave at Easter achieved a massive win in the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The FWC ruled management’s direction for staff to take 5 days annual leave, without proper consultation, was unlawful. As a result UON staff should be re-credited in excess of 10,000 days annual leave. Read the FWC decision here.

As a quick refresher: over Easter 2020, the University deemed all staff to be on leave for 5 days, regardless of whether that was convenient to them or indeed whether they would be required to work over that period! Staff were only able to get an exemption if they could make a case that it was in the University’s interest to grant it. In the NTEU’s view this was a blatant theft of workers’ entitlements.

In the course of arbitration, the VC and Director of HR both admitted that they did not consider or take advice on whether the direction to take leave was permitted by the Agreements or the Fair Work Act.

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In hilarious scenes during crossexamination, the University’s witnesses either admitted to colluding in the preparation of their evidence or tried to claim that identical paragraphs (including grammatical errors) in different witness statements were the result of some extraordinary coincidence.

Under the proposal, they seem to believe that they are entitled to transfer Dental Assistant staff to 39 week contracts, down from their current 52 week contracts. We say ‘seem to believe’ because they have not provided sufficient information for those staff to understand exactly what is proposed.

In the end, the FWC found in favour of the Union and told the University it should re-credit all staff who were subject to the direction, meaning we recovered approximately $6 million in staff entitlements management had attempted to steal. It also meant we were successful in a separate dispute where the University was planning on deeming all staff to be on leave for 9 days over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Union has lodged a dispute on the issue and referred it to the FWC for resolution.

The lesson is that where management is looking to ride roughshod over their legal obligations in an attempt to make staff pay for COVID savings, they should expect the NTEU to be standing in their way.

Well done to all the members who made this win possible!

GRIFFITH DENTAL ASSISTANTS Griffith University has just completed consultation on its ‘Roadmap to Sustainability’ change management proposal (see story, p. 10).

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MEDICAL SCIENCE CUTS AT USYD Staff and students from the University of Sydney's School of Medical Sciences hosted an afternoon of action in November to protest against proposed cuts to staff and courses, which will have a detrimental impact on the quality of both MedSci research and teaching at USyd. Check out this report from Honi Soit.

FORCED REDUNDANCIES AT UTS NTEU members, staff and students at UTS rallied against job cuts in November. Over 350 staff recently took voluntary redundancies, now a new round of forced redundancies has been announced.

Many remaining staff are under huge workload pressure, so NTEU members are standing up to defend quality public higher education.

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Campbell Smith, National Industrial Officer

NEWS & CAMPAIGNS

Season’s Greetings & Best Wishes for

2021

Image: Oskars Sylwan

From all of us at NT EU

Alison Barnes National President

Matt McGowan General Secretary

vol. 1 no. 7

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Gabe Gooding National Assistant Secretary

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CASUALS

MEMBER STORIES

Casualisation during Coronavirus I have a PhD in IT and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

I am a casual academic working for various universities.

After completing my PhD in 2012, I worked providing IT support for researchers until mid-2015 when I had an injury followed by a family separation. In 2017, I started teaching casually to have flexibility to care for my daughter.

Casual teaching is a very hard job and almost impossible to make a career out of it. I found out I cannot make much money out of it even if I choose subjects carefully and work more than 40 hours a week.

In 2019, I tried to increase my income by taking four subjects per semester and having multiple classes/ repeats for each subject. I have been working about 60 hours per week but despite all these efforts my income is not beyond $55,000 per year, as there is not much work available during the four months of November to March.

By Anonymous

BULLYING OF CASUALS Another dark side of working as a casual is being subject to workplace bullying and abuse and not being able to voice this as I fear losing my job.

In one instance I was employed to develop a curriculum. I was given 60 hours of marking at a rate of $50.

To tell your COVID-19 story to the NTEU member community, please contact Helena Spyrou

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Half-way through, I informed my manager that this work takes at least 180 hours. He told me there is a cap of 120 hours for curriculum development but he promised if I keep going, he will get the head of school’s approval for extra hours. After finishing the work, the faculty refused to pay me any extra money.

I had to ask NTEU for help and I received an extra 20 hours but the faculty refused to give me any more work and I changed to another faculty.

While working on that job, I often received phone calls late on Sunday nights from the coordinator about work for the next day. When I would not answer, he’d sent threatening messages!

In another instance I got paid only 7 hours for marking of three assignments for each of the 54 students I had for the semester. When I talked to the coordinator asking for 54 hours (which is the usual practice for many universities), he told me it should not take that many hours and most of the marking hours is included in tutorial preparation. And if it takes more, it means I am not competent enough to do the job.

WHAT CAREER? The last dark aspect of being a casual is not having any career development, promotion, or research opportunities.

CASUALS

MEMBER STORIES I have had several research ideas related to my teaching, but coordinators were not interested, and I was not allowed to submit an ethics application by myself.

I have been mainly given tutorials despite having excellent student satisfaction results and I was not provided with the opportunity of lecturing.

CASUALISATION IN COVID After COVID-19, there was immense pressure on casuals. I was left alone to transform the lab contents of one of the subjects for online delivery mode. It was a hands-on subject with electronic kits, and I had to find a simulator and change all labs to match the simulator. During that time, casuals received an email that we should not expect any payments for extra work that requires transfer of content to online delivery.

Casual teaching is a very hard job and almost impossible to make a career out of it. I found out I cannot make much money out of it even if I choose subjects carefully and work more than 40 hours a week.

After I finished the work and when classes resumed, I received an email from my faculty that my tutoring hours for the same subject have been reduced to half an hour from the original three hours. Students were not happy about this change and found it ridiculous to have a half-hour lab.

Despite being a supporter of NTEU for many years and being thankful for all the NTEU efforts, I believe there is still a fair way to go.

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INTERNATIONAL

NEWS & CAMPAIGNS

Kylie Moore-Gilbert freed On 26 November, NTEU welcomed the release overnight of Australian academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert from an Iranian prison.

Dr Moore-Gilbert was arrested and imprisoned over two years ago on seemingly baseless charges of espionage.

to pressure governments to achieve this outcome.'

NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said 'We thank the Australian Government for the diplomatic work involved in obtaining Dr Moore-Gilbert’s release, and acknowledge the unrelenting support from her family and friends

'Our members and supporters at every university in Australia will be greatly relieved to hear this news.'

NTEU University of Melbourne Branch President Steve Adams said

'The news of Kylie’s release is wonderful. A joyous day for her family, friends and colleagues. Our congratulations to all who have supported Kylie through her ordeal and have worked towards her release.'

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