Round 7 enterprise bargaining complete

At the conclusion of bargaining for the academic Agreement at the University of New England, Round 7 higher education bargaining is officially over! With a few Agreements still to be approved by the Fair Work Commission, every higher education worker employed in Australia in a public university is set to be covered by an NTEU-negotiated Round 7 Enterprise Agreement in the next few months.

Thanks to everyone involved A huge thank you to all those who volunteered their time and energy to participate in bargaining teams across the country, to all of those who shaped the process thorough their participation in local branch meetings, and every member who stood up to be counted when it was needed by taking part in industrial action campaigns that secured the conditions your colleagues rely on. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve the great conditions secured in Round 7 Enterprise Agreements.

What have we won? Some of the headline achievements include 17% superannuation for fixedterm staff, improvements to job security provisions, improved pathways to more secure employment for casual and fixed-term staff, and improvements to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment targets, all while retaining the strong conditions and rights that higher education workers in Australia expect and deserve. While the hard work of bargaining is over for now, the next job is ensuring the new conditions are implemented and the existing ones enforced. If you’re not already, we encourage you to get involved in your local branch and see how you can help achieve these important goals.

Watch this space to find out what changes you should be seeing as Round 7 achievements are implemented and what you can do to ensure our hard-fought conditions are enforced. ◆

Campbell Smith, National Industrial Officer Above: Newcastle members stop work, August 2018. N Clark. Below: UC strike, March 2019. Lachlan Clohesy

COVID-19 exposes sector's vulnerability cont...

…In recent years, international student enrolments have underwritten the growth seen in Australian universities… …In 1995, Commonwealth government grants totalled $4.3 billion increasing to $17.2 billion by 2017; by comparison, the income generated by international students increased from $441.2 million in 1995 to $7.5 billion in 2017.' National President Dr Alison Barnes wrote to Dan Tehan, the Minister for Education, in February asking for the Government to create a ‘Coronavirus Support Package’ for the tertiary education sector, to only be used if the current situation is prolonged and continues to deteriorate. Dr Barnes said that the 'creation of such a package would reassure the sector and consolidate confidence.' Private higher education providers are likely to also suffer, with recent media reports that the sector could incur losses of up to $1.2 billion if Chinese students cannot come to Australia this year. Say No to Racism We also asked Vice-Chancellors to consider a joint communications campaign with a strong anti-racism message, following instances of racist behaviour towards Chinese students on some campuses. An anti-racism poster and social media campaign is also happening with the NUS and CAPA.

Encouragingly, many vice-chancellors have replied and while they are non-committal about casual staff, they are generally positive about working with the Union around protecting the working rights and health and safety of university staff. Contact your local NTEU Branch for further details. ◆

Michael Evans, National Organiser (Media & Engagement) Read Angel Calderon's full paper at www.aur.org.au/current/blog