2020: A year like no other

Dr Alison Barnes, National President

During 2020 much that seemed certain has crumbled. The very spaces from which we work have changed, transforming the way we relate and connect. In normal times, the physical proximity of university work is energising. We call it a university community for a reason.

We spark intellectually with colleagues… we support someone through a tough time, or perhaps challenge a strong student to stretch themselves.

Many of us work diligently, co-operatively to maintain libraries, admin offices or IT systems. We do it together, in the same space.

But this year, all of that melted away.

As the months became seasons we felt the full brunt of the pandemic. Borders shut, enrolments collapsed. Casual work was scorched. And the delicate balance between teaching, research and administration was upended. And so now we are living through the worst crisis to hit Australian universities.

Yet despite these adverse conditions, a resilient solidarity has flourished. A solidarity among colleagues and a solidarity with students.

As university workers we have adapted and kept our promise to society, enabling so many students to transform their lives with the meaning and purpose that comes from education. And continued the quest for insight and knowledge through our research.

However, the Federal Government let down its end of the bargain. As I write this, at least twelve and a half thousand of our workmates have lost their livelihoods.

These are women like Dash, who endured years of rolling contracts at a private provider set up by Deakin University. When the international enrolments dried up, so did Dash’s work. Now she is leaving the university sector.

Or Ellyse – a brave advocate for casuals who made the case for decent employment on national television this year. Ellyse hasn’t had work in weeks.

Then there are people like Jen – a professional staff member at Macquarie University. Jen’s crushing workload pushed her beyond breaking point. Management consistently ignored the value of her work. So Jen is taking a voluntary redundancy.

Ellyse, Jen and Dash. All three deserve to still be in a job, contributing to the national learning and research effort. And perhaps they would be if we hadn’t been so badly let down by the Federal Government.

As billions of dollars in revenue were cut from universities, Dan Tehan and the Federal Government twisted themselves in knots to prevent universities accessing JobKeeper.

They doled out compensation and stimulus to all manner of industries that require a high vis vest – manufacturing, construction, energy – but not to their third highest export earner, not to our country’s intellectual engine room.

And then to make matters worse, they inflicted a new funding formula that rips out a further billion dollars from the sector and pushes the cost of this crisis onto students and the workforce.

Our Fund Uni Fairly campaign knocked some rough edges off a terrible bill.

Social work has been carved out and regional universities are getting greater support. Your personal stories, the 400 submissions members wrote, the tens of thousands of you who wrote, emailed, and rallied outside our parliament, the high school teachers and social workers, our members and our students who came with us to lobby made an indelible impression on Senators Rex Patrick and Jacqui Lambie.

But the Government ultimately passed laws that push the cost of this crisis on to students and staff. Hundreds of thousands of people will now graduate with a heavy burden of debt, into a job market that’s been ripped apart by the crisis.

I alluded earlier to the brave advocacy of people like Ellyse Fenton. I recall Ellyse telling me casual academic work was like being gaslighted by your employer – constantly made to feel your work has no value. That your expectations of a modest holiday, applying for a mortgage or, heaven forbid, being paid while sick, somehow lack legitimacy.

Well this year, NTEU members lifted the lid on this national scandal. We revealed wage theft – on an industrial scale, with almost every campus affected.

Across the sector, millions of dollars have been recovered for members and the Union continues to pursue management for unpaid wages at universities like Sydney and Melbourne and the private education provider JMC, suggesting that the final figure could exceed ten million dollars.

We also revealed the root cause of this exploitation. Approximately seven in ten university workers are insecurely employed across our sector. NTEU members across the country stood together and were among the first across our mighty labour movement to win paid pandemic leave for all; a fight that continues to this day.

COVID-19 has exposed the fault lines: underfunding, work intensity and precarity that traverse our working lives. To shift these fault lines we must continue to build our workplace structures, density and strength. It is only through one big strong union that we can combat the tyrannies of our vice chancellors and the enmity of our Federal Government.

2020 has been a year like no other for our union and for universities.

In spite of the awful developments and the loss of so many jobs, the moral purpose of this Union has never wavered. And that’s down to the resolve of you – our rank and file members, our Branches, delegates and National Councillors who keep us strong and united. I thank you for your resolve.