Growing casual strength in the Union

In this time of unprecedented social, cultural and economic upheaval arising from the outbreak of COVID-19, as old certainties are being upended, it seems we are entering hitherto uncharted waters. Values, relationships, and forms of work that informed the way of life we’ve long taken for granted in western democracies and in Australian higher education, as being fixed and immutable, have suddenly been pulled out from under our feet, and revealed within a short space of time, to have been wholly fragile and impermanent. Growing casual strength in the Union

From the National Tertiary Casuals Committee (NTCC) Coordinated by Dr Audrey Statham

Ensuring that our union and members are included in the conversation about the future of higher education and society more broadly will depend to a great degree on the extent to which the NTEU can demonstrate to university managements our strength and solidarity at all levels.

If ever there was an urgent need to build grassroots union power it is now, which means that we need to prioritise as a whole of union effort – NTEU leadership, delegates and members together – the channelling of our energies, resources and funding towards organising activism on the ground

A silver lining in the otherwise ominous COVID-19 cloud has been the recent influx to the NTEU of new casual members following the decision to offer a 3 month fee suspension to new and existing casual members (at the time of writing, around 600 new casual members had joined).

In light of this, and taking into account the need to build our union’s power and the unprecedented shift underway in Australian universities from face-to-face to online teaching, we, the NTEU National Tertiary Casuals Committee (NTCC), argue that it is now imperative for the organising and resourcing of the activism of casual members to be placed high on the list of NTEU’s priorities.

We feel it is timely, therefore, to offer the following brief review of the existing structures and funding that support and promote the activism of casual members, which have been progressively established by National Council motions over the past four years of National Councils.

This provides a context for the NTCC’s reflections on what we see - based on our own experiences of being casual NTEU member activists - as gaps in the existing structures and funding for supporting casually-employed members’ activism.

A review of structures and funding supports for casual members’ activism

Regarding NTEU structures, at 2016 National Council a resolution was passed that established the structure of the Designated Casual Position within the Branch Committee structure. Later, 2018 National Council established the structure of the NTCC the membership of which is drawn from casual members occupying the Branch Committee Member (Casual Staff) position. The NTCC functions as a national delegate committee, and members are permitted to attend National Council, however, members do not exercise voting rights.

Motions for funding the activism of casually-employed members were passed at 2017, 2018 and 2019 National Councils. A resolution from 2017 National Council enabled casual NTEU member activists to access reimbursement for loss of wages, at the appropriate rate of pay in their Branch’s Enterprise Agreement, when conducting a union activity that would normally be paid for if the member were not a casual (for example, trade union training, leave or time release). An amendment to the latter resolution was passed at 2019 National Council, which

broadened access to reimbursement for casuals to include being refunded from the Defence Fund for any wages lost as a result of casual member activists engaging in industrial action and as a result, losing 20% or more of their weekly pay.

Finally, a National Council motion with potentially significant impact on the funding of activism of casual members is the 2017 resolution that increased casual member fees. While this motion continues to be regarded as somewhat controversial by some members, the resolution secured an explicit commitment from the NTEU ‘to devote funds specifically from membership fees to casual campaigns’.

Gaps in existing structures and funding supports

If we are to effectively navigate, in the wake of COVID-19, newly emerging challenges for the sector such as the transition from face-to-face to wholly online teaching, and to ensure this unprecedented shift will benefit rather than undermine the entitlements and working conditions of university staff, the NTCC argues that it is imperative for casual members – especially new members – to be rapidly educated as to their rights and protections. These new members need to be empowered to engage in union activism at the grassroots level in the emerging online environment. However, drawing on our own experiences as casual NTEU member activists, we’ve identified the following key gaps in existing structures and funding for supporting casual activism, which currently present obstacles to the much needed education and empowerment of casual members. There is a lack of clarity around what the role of Designated Casual Position within the Branch Committee entails. Expectations around what activities, meetings and conversations the Casual-identified Branch Committee member should be carrying out, invited to, or included in, varies significantly from branch to branch from over-utilisation to under-utilisation, while in some Branch Committees around the country this position has not been yet filled. Regarding the NTCC, more needs to be done to establish this structure which requires further resourcing and support. With the recent influx of new casual members to the NTEU, many of whom we hope to retain after the 3 month free membership expires, there is a strong case to be made – in light of the 2017 National Council resolution which committed to allocating funds from membership fees to casual campaigns – for a full-time National Casuals Organiser position to be created to support the NTCC structure, train and organise its members, and have oversight of

coordinating national interventions and

campaigns for casuals. There is a lack of substantive guidance, education and training in relation to the Designated Casual Position and the NTCC, and an absence of knowledge and resources around the protections for those who take on or engage in these structures. Finally, more needs to be done to support casual activists while they’re working in the university sector, to develop transferrable employment skills that enable them to either gain secure work that is not career terminal within higher education or to move outside the sector. Promoting the activism of casual members must henceforth go hand in hand with the creation of career pathways within academia and pathways for exiting the university into the wider workforce. " ...more needs to be done to support casual activists while they’re working in the university sector, to develop transferrable employment skills...

Hope in dark times

One thing that seems increasingly clear amidst the current confusion of COVID-19, is that our union has a key role to play in supporting our ability as a sector and as a society, to respond creatively and collaboratively in what is a volatile, rapidly evolving situation. While the possibility of collective renewal does seem now to be hanging in the balance, it isn’t inevitable that people will give in to the urge to retreat from each other into enclaves driven by self-preservation and fear.

If we turn, instead, towards each other and actively work together to foster an inclusive environment of respectful dialogue and cooperation in Australian society through the forum of higher education, then we may be motivated instead by hope as a powerful force for social change for the better which can illuminate the way in dark times.

One way our union can support such a turning towards solidarity and collective action is the promotion of the activism of casual members, which we argue calls for the urgent removal of the obstacles identified in this article.

Find out more about the NTCC at www.unicasual.org.au/ntcc