NTEU Annual Report 2015-16 by NTEU

Annual Report 2015â&#x20AC;&#x201C;16

Contents Introduction 3

NTEU Annual Report 2015–16 Report to the 2016 National Council Meeting ISSN 2652-3426 (Online)

Published by National Tertiary Education Union ABN 38 579 396 344

Publisher: Grahame McCulloch Editor: Jeannie Rea Production: Paul Clifton All text and images ©NTEU unless otherwise stated.

NTEU National Office PO Box 1323, Sth Melbourne VIC 3205 1st floor, 120 Clarendon St, Sth Melbourne VIC 3205 phone: (03) 9254 1910 fax: (03) 9254 1915 email: national@nteu.org.au Available online at nteu.org.au/annualreport

Purpose and structure of the NTEU

National President

General Secretary

National Assistant Secretary

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Caucus

Women’s Action Committee

Industrial 16 Policy & Research

Union Education

Organising & Campaigns

Recruitment & Retention

Communications & Publications

Infrastructure, Finance, Governance & Admin

ACT Division

NSW Division

Queensland Division

SA Division

Tasmanian Division

Victorian Division

WA Division

NT Division

Budget Report

Introduction NTEU National Councillors are elected directly from their workplace for two year terms and meet together at the annual National Council meeting in October. The significance of our National Council is that the decisions made determined the focus of the union over the next year. Motions are carried and priorities are agreed. This is an NTEU election year and so I particularly welcome the many new members to this year’s National Council. In between National Council meetings, the National Executive is responsible for monitoring the implementation of Council decisions. The National Executive meets regularly throughout the year and comprises the three full time National Officers, Division Secretaries, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee Chair and ten members elected from the National Council, including two Vice-Presidents. National Executive discussions and decisions are reported to Division Councils, which are composed of the National Councillors, so updates travel back to Branches with the Councillors. Consequently feedback and new ideas then make their way through to the National Executive. To some this seems overly bureaucratic, but it is a democratic structure and process and is about accountability, transparency and responsibility. Holding office within the NTEU is a responsibility and an opportunity to exercise leadership and have influence on policy, but even more critically on the way we implement those policies. Ideally communication should be travelling up and down and across the union through these channels. To keep in regular communication with the broader membership, of course we also rely upon our union’s traditional and digital media, campaign and recruitment activities and materials, and members’ meetings, as well as events on and off campuses. The purpose of this Annual Report, now in its third year, is to present National Officer and National Office reports for the National Council meeting, as well as those from divisions and our two national standing committees, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee and the Women’s Action Committee. It provides the opportunity for National Councillors to consider the activities of the union over the past year in reference to the motions enthusiastically debated and the priorities agreed at our last meeting.

Last year’s National Council determined that the priorities for the 2015-16 year would be a renewed emphasis on recruitment, membership retention and follow-up, including better accountability and planning of routine organising and recruitment/ retention tasks as well as responsiveness to new initiatives. In terms of collective bargaining, we agreed the focus was upon implementation and enforcement of Round 6 Bargaining Agreements (noting the need to fully achieve Scholarly Teaching Fellow and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment targets), and the development and initial prosecution of Round 7, including claims for contract research and casual staff We committed ourselves to continue the national campaign to defeat deregulation and privatisation of universities and tertiary education more generally, and to contribute to the wider campaign to defeat the Coalition Government. We also agreed to increase involvement in the political and party policy development processes with a view to securing short and long term commitments to increase public investment in tertiary education. Each year all the motions carried at the National Council are compiled and also incorporated into the massive archive of all motions ever passed at National Council meetings. A new initiative commenced last year is the development of a new NTEU Policy Manual which contains statements of NTEU positions on issues from university governance to hours of work, to gender equity, to recruitment, and to wider current issues like marriage equality. Starting from this National Council, we will debate and amending the policy statements, which will constitute the NTEU Policy Manual. Additionally, we will continue to debate and vote on priorities and actions for the year ahead. As we welcome new Councillors to the National Council we are also farewelling and thanking others who have served their Union as National Councillors, Division Secretaries and National Executive members. I want to recognise the contributions of those who are retiring and particularly note and applaud Genevieve Kelly, retiring after eight years as NSW Division Secretary; Kevin Rouse after four years as South Australian Division Secretary; Cathy Rytmeister who is retiring from National Executive and President of Macquarie Branch; and Carolyn Cope who not only served on the National Executive but also as QUT Branch President and Qld Division President and as a long standing and influential Queensland representative on the Women’s Action Committee. Jeannie Rea, National President

NTEU Annual Report 2015 • page 3

Purpose and structure of the NTEU The NTEU was formed in 1993 from an amalgamation of five separate unions that represented academic and general staff in higher education, TAFE and adult education in Australia.

• Promote the concept of equal opportunity in employment and to eliminate all forms of discrimination in tertiary education and in all spheres of the Union’s activity.

NTEU now proudly represents some 28,000 workers across these sectors. As an ‘industry union’ NTEU represents all employees in academic and general/ professional classifications ranging from professors to accountants to gardeners. No other organisation in Australia is able to speak with a unified voice in support of tertiary education and allied institutions and the unique and vital public interests they serve.

nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us

Purpose of the Union The broad purpose of the Union is to advocate for, and represent the rights, interests and welfare of members in the industrial, legal, political and social spheres. The primary objects of NTEU are to: • Improve and protect the living standards of its members as well as their working environment and professional interests. • Promote the work of tertiary education institutions in Australia and to preserve their independence and integrity. • Foster the process of intellectual debate within the Australian community.

Images (L–R): WA members rallying with the NTEU banner; Councillors voting on a motion at National Council 2015.

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• Defend and promote the rights of members to teach, research and disseminate knowledge and information without fear of reprisal.

• Create and maintain an informed public opinion concerning tertiary education institutions and their staff.

Structure of the Union The Union is organised across three levels: the National Office (located in South Melbourne), State and Territory-based Divisions and workplace-based Branches in each of the nation’s 38 universities, as well as Branches covering members in ACE (Vic), TAFE (Vic), Research Institutes, Navitas, RACGP and College of Law. Our permanently staffed workplace-based local Branches in universities is a feature unique to NTEU in the Australian trade union movement. These structures permit NTEU to build and maintain a visible and organised presence at each university and to be able to rapidly respond to industrial and organisational issues. NTEU is a highly democratic memberdriven union with elected Branch Committees, Division Councils, and a National Council comprising representatives elected by members on a two year cycle. Council meets annually in October. At each Branch, the highest decisionmaking body is a general meeting of members. A Branch Committee comprising elected representatives of members governs the affairs of each Branch in

between general meetings of members. Each Branch also elects National Councillors, who also constitute the Division Council. This mechanism ensures that each Branch is represented on the relevant State or Territory-based Division Council. nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us/our_ structure

National Council National Council consists of members directly elected from Branches (in proportion to the number of members at each Branch), three full time National Officers, the eight State and Territorybased Division Secretaries plus three Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander National Councillors and members of the Executive. National Council has a total membership of about 130 delegates. National Council is the supreme decision making body of the NTEU and has the critical task of setting the Union’s budget for the forthcoming year. nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us/national_ council

National Executive The National Executive is composed of the three full time National Officers, eight Division Secretaries, the Chair of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee and ten ordinary members elected from the floor of the National Council, including the National VicePresidents (elected for a two-year term). National Executive meets six times per year and is responsible for running the Union between meetings of National Council. A ballot is held at National Council to elect ten ordinary members of the National Executive. From these, National Council elects a Vice-President (Academic) and Vice-President (General Staff). As 2016 is an election year, a ballot will be conducted at the National Council to elect the ten ordinary members of the National Executive, and subsequently the two VicePresidents.

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nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us/national_ executive

National Executive 2015–16 x

Division Secretaries x

National Officers National President: Jeannie Rea Vice-Presidents: Andrew Bonnell (Academic) UQ Michael Thomson (General) USyd

Rachael Bahl ACT

General Secretary: Grahame McCulloch National Assistant Secretary: Matthew McGowan National Executive

Gabe Gooding WA

Terry Mason A&TSI member (A&TSIPC Chair) Rachael Bahl ACT Division Secretary Gabe Gooding WA Division Secretary

Genevieve Kelly NSW

Genevieve Kelly NSW Division Secretary Kelvin Michael Tas Division Secretary Michael McNally Qld Division Secretary

Kelvin Michael Tasmania

Colin Long Vic Division Secretary Kevin Rouse SA Division Secretary Lolita Wikander NT Division Secretary

Michael McNally Queensland

Stuart Bunt UWA Carolyn Cope QUT Virginia Mansel Lees La Trobe

Colin Long Victoria

Anne Price Murdoch Cathy Rytmeister Macquarie John Sinclair ACU

Kevin Rouse SA

Ron Slee Flinders Mel Slee RMIT

Lolita Wikander NT

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 5

National President In an environment of increasingly abrasive, intolerant and selfish public discourse, the role of education, and of the labour movement, in seeking a fairer, generous and better informed civil society is more important than ever.

Jeannie Rea National President

Images (L–R): Jeannie Rea at National Council 2015; Jeannie Rea at the Victorian Division Bluestocking Week #MakeThePledge launch, 2016; Members and staff displaying No $100K Degrees posters outside National Office in South Melbourne.

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As the union representing people working in tertiary education and research, the NTEU is well positioned to counter these negative trends through our core industrial work in seeking decent salaries, job security and fair working conditions, as well as our public advocacy for high quality, publicly funded and accountable higher education and research. For over twenty years the NTEU has taken a prominent role in public advocacy and campaigning, insisting that the labour movement, and our universities, provide progressive leadership on contentious and difficult issues facing our society. Carving out the space to exercise freedom of intellectual enquiry and to maintain our rights to freedom of expression requires constant assertion and vigilance. Currently many university managements are not only actively collaborating in removing staff from governance bodies, but are exerting greater control over what we teach and research through budgets and threats to job security. Some are even trying to shut down public intellectuals, such as the attempt by La Trobe University (despite their support for Safe Schools) to discipline and silence project coordinator Roz Ward, which was defeated by rapid Union action and public outcry.

At UNE Professor Margaret Sims is resisting attempts to hound her off the University Council where she has been the elected staff representative for some time, but now that she is NTEU Branch President, the University claims she has a conflict of interest. With her union’s backing, Margaret is refusing to step down. (In response to the need for more support and training for NTEU members of university councils/ senates, the NTEU organised a successful national workshop titled ‘University Governance: In whose interest?’.) These examples remind us of our responsibility to speak out, and to collectively stand up for one another. University staff take their responsibilities as public intellectuals seriously, including through ‘Academics for Refugees’ or in campaigns like fossil fuel divestment. Internationally higher education staff are facing serious retribution when they speak truth to power. As I write, over forty Turkish academics have been sacked and had their passports revoked. They were amongst the 2,000 Academics for Peace who have faced months of harassment because they signed the petition ‘We will not be a party to this crime’ calling for an end to the persecution of the Kurds. Under the current state of emergency, 1500 faculty deans have now been suspended and thousands of teachers and public servants have lost their jobs. In the Asia Pacific region, education unionists regularly face arrest for advocating working rights, funding for public education or criticising the government. The NTEU participates in Education International’s (EI) solidarity campaigns in support of education unionists, as well as collaborating through our affiliation with Scholars at Risk.

Last December, human and civil rights lawyer and activist Terry O’Gorman delivered the 2015 NTEU Annual Lecture in Brisbane, where he implored universities to ensure they are safe spaces for debate over difficult and contentious issues. The independence and autonomy of universities are also undermined through the relentless neoliberal agenda of corporatisation and commodification. Last December the NTEU participated in the ‘Challenging the Privatised University’ conference organised by staff at the University of Queensland with Friends of the Earth. One outcome was the ‘Brisbane Declaration’, a statement of what constitutes a good university which is intended to spark a national conversation on the role of the university in a socially just, democratic society (see AUR vol. 58, no. 2, 2016). At last year’s National Council international guests reported on the global context of the privatisation and commercialisation of education, which is rapidly exacerbating the gap between education available to the rich and the poor. The NTEU is monitoring EI’s global action project, and publicising the scourge of the global edu-businesses seeking to undermine public education from preschool to university. We are also interested in how these companies are making inroads into Australia. The Coalition Government is ideologically committed to commercialising Australia’s research culture. Their wholesale endorsement of the Watt Review recommendations could see universities chasing external money at the expense of research quality and the maintenance of fundamental research. Research funds will be handed over to universities to collaborate with commercial entities. To explore these issues, in early 2016 we organised a live streamed expert seminar ‘Undue influence: What the innovation agenda will mean for university-based research’. The Policy & Research Unit maintains a watching brief and analyses developments in education and research policy and its implementation. Articles in Advocate and briefing papers can be downloaded from the website and keep members up to date. Similarly the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (A&TSI) Unit continually

keeps everyone abreast of woeful governmental interventions and dissects the funding announcements through the general communication channels, as well as communicating directly with A&TSI members through e-yarn and social media. The NTEU is proud to have supported initiatives to question the limits of the Constitutional Recognition campaign and now the emerging debates on Treaty within the mainstream, as well as supporting our members’ participation in the conversations within communities. Meanwhile the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum challenged the Union leadership to audit the 10 Point Plan For A Post Treaty Union developed by the Gubba caucus in 2002. Latest research by the A&TSI Unit reports that members are becoming increasing concerned with job insecurity and fearful for their jobs. We are seeing more appointments to insecure jobs as universities fail to fully implement A&TSI employment targets, The insecurity of employment in higher education is the core issue and challenge for the NTEU in successfully organising for decent jobs and conditions and maintaining quality education, research and community engagement. With one in two jobs now precarious, 80 per cent of teaching-only work casualised and four out five research-only jobs on short fixed term contracts, the higher education sector is in dire straits. Therefore the NTEU was stunned at a recent report that argued that universities could sustain the Government’s planned 20 per cent funding cut as they had accumulated large surpluses. These surpluses as pointed out in our opinion piece in The Australian are at the expense of the staff who hold the system together despite job threats and unmanageable workloads. The reality is that universities are kept afloat on the labour of staff working far beyond their paid hours. The academic profession is under serious threat with tenured teaching-and-research staff rapidly becoming an endangered species. Increasing solidarity amongst members is a welcome development though as we saw a positive responses this year to the #IStandWithCasuals promotion, and the ‘fair go’ campaign is also being picked up

by members talking with their colleagues about unfair fixed term contracts. Another welcome development in 2016 is the women’s caucus of the Victorian casuals network, which has embarked upon a strategic campaign seeking university commitments to extend coverage of the domestic violence support clauses in EBAs to casual staff. This campaign was launched in Bluestocking Week in August, where many of the activities around the country focused upon the ongoing and even escalating plague of male violence against women. The NTEU is backing the NUS campaign, ‘Stop the War on Women’ and University Australia’s ‘Respect. Now. Always.’ campaign. The theme of Bluestocking Week was about furthering feminist agendas, in an environment where it is okay for the privileged male PM to call himself a feminist, but increasingly difficult for women staff and students to speak out to feminist agendas. During the Federal Election campaign I spoke on a panel debating feminism, politics and media at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art, where it was clear that the young and older women present were keenly aware that gender equity is still a long way off and the culture of undermining women pervasive. While we did not get the result we were seeking, the NTEU’s Federal Election campaign will have longer term favourable outcomes in that we have established ongoing relationships with other unions and civil society groups. Our initiative of endorsing ‘Defenders of Higher Education’ has given us a strong starting point for organising higher education allies across traditional party lines in and out of Parliament. The Coalition is still pursuing their deregulation and privatisation policies and are committed to funding cuts to public universities and handing over public money to subsidise private providers. Their focus is still on saving money by making domestic undergraduate students pay more, while all universities are reliant on the income from international students’ fees to stay afloat. The financial and reputational risks are unsustainable, but we see little imagination or leadership from the sector. Unfortunately, Australian university vice-chancellors as a group tarnished their standing by supporting the Coalition’s higher education package of fee deregulation. While many have now changed their position, the damage has been done. It is the staff, and particularly union members, who continue to work every day undertaking the core mission of universities to teach and research and engage with community, industry and government. Staff need their union and at this National Council we will determine NTEU’s priorities for the coming year.

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 7

General Secretary Holding up in tough times

Grahame McCulloch, General Secretary

In a volatile and difficult political landscape the Union’s work over the last twelve months has been very creditable. Our membership has remained stable at just over 27,000 (at a time when many unions are contracting in absolute terms), our underlying financial strength has improved, we’ve had several important victories in the Fair Work Commission and Federal Court, and our vigorous public campaign efforts have neutralised the Coalition’s plan to deregulate fees and cut operating grants by 20 per cent. At the same time, levels of activist participation in a range of campaign areas – A&TSI Constitutional Recognition, domestic violence, women’s employment, casual employment, refugee and asylum seeker protection to name a few – remained high.

Political overview Contrary to most elite opinion and commentary (including from this writer), Bill Shorten led a strong and effective Labor campaign in the July 2016 Federal Election, which saw Malcolm Turnbull return with a bare one seat majority in the House of Representatives. The Labor message of public investment in health and education and commitment to Australian (public and private) industry and jobs resonated strongly with the public. Very encouragingly most independent analysis suggests that the ACTU coordinated community campaign was a very big factor in the swing against the Coalition. Images (L–R): Collage of members, students and supporters with ‘$100,000 Degrees? I Won’t Vote For This’ corflutes; Grahame McCulloch talking to WA members early in 2016; At National Council 2015.

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The electoral swing against the Coalition’s deregulatory trade and public sector policies and regressive tax proposals was underlined in the Senate where 18 crossbenchers were returned – 8 Greens, 4 One Nation, 3 Xenophon Team, and 1 each for Hinch, Lambie and the Liberal Democrats. The new Senate crossbench (minus the Greens) has a distinct right wing tinge and cannot easily be expected to support trade union rights and issues, but this does not mean the Independent Senators will give support to the Coalition’s full anti universities agenda. This has been underlined by the terminal Senate rejection of fee deregulation and the 20 per cent cut to Operating Grants. The Senate has been, and will continue to be, a central focus for the Union’s national public policy campaign led by National President Jeannie Rea. On the negative side of the political ledger, Labor announced during the Federal Election campaign and subsequently confirmed in an August 2016 Senate vote, that it would support the Coalition’s proposed $600 million cut to higher education grant indexation.

Industrial and bargaining work Much of the last year’s industrial focus has been on the implementation of Round 6 Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and on the enforcement of members’ collective and individual rights in the Fair Work and Federal Court jurisdictions. We secured a favourable Federal Court outcome against La Trobe University concerning its failure to properly consult on, and explore alternatives to, a major restructure proposal

with attendant redundancies. Swinburne University suffered two significant defeats with the Federal Court overturning the flawed 2015 Non-Union Agreement Ballot of all staff, and was separately found to have engaged in adverse action in its attempts to create a non-unionised spin-off entity. And the Union struck a major blow for academic freedom when Roz Ward was reinstated by La Trobe University reversing its earlier decision to suspend her for making political comments about the Australian flag. There was a strong social media campaign from Union members to support Roz. On the bargaining implementation front it has been a mixed picture with some notable gains in Agreement enforcement accompanied by some sub-standard outcomes on target numbers for Scholarly Teaching Fellows and A&TSI employment. The now more than eighteen month gap between the first and last expiring university Enterprise Agreements has seen a small but significant section of the Union’s membership – in all WA universities, James Cook University and Deakin University – commence Round 7 bargaining. The WA Branches have been negotiating for the better part of four months and have confronted a highly aggressive and reasonably well coordinated management campaign to undermine fundamental elements of the current NTEU bargaining framework, with a particular focus on the removal of enforceable rights and procedures into policy in areas such as managing change, consultation, dispute resolution, workloads, misconduct and performance management. Much of the management agenda, reflects the themes set out in the recent AHEIA Workforce of the Future report which emphasised sidelining of the Union, and the re-shaping of Enterprise Bargaining Agreements to provide management with greater authority and more flexibility. At the same time, the very low wage growth in the economy as a whole and the now confirmed $600 million cut to indexation, has created a challenge for the Union’s wage claim as well as for our claim to provide 17 per cent superannuation to all casual and contract staff.

The National Office is working closely with all Round 7 bargaining Branches to coordinate campaign and legal activities, and I have directly joined the bargaining tables at ECU, Curtin and Murdoch universities.

Superannuation In increasingly volatile national and international financial markets, the management and regulation of UniSuper is increasingly important to NTEU members’ interests. 2013-14 saw small but significant reductions in future benefit accruals in the Defined Benefit Fund under Clause 34 of the Trust Deed following the sustained negative impact of the global financial crisis. To avoid the continuing possible necessity to resort to permanent future benefit changes in response to changing financial market conditions, the UniSuper Board has endorsed a new Defined Benefit design called Flexichoices. Unlike the current Defined Benefit scheme, Flexichoices will be a pension based scheme (with options to commute to a lump sum) based on years of service. Flexichoice pension benefits would be adjusted annually by the UniSuper Board in line with a pension monitoring index. In years where the index falls below a specified actuarial level, the Board may withhold an annual pension adjustment but will have the flexibility to make additional bonus adjustments at a future time when the actuarial health of the Fund has improved. In general, the new Flexichoices model is more equitable and more sustainable than either of the current pension or lump sum Defined Benefit products. Flexichoices also includes a provision for fund members to periodically reduce the 17 per cent employer contribution (taking the reduction in superannuation contribution as an increase in salary). This change has been controversial in some parts of the Union with a fear that contribution flexibility by employers will ultimately reduce the 17 per cent guaranteed contribution. The Union is dealing with this issue both at the bargaining table and in tri-partite discussions with AHEIA and UniSuper.

Financial overview The Union’s underlying financial position remains strong. At 30 June 2016 the Union had total assets of $26.33 million - Defence Fund ($4.48 million), Property Fund ($18.12 million), Leave Fund ($3.22 million), Cash Reserve ($0.15 million). Set against leave liabilities of $3.22 million, and with no other debt, this produces nett equity of $23.11 million. Our strong balance sheet position follows a better than expected 2015-16 operating result (a surplus of $0.01 million against an originally budgeted deficit of $0.4 million), principally achieved through judicious management of staff profile vacancies and leave planning. The recommended Operating Budget for 2016-17 contains no new initiatives and projects, a deficit of $0.12 million with $21.65 million in revenue and $21.77 million in expenditure.

Thanks The Union’s creditable performance in difficult times is in no small part because of the dedication and commitment of the Union’s activists at all levels (who give their time freely and often at the cost of the family and social lives), and because of the professionalism of the Union’s staff. A good activist base and committed staff can only be properly harnessed with good leadership. My thanks goes to all of the Division Secretaries and to National President, Jeannie Rea and National Assistant Secretary, Matthew McGowan in particular. Our high public profile, increasingly on the ground campaign presence and influence in Canberra have been made possible by their efforts and I have appreciated their advice and support in doing my job as General Secretary.

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 9

National Assistant Secretary $100,000 Degrees Campaign This year saw the Union to devote significant effort to defending the sector from the Abbott/Turnbull Government’s attempts to dramatically cut funding, fully deregulate fees and open up the sector to private providers.

Matthew McGowan National Assistant Secretary

Images (L–R): Matthew McGowan at National Council 2015; Future voter supporting our campaign; Members in WA with 2016 Federal Election campaign material; Former SA Greens Senator and NTEU member Robert Simms.

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The NTEU can claim significant credit for the demise of the Pyne prescription for the sector. The work of our Divisions and Branches during 2015, supported by the National Office, built strong momentum throughout the community to oppose the Government’s unfair agenda. This continued up to and during the 2016 Federal Election, and played a significant role in altering the Government’s course. It was the Union that stood up and said ‘No $100,000 degrees’ while our vice-chancellors demonstrated their lack of courage and moral fibre.

incarnation is all but dead and buried. The current budget pressures will likely mean that private providers will have to wait a little longer for their pay day. The Government has been stung by the ongoing disaster in the VET sector. Throwing money at some of the same companies to compete with universities is looking increasing unlikely. Despite our successes to date, the Government remains committed to ripping $2.5 billion from higher education. Increased student fees remain a highly likely course for them to chart. Our work will continue.

Recruitment Priorities A focus on recruitment, membership retention and follow-up has been the second significant focus for the campaigns and communications work of the Union.

It has been a little galling to hear some vice-chancellors now profess that they never supported the deregulation agenda. There has still not been any public acknowledgement of the work of their own staff through the Union in defending the public nature of our higher education system.

The Growth Team work has been a major feature of this activity with staff located in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania have been supported by the National Growth Organiser with some assistance from Victorian staff.

As things stand, it is clear that the initial objectives of the Pyne agenda have been defeated. Public opposition to $100,000 degrees and a Senate unwilling to abandon public education means that the Government has to rethink its options. The 2016 election result complicated matters further.

In addition, all Organisers have been directed to devote a minimum of 20 per cent of their time to growth and retention related matters. This is in part driven by a trend in our recruitment outcomes that has raised concerns some Organisers were deferring much of the recruitment activity to the Growth Team and diminishing the effectiveness of their own direct recruitment role.

The Turnbull double dissolution Senate means that deregulation in its most recent

This trend has also led the National Executive to again review the direction and focus of Growth Team effort, and to continue to focus on the recruitment efforts of Organisers and Delegates. These matters will be subject to further discussion by the National Executive before the end of the year. At the same time, a number of activities and projects supporting our recruitment effort have been developed over the year, many of which will only become apparent to members over the coming months.

Monitoring of new members and past members’ attitudes and behaviours New members are now being surveyed immediately on joining the Union primarily to determine what prompted them to join at this time. The key reasons for joining are: • 3 0 per cent joined as a direct result of a Union intervention or campaign. • 3 0 per cent joined on the recommendation of a colleague. • 1 5 per cent indicated they would always join. • 5 per cent joined to access membership discounts and benefits. • 10 per cent were approached by the Union in some way, and the remainder (10 per cent) joined in response to advertising. Past members are also being surveyed to determine their reasons for leaving the Union. Further analysis is being done on this.

Desktop Calendar and Join Forms

National All Staff database

As a direct response to the results from the new members survey showing that 30 per cent of members joined on a recommendation from a work colleague, the National Office has developed a number of tools to facilitate this memberto-member recruitment.

The National All Staff database has been operating for a couple of years now providing access to Branches of an immediately accessible tool for communicating with potential members. This is essential as both a recruitment and an organising and campaigning tool.

A desktop calendar will be distributed to every member of the Union in November this year, with two folded membership forms for members to pass onto colleagues. An initiative suggested by Toby Cotton from the Victorian Division, this will be a tool for our existing members to initiate a conversation with colleagues about joining the Union. Copies will be provided to Council members at the National Council Meeting.

A new tool has been developed to provide Organisers and others access to this information in real time, and to allow them to make amendments when they become aware of details we do not currently hold. This dynamic updating, combined with annual refreshing of data by Branches, provides immediate access to important organising notes relating to members and potential members as well as the information necessary to conduct campaigns around things like non-union Agreement ballots in an efficient and accurate way.

Recruitment Training and Additional Tools The Union Education staff have worked with the National Growth Organiser to develop a number of tools to assist Organisers, Delegates and members to become more effective recruiters. As outlined in the Union Education section of this report, this is now being rolled out around the country. This has also included the development of a ‘Recruitment Guide for Delegates and Members’ that will, along with posters, membership forms and other recruitment related materials, be available online to all members and staff through a dedicated recruitment resource page that will be available by Council.

The ongoing effectiveness of this tool depends on Branches continuing to provide regular updates to the data. Finally, I’d like to thank all the staff of the Union for their continued dedication and commitment during the year. In particular, the staff in the National Office deserve our collective thanks for their efforts. Especially those staff who are rarely recognised despite their essential roles in the functioning of the Union, our Finance and Administration staff.

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www.nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us/ national_office/national_assistant_ secretary

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 11

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Caucus Key activities: • A&TSI employment strategy • Federal Budget 2015–16 • Bargaining • Membership • Treaty & Recognition • Social media & communications The National A&TSI Unit consists of Adam Frogley (National A&TSI Coordinator) and Celeste Liddle (National A&TSI Organiser).

A&TSIPC 2015–16 Chair Terry Mason Deputy Chair Sharlene Leroy-Dyer Division A&TSI Councillors John Graham National Councillor Robert Anders Tas Ben Atkinson Vic Jennifer Flood NSW George Hayden WA Shane Motlap NT Michelle Simmonds SA QLD & ACT vacant Chair and Deputy Chair are also National A&TSI Councillors

Images (L–R): NTEU A&TSI Forum, July 2016; unveiling the new A&TSI logo at National Council 2015.

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The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee (A&TSIPC) and the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander (A&TSI) Unit, work in conjunction with all National Office Units, Divisions and Branches, providing advice and support on A&TSI culture, education, employment and social justice issues. Job Security The issue of job security for A&TSI members and staff working in the Australian higher education sector remains, with an ever-increasing number of A&TSI employees being asked to accept reduced time-fractions and casual appointments. In 2000, the differentiation between the number (headcount) and the full-time equivalence (FTE) for A&TSI staff amounted to 30 positions; by 2015, this differentiation had increased to 122 positions. To explore this further, NTEU is surveying A&TSI members to ascertain the extent to which insecure employment is impacting those members, and more broadly, their families and communities. Outcomes from the survey will directly influence recommendations and subsequent actions, such as specific campaigns and/ or bargaining claim directives, with a view to close the widening gap between the number of A&TSI peoples being employed in the higher education sector, and the time fractions offered to those staff.

Bargaining Outcomes – Round 6 Outcomes for A&TSI employment across Round 6 bargaining have been positive on a number of fronts; in particular, increases in the number of Collective Agreements that have Cultural/Ceremonial Leave and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Language Allowance provisions. Increased employment outcomes for A&TSI peoples are expected, with NTEU achieving a nation-wide A&TSI employment target of 879 additional academic and general/ professional positions. In summary, a total of 70 per cent of Agreements contained a numeric or percentage based employment target, with the remainder making reference to an enforceable employment target in a related document (e.g. MoU, Mission Based Compact, Reconciliation Action Plan). When compared to Round 5 bargaining outcomes, an increasing number of Round 6 Agreements contained Cultural/ Ceremonial Leave provisions, while a smaller increase in the uptake of Language Allowance provisions was noted. In total, 89 per cent of Round 6 Agreements contained Cultural/Ceremonial Leave provisions, while 33 per cent of Agreements held provision for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Language Allowance. As we enter Round 7, it can be expected that claims for increasing A&TSI employment will again be resisted by management, with some institutions seeking to remove those clauses entirely. To ensure some guarantee of success, it is imperative that NTEU Bargaining Teams table and negotiate their A&TSI employment claim as a first/priority item of business.

A&TSI Employment in the Sector A&TSI academic and general/professional staff comprise 1.0 per cent (headcount) and 1.0 per cent (FTE). In numeric terms, a total of 1,194 (headcount) and 1,072 (FTE) A&TSI staff are now reported as employed. In the period 2014-2015 there was a reported decrease of 21 positions (headcount) or 14 (FTE).

Federal Budget 2016-17 The release of the Federal Budget 2016-17 has seen the creation of a perfect storm for A&TSI support funding, with the Turnbull Government delivering a funding consolidation combined with an overall funding cut to all significant program funding lines for A&TSI higher education support. The Indigenous Support Program (ISP), the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme – Tertiary Tuition (ITAS-TT) and the Commonwealth Scholarships Program (CSP) have been consolidated into the Indigenous Student Success Program (ISSP). Along with the funding consolidation, the Turnbull Government has seen fit to incorporate an overall funding cut of $9.7m in 2016-17, with further cuts across the forward estimates. The funding formula directing the allocation of the new ISSP appropriations has also been altered, with the ISSP funding requirements stipulating that, rather than funding institutions on the basis of previous years A&TSI student enrolments, institutions must now adhere

to the following funding disbursement: 30 per cent Enrolment, 30 per cent Progression, 30 per cent Graduation, with the final 10 per cent of appropriations to be linked to the student, with that proportion of funding following the student throughout the course of their higher education studies. NTEU is concerned that, while the intent of the consolidation of program funds was to have increased focus upon student retention, the associated funding cuts will only further assist to decimate existing support structures and places of cultural safety on campus.

Treaty & Constitutional Recognition The publicly funded campaign to see A&TSI people recognised in the Australian Constitution has been weakened substantially. The ‘Recognise’ movement is openly talking about Treaty, a majority of A&TSI peoples calling for Treaty, and the Victorian State Government has entered into Treaty negotiations with Aboriginal peoples of Victoria. While we continue to see the Recognise movement attempt to make a concerted effort in selling the ‘Yes’ vote in any future referendum; it would appear they are only now beginning to realise the ground-swell of support from a significant major of A&TSI peoples for Treaty over Constitutional Recognition. More recently, conservative members of the Turnbull Government backbench have begun to push the Prime Minister to abandon the referendum altogether.

We will wait to see if the Prime Minister adheres to the previously touted referendum date of May 2017. Until that time it would appear that Recognise will have a greater struggle to get their message heard over the voices calling for Treaty.

Social Media & Communications To ensure our national membership remains informed on issues of importance across the sector, the National A&TSI Unit produces monthly editions of the online newsletter e-Yarn and maintains an active presence on social media, through Facebook, Twitter and related social media platforms. To continue to provide appropriate options for communications, the A&TSI Unit has developed and is implementing a Communications Strategy that has been driven by member input, targeting the preferred avenues of interaction between NTEU and A&TSI members. The A&TSI Unit will also reinvigorate the hard-copy print version of Yarn member newsletter. Previously, Yarn was produced twice a year and was distributed via an online link with limited hard-copy prints being disseminated.

Membership A&TSI membership of the NTEU has increased from 428 in July 2015 to 441 in July 2016. This equates to a national member density of approximately 37 per cent of all A&TSI university staff and approximately 52 per cent of all A&TSI academic staff. nteu.org.au/atsi

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400 300 200 100 2000

National membership trend, A&TSI members, 2000–2016

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 13

Women’s Action Committee Key activities: • Monitoring gender equity legislation and progress in the sector. • Ensuring that gender balance, equity and advancement of women are integral to all NTEU structures, policies and practices. • Coordinating Bluestocking Week each August. • Contributing feminist critique to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, industrial and higher education policy and research analysis, materials and campaigns. • Participating in trade union women’s activities. • Engaging with and, where relevant, supporting research projects, conferences and publications of interest to women in the Union. • Producing the women’s publication Agenda. • Organising the biennial national women’s conference Images (L–R): WAC supporting a feminist agenda in 2016; 2016 Bluestocking Week poster (designed by Maryann Long); Sylvia Klonaris, WAC NT, opening the Bluestocking Week forum in Darwin, 2016; Jennifer Fane and Kate Burrett (WA SA) at the SA Division Bluestocking Week Dinner in Adelaide, 2016.

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The WAC met twice in 2016, and was actively engaged in many issues and events, including the fifth annual Bluestocking Week.

that dedication has left them with is casual teaching or fixed term research jobs with few prospects, they keep on researching and publishing to meet the shifting goal posts.

This year’s Bluestocking Week focused on pursuing a feminist agenda. Additional to the usual focus upon assessing the current status and trajectory of gender equity and the advancement of women in higher education and research, the theme reminded us that we must continuously challenge not just gender inequity, but the ongoing challenging of women who contest male power and control.

Many women are working twice as hard to get half as far, and that quadruples if you Aboriginal, of colour, queer or have a disability. It is a sad indictment that the focus of student feminists has to be upon safety, as violence and sexual violence against women on campus is rife and now compounded in cyberspace. The threat of male violence against women is circumscribing women’s agency at university and outside.

A feminist agenda

In this environment, the NTEU Women’s Action Committee (WAC) has re-energised and the WAC delegates are ensuring that Divisions and Branches are focused upon women and gender issues. This includes putting WAC reports high on meeting agendas, staff and resources are allocated to implementing WAC policies, and it means proactively running the ‘gender lens’ over NTEU’s work.

Identifying and being identified as a feminist is still an issue for women in education, as it is for women in the media, politics and families, and across all communities. As the original bluestockings found, being an articulate and knowledgeable woman who wants to challenge the accepted order invites trenchant opposition. While the neoliberal university is embracing of gender equity policies, women staff report that many of the gains made in recognising their value and their career advancement seem to have stalled and women equity advocates often ignored. Young feminist academic and professional staff are told to take care with being too overtly feminist or loud. Aspiring post graduate students are advised to pick their disciplines and topics carefully, to make sure they meet all the criteria safely and to constantly over perform. While too many younger women academics find that all

Amongst other initiatives, this year’s outcomes include the South Australian delegates initiating the development of a program to support women’s leadership in the Union at all levels, and the Victorian academic casual activists forming a women’s caucus. WAC is also working with researchers on investigating the effectiveness of the domestic violence clauses achieved in the last round of enterprise bargaining. NTEU has applauded the National Union of Students (NUS) Support Student Safety, Stop the War on Women campaign and also

the response from Universities Australia (UA) in their Respect. Now. Always. campaign. Higher education students across Australia are being surveyed on their experiences of sexual harassment and assault. UA has noted the UN data which states that one in three women have experienced sexual or physical violence; LGBTI people report high rates of sexual assault and harassment; and men who report assault or harassment are growing in number. As institutions of wider society and educators of the next generations, UA argues that universities have a leadership role in preventing these behaviours. Implementing change will be a challenge for universities, and NTEU has an interest in improving the situation for both students and for staff.

Participation of women in the university workforce The WAC also monitors gender equity in universities and the Union, with gender distribution of NTEU members similar to the sector. The latest Department of Education data shows that 56.1% of university staff are women. Over the last 15 years there has been a slow increase in the number of women NTEU members (48% in 2000 – 58% in 2016). This aligns with the rise in the proportion of women higher education staff over the last decade (from 49.8% in 2000 to 58% in 2016). The majority of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff in universities are in the nonacademic classification (54.4%) and of these, the majority are women (64%), and account for the largest cohort university employees, at 62.2% of all FTE women staff, and just under 35% of all FTE staff. This year has seen only very moderate growth in the (still small) proportion of teaching-only numbers within the overall university staffing cohort nationally, increasing by 2.3% (overall 3.1%), compared to 36% growth in the previous year. However, the decline in numbers of research-only and teaching-and-research categories continue, with -5.1% of staff in research and -0.3% loss in research and teaching. It therefore appears that the majority of the growth in the sector is still in teaching-only positions and continues to

outpace growth in the professional/general staff category (at 2.0%). The classifications show virtually no change in the gender breakdown, with the majority of teachingonly positions predominantly held by women. Also of interest are the Workplace Gender Equality Employer (WGEA) reports, now in their fifth year, which show that the level of insecure employment in universities appears to be between 50% – 70% of the total workforce on numbers rather than FTE. In almost all WGEA employment categories, women are the majority in areas of insecure employment.

Participation of women in the Union While women are the majority of members within the NTEU, women are proportionally under-represented in leadership and senior roles within the Union. The NTEU reported to WGEA (May 2016) there were 9 women and 12 men on National Executive, 49 women and 63 men as National Councillors, and 60 women and 80 men at State Council level. While at branch level the gender gap is less, with 232 women and 266 branch officials, there are twice as many men than women branch presidents (15 women and 30 men). The WAC has reported repeatedly to National Council that it is still too easy for gender balance to slip without vigilant attention. While WAC is hopeful that the distribution of elected women officials within the Union will improve with the next (and subsequent) rounds of union elections, ensuring women have agency in union business remains a priority for the WAC. It is also important that WAC representatives participate in the business of the union in divisions and branches, not only reporting on WAC business, but in order to ensure that a gender lens is applied to the work of the Union more broadly. nteu.org.au/women

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WAC 2015–16 Chair Jeannie Rea A&TSIPC Nominee Sharlene Leroy-Dyer Newcastle ACT Gen: Cathy Day ANU Aca: Sara Beavis ANU NSW Gen: Laura Wilson Sydney Aca: Sarah Kaine UTS NT Gen: Sylvia Klonaris CDU Aca: Donelle Cross BIITE QLD Gen: Diane Lancaster CQU Aca: Liz Mackinlay UQ SA Gen: Kate Borrett UniSA Aca: Jennifer Fane Flinders TAS Gen: Nell Rundle UTAS Aca: Megan Alessandrini UTAS VIC Gen: Catherine Rojas Swinburne Aca: Virginia Mansel Lees La Trobe WA Gen: Corinna Worth Curtin Aca: Margaret Giles ECU

The membership of the WAC comprises one academic and one general staff representative from each Division, as well as a representative nominated by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee. WAC is chaired by the National President.

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 15

Industrial Key activities: • Collective bargaining • Industrial disputes • Award Review The National Industrial Unit is coordinated by Sarah Roberts (National Industrial Coordinator). Staff are Linda Gale (Senior Industrial Officer), Wayne Cupido, Susan Kenna, (Industrial Officers) and Renee Veal (Administrative Officer – Industrial). The Unit is under the direction of the General Secretary.

Given the events of the past year, and indeed over the past decade, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that union power is an endangered species in the Australian industrial context. Last year saw the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, which acted as a lightning rod for antiunion sentiment and gave employers an opportunity to lobby for their dream of corporate-style trade union regulation. Commissioner Dyson Heydon’s expansive recommendations accordingly delivered a blueprint for further regulation of trade unions, to which Prime Minister Turnbull has promised to give legislative effect via his new delicately balanced parliament. Specifically in our sector, in January 2016 Price Waterhouse Coopers released its Australian Higher Education Workforce of the Future Report, commissioned by the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA). Whilst the report was fairly bland, making mostly opaque recommendations in relation to ‘workforce capability, structure and engagement,’ AHEIA has used it as cover for its agenda to push ‘simple, contemporary and fair’ agreements in bargaining, including the stripping of detailed protections that have long been a part of our industry’s employment standards.

Images (L–R): Victorian members and staff supporting Roz Ward; RMIT members at a strike rally, Feb 2016; NTEU WA Division members at the 2016 May Day rally.

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The effectiveness of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) as independent umpire of disputes also continues to diminish. Few Commission appointments have industrial (as opposed to HR) experience, and most take a technical approach much more akin

to a court than a layperson’s tribunal. This affects our ability to achieve outcomes for members via conciliation and arbitration – especially when the other side is loaded up with silk. However the landscape changes though, NTEU members remain staunchly behind their union, and the NTEU has in turn become better and better at representing members’ interests. We now bargain and run disputes and litigation at a much more intensive and higher skill level than ever before, and continue to achieve significant wins for members.

Bargaining Higher education bargaining The end of 2015 saw the National Industrial Unit working towards commencement of Round 7 Higher Education Bargaining, with preparation of a web-based bargaining kit including claims for improvements across all key areas of industrial activity. Finalised claims were prepared and approved by the National Executive in April 2016, including: • A 15% pay increase by October 2020. • Improved job security, including an end to sham redundancies, renewal and conversion rights for long-term fixed term contract staff, and better rights for casuals. • 17% superannuation for all staff. • Improved parental leave and work-life balance. • Reduction in ordinary working hours for general / professional staff. • Improved union rights.

As part of the Industrial Unit’s role in coordinating bargaining nationally, the team have worked on positioning ‘first phase’ Branches in advance of negotiations at Curtin, ECU, Murdoch, UWA, JCU, CQU, Griffith, Deakin, ANU and UTas. At the time of writing bargaining was already well under way at all WA institutions, JCU and UTas. Throughout 2015-16 the Industrial Unit has also continued to focus on the enforcement of entitlements achieved in Round 6, ensuring the Union is actively enforcing the provisions we have already won.

Bargaining in other sectors Bargaining outside the university sector has been busy too, with many other new agreements reached in 2015-16, including for student unions, training institutes, research institutes and ELICOS centres.

Key Disputes The Union continues to punch above its weight through strategic litigation, as well as running an intensive level of disputation in FWC.

Adverse action - workplace rights Employer discrimination against employees who exercise their workplace rights has proliferated in 2015-16. NTEU has prosecuted employers for taking such action at Monash University, where the University refused to convert and then terminated a professional staff member with dyslexia after she made a bullying complaint and then a WorkCover application; and at the University of Melbourne and Curtin University, where long term fixed term staff members were refused re-employment after they initiated disputes in FWC. At Swinburne University, NTEU pursued the University in the Federal Court for penalties for adverse action for their ‘bottom of the harbour’ scheme. The action in question involved the establishment of a private shelf company with no employees and the lodgement of an Agreement applying to that company to undercut the Swinburne Agreement. NTEU obtained evidence that this scheme was specifically designed to minimise NTEU involvement,

and gratifyingly won penalties against Swinburne in the Federal Court.

Restructuring and redundancies After winning at FWC in our case against La Trobe for failure to consult appropriately around 350 proposed redundancies, the University nonetheless continued to proceed with targeted redundancies. Our application for a permanent injunction to stop these targeted redundancies failed in the first instance at the Federal Court, with Tracey J unhelpfully finding the commitments in the Agreement did not impose binding obligations on the University. NTEU’s full Federal Court appeal was successful however, with the full court finding our clause was ‘not so vague and uncertain as to be incapable of enforcement.’ The case is a major win for the enforceability of our Agreements on redundancy and consultation around change.

Freedom of speech and association In 2015-16, employers in our sector continued their habit of discriminating against members on the grounds of union activity or expression of unpopular views. At the University of New England, NTEU’s Branch President, who is also the elected academic staff representative on University Council, was asked by the Chancellor to ‘reconsider her position’ on University Council on the grounds of a perceived standing conflict of interest due to her NTEU role. After denying that any such standing conflict existed, the Branch President was refused access to aspects of papers and Council meetings. NTEU instituted proceedings in the Federal Court on grounds that these acts constituted discrimination and adverse action under the Fair Work Act. The matter will be heard in the Federal Court in late October 2016.

The post was private; Roz’s Facebook settings were set to maximum privacy, but nonetheless the post leaked to The Australian newspaper which commenced to exert considerable pressure on the University to take action against Roz Ward for such ‘unacceptable’ comments. After NTEU’s concerted public and legal campaign based on defence of Roz’s civil rights, freedom of expression, discrimination on the grounds of political opinion and adverse action, the University withdrew its allegations and allowed Roz to return to work. Roz triumphantly did so, accompanied by an NTEU guard of honour.

Award Review While the vast majority of NTEU members work under Agreements which override Award provisions, the maintenance of relevant Award standards remains important. The ‘better off overall test’ (BOOT) requires Agreements to at least meet the standards set by Awards, and Award standards still carry great persuasive power at the bargaining table and among the membership. The Industrial Unit spent much of 201516 preparing to run NTEU’s case in the Four-Year Review of Modern Awards before a FWC Full Bench. Our claims include a reasonable workload allocation for academics, a ‘discipline currency’ allowance for casual academic staff, proper compensation for overtime for general staff, updated general staff descriptors and Award coverage for research institute staff. By contrast, the employers are seeking to remove severance pay for fixed term employees, expand capacity to use fixed term contracts, and to reduce redundancy payments and penalty rates. Hearing dates are set through to November 2016, and we expect a decision shortly thereafter. nteu.org.au/rights

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Further, at La Trobe University, Roz Ward, Coordinator of the Safe Schools Coalition, was suspended pending an investigation of serious misconduct. The misconduct alleged was her posting on Facebook which read: ‘Now we just need to get rid of the racist Australian flag on top of State Parliament and get the red one up there then my work here is done.’

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 17

Policy & Research Key activities: • Government policies • Fee deregulation • Federal Budget • National Science & Innovation Agenda • Private for-profit providers

The National Policy and Research Unit is coordinated by Paul Kniest (National Policy and Research Coordinator). Staff are Dr Terri MacDonald and Dr Jen Tsen Kwok (Policy and Research Officers). The unit works under the direction of the National President.

The Liberal National Coalition Government’s attempts to radically change the way Australia’s higher education sector is funded and regulated (first proposed in 2014-15 Federal Budget) has continued to be the focal point of much of the Union’s policy and advocacy work over the last twelve months.

the recommendations of the Watt Review of Research Policy and Funding Arrangements, the Government has agreed to remove publications and increase the weight given to third party research grants in the formula used for distribution of research block grants. This represents a clear shift in the raison d’être for university research – from the promotion of excellence to support for industry engagement. PM Turnbull reiterated this by saying that ‘publish or perish’ would be replaced by ‘collaborate or crumble’.

The ideas boom

While the NTEU strongly supports collaborative research, we fear that these changes mean that university research funding will be masquerading as industry policy where universities will be expected to drag Australian business out of the innovation dark ages.

Despite the change in leadership, the Coalition Government’s handling of higher education and research has continued to be a study in policy ineptitude. From the outset of his tenure, Prime Minister Turnbull indicated that innovation would be a priority. Last December the Government released the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA), followed by an over-the-top marketing exercise to sell what the Government described as its ‘ideas boom’. For higher education, however, NISA did not live up to the hype. Almost half of the $1 billion package was necessary to secure ongoing funding for important national research infrastructure. There was an additional $127m for research block grants, but this restored less than half the $263m cut in the 2015-16 Budget.

Images (L–R): Three memes from the 2016 Federal Election campaign; Meme mocking Senator Simon Birmingham’s admission he couldn’t recall how much HECS debt he had incurred; Meme noting no change in government policy after Malcolm Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott; Member at CDU handing out flyers on Election Day.

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More important for higher education were the significant changes to the way research block grants will be distributed, which Minister Pyne described as the ‘big ticket item’ of NISA. In adopting

Another day, another dodgy VET provider exposed The fully contestable market model for the funding and allocation of places in Australian vocational education and training has been a complete failure. Barely a week has gone by over the past year without for-profit providers being exposed for using unconscionable marketing tactics to enrol vulnerable students into programs which they have little hope of completing and where they, often unwittingly, incur tens of thousands of dollars in VET-FEE HELP debt. The Government is continuing to struggle to minimise the extent of this totally unacceptable behaviour.

They dithered, they delayed, but they did not dump deregulation Unlike his predecessor Christopher Pyne, Senator Simon Birmingham has not had to suffer the ignominy of twice failing to get his higher education changes through the Senate. He has, however, been forced on two occasions to announce delays to the proposed starting dates of the Government’s deregulation and privatisation policies. The first delay, necessary for purely logistical reasons, was announced in December 2015. To avoid further attention on their highly unpopular higher education policies – which included the prospect of $100,000 degrees and ran the real risk of harming the Government’s re-election prospects – the Coalition used the 2016-17 Budget to announce that it was not only abandoning plans to fully deregulate university fees, but that they had yet again delayed the implementation of their higher education package. The stated reason for delay was to allow more time for ‘consultation with the sector’.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck... To expedite their consultation with the sector, the Government released a discussion paper, on the same day as the 2016-17 Budget. However, far from facilitating a genuine re-examination of the Government’s higher education policies, the discussion paper did nothing more than reboot a conversation about the Government’s failed policy agenda. While the discussion paper contemplates tinkering around with details of specific programs, the objectives of the Government’s policy remain fundamentally unchanged, and include: • Cutting public investment in higher education by $2.5 billion over the next four years.

The depth of the Government’s commitment to a market driven approach to the funding and regulation of higher education, similar to that which has been such a spectacular failure in VET, is affirmed by the fact that it refuses to abandon its plans to, partially at least, deregulate fees. PM Turnbull confirmed during the election that it was the Government’s intention to allow universities to set their own fees for up to one-in-five of their students enrolled in ‘flagship’ degrees. The NTEU believes flagship degrees would create an even more perfect environment for $100,000 degrees than full fee deregulation. The capacity of the Government to implement its higher education policies will not only be dependent upon convincing enough Members of Parliament to support them, but also the level of support from the higher education sector. Whilst being the head cheer leaders of the Government’s plans to fully deregulate university fees, it seems our vice chancellors have some serious reservations with the Government’s proposed flagship program. They share the NTEU’s concerns about the introduction of a two-tiered higher education system as well the distortions and complexities associated with partial fee flexibility.

Defending higher education While the Government’s tactics might have succeeded in watering down higher education as a key election issue, it also means that the Government has no authority to claim any sort of political mandate in relation to higher education policy. That however, is not true for all those who have been elected to Australia’s 45th Parliament, especially those who signed out to the NTEU’s Defenders of Higher Education statement during the election.

• Making all students pay more for their degrees, and in the case of flagship degrees, much, much more.

However, Australian higher education and research policy remains somewhat in limbo. We face a further period of advocating against the Coalition’s unprincipled, unfair and unsustainable agenda rather than pursuing positive change.

• Introducing a fully contestable market model into higher education by allowing private for-profit providers to offer Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs).

In our 2015 pre-Budget submission, the NTEU advocated that, given the current fiscal circumstances, the best way to ensure Australia has a sustainable higher

education sector is by making our public universities fully accountable not only to the Government but also to their students, staff and communities. This does not mean going back to a system where Canberra determines how many student a university can enrol. Instead we are proposing a framework where public accountability agreements are used as a way of guaranteeing that universities only enrol students who have a real opportunity of completing their qualifications as well as having positive labour market outcomes.

Ongoing activities In addition to advocating NTEU’s policy position with relevant parties and engaging with other stakeholder groups and higher education and research portfolio holders in the Federal Parliament, the Policy & Research Unit keeps a watching brief on relevant reports and legislation, makes submissions to various inquiries, undertakes research informing Union campaigns and assists Divisions and Branches. Since the 2015 National Council, activity has included analysing and reporting on external policy documents such as Universities Australia Keep it Clever report and the AHEIA Future of the University Workforce report and staffing statistics released by the Department of Education and Training and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA); preparing submissions and giving evidence to inquiries including Review of Research Training System (ACOLA), Review of Research Policy and Funding Arrangements (Watt Review), Economic Security of Women, and Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS); participating in a working party reviewing the NHMRC & ARC research code of conduct; and monitoring and intervening on the Defence Trade Controls legislation and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiation. nteu.org.au/policy

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 19

Union Education Key activities: • Education programs • Expert Seminars • Scholarships • Education materials development Unit staff are Ken McAlpine and Helena Spyrou (Education & Training Officers). The program is overseen by the National President and General Secretary.

Most formal education and training delivery conducted by Union Education over the last year has been face-to-face bit with increasing delivery via webinar, and greater emphasis over the past year on the development of resources which can be used by officers, staff and members. NTEU Education Officers also provide expert support to NTEU conferences and to a range of other activities.

Education Program The NTEU program aims to meet both the immediate skill and information requirements of staff, officers and activists, as well as providing a broader education program to contribute to more effective union work and informed internal discussion and debates. It is a mix of content identified and requested by members and staff, and content identified by senior officers and the National Executive. Most NTEU union education is designed in-house, reflecting the strong capacity of NTEU members and staff as learners and the particularities of our own industry.

Images (L–R): Ken McAlpine delivering a training course; NTEU Wiki homepage; Expert Seminar ‘Undue Influence - What the innovation agenda will mean for university research’, March 2016.

page 20 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

In the past year, general Branch and Delegate Development training has not featured as much as in the previous year, reflecting that Branch Committees are approaching the end of their term.

General Courses General Courses run in 2015/16 included: • G eneral Staff Classification and presenting on General Staff Classification to members (2 day course). • Academic Promotion and presenting on Academic Promotion to members (2 day course). • Academic Freedom and Writing for the Union and presenting on Academic Freedom to members (3 day course). • Industrial and Legal Skills Intensive (6 day course – part completed in 2015/6). These courses build upon existing knowledge and develop the capacity of participants to themselves run education and information sessions for members.

Induction Arrangements for New Staff Induction arrangements for new NTEU staff across the country have been improved, with a structured two-day session held every 4-6 months replacing ad hoc arrangements, and Divisions taking more responsibility for administrative induction of commencing staff. In addition, Union Education has updated or written a series of manuals specifically designed for new staff, covering the Union’s policies and protocols, as well as information about the Union’s history, structure and ICT systems.

Enterprise Bargaining Training Training for enterprise bargaining negotiating teams and associated staff is a key part of the Union’s work. With a two-phase bargaining round in higher education, in 2016 we have concentrated

on those eleven Branches commencing bargaining before National Council.

National Workshop on University Governance

Three 2-day sessions have been run in WA and Queensland, and one session in Victoria combining Deakin, ANU and UTas.

Under the overall direction of the President, Union Education staff have been heavily involved in the planning, organisation and session-design of a National Workshop on University Governance, which was held in late August 2016.

Recruitment Training Following on from important decisions of the National Executive to place a greater emphasis on recruitment-related activities, a training plan focussed mainly on organisers is being implemented to ensure that all relevant staff have the necessary skills to undertake this work. By National Council, intensive sessions, involving a combination of face-to-face training and recruitment field-work in teams, will have been undertaken in WA and Queensland, with other Divisions to follow.

Financial Governance Training Union Education has continued to provide the mandated financial governance training to officers who have not previously undertaken it, though this was at a reduced level in 2015/16 due to the election cycle. The training will be run again at National Council 2016.

TAFE Classification Training Union Education has continued to provide training to General Staff in Victorian TAFEs on Classification. In 2015/2016, Union Education ran courses in two TAFEs.

With delegates nominated by local NTEU Branches, the workshop focused upon examining the issues facing staff representatives including attempts to exclude them from Council business as well as managing the workload and expectations. The myths around ‘conflict of interest’ and ‘commercial in confidence’ were unravelled, along with university financial reports.

NTEU Expert Seminars NTEU expert seminars are evening seminars in which a group of invited speakers share their expertise and knowledge on a nominated topic with an audience of members. The session is live-streamed and recorded, and the video is edited so it can be used for later training and campaigning purposes. In 2016 National Office organised an Expert Seminars in March: Undue Influence What the innovation agenda will mean for university research. nteu.org.au/seminars

Interactive Online Education Sessions

NTEU Scholarship Program

In 2016, the Union has started running regular sessions on Friday afternoons using web-ex (an online, multi-user live video system) about topical issues, for members, staff and officers. These have had good participation levels.

Union Education administers two of four NTEU scholarships: the Joan Hardy Scholarship for post-graduate nursing research and the Carolyn Allport Scholarship for post-graduate feminist research.

These sessions run each fortnight, and have so far covered Contract Research Staff, Changes in Government Research Policies, How NTEU Elections are run, General Protections and Adverse Action, Using Social Media for the NTEU, Party Policies on Higher Education in the Federal Election, the Award Restrictions on Fixed term Contracts, and the FWC Anti-Bullying Jurisdiction, and the Union’s Secure Work Campaign.

The scholarships, worth up to $15,000 each over three years, were advertised in June and awarded in August. The current recipients of the Carolyn Allport and Joan Hardy scholarship are progressing well. The 2016 recipient of the Carolyn Allport Scholarship is Lobna Yassine. Lobna is doing a PhD in social work at the University of Sydney and her research applies a feminist approach to policy analysis to interrogate juvenile justice policies and

practice in NSW. NTEU established the scholarship in 2014 in recognition of Dr Carolyn Allport’s contribution to the leadership and development of the NTEU. The 2016 recipient of the Joan Hardy Scholarship is Karen Cheer, awarded for her PhD study of how midwifery students at a university in Papua New Guinea understand, experience and manage the provision of care to women following stillbirth. Karen is doing PhD study through James Cook University. The NTEU Morning Star scholarship for Indigenous students continues to be overseen by Charles Darwin University. The NTEU Charles Sturt University (CSU) Branch Indigenous Education Scholarship for an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in an undergraduate teaching degree at CSU continues to be overseen by CSU. nteu.org.au/myunion/scholarships

Education Materials Development Union Education has continued to expand and update many manuals, guides and other education resources.

NTEU Wiki The purpose of the NTEU Wiki project is to build up and collect together in a more usable way the information the Union has, along with ‘articles’ providing general or in-depth information and analysis of issues for officers and staff. This wiki is established with some articles and these have continued to expand. wiki.nteu.org.au

NTEU Learning Centre Union education has developed resources that include how to guides, presentation slides, strategies, scenarios and activities for addressing both content and skill areas. These resources will soon be available for NTEU staff and elected officers through the NTEU Learning Centre.

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nteu.org.au/myunion/education_training

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 21

Organising & Campaigns Key activities: • National organising • Campaign development & support NTEU’s work nationally on organising is undertaken by Michael Evans (National Organiser) and is overseen by the National Assistant Secretary. Campaign support is provided by Paul Clifton (National Publications Coordinator) and Andrew MacDonald (National Media & Communications Officer).

No $100,000 Degrees Campaign Back in 2014, the then Abbott/Hockey Federal Budget announced the intention to cut university funding by 20%, shifting this funding to private providers, and the deregulation of domestic undergraduate student fees. This led to the Union’s campaign on a theme of ‘$100,000 degrees? I didn’t vote for this’ as the banner of the campaign. The Government twice failed to get their higher education package through the Senate. The Labor Opposition, the Greens and cross bench senators responded to the widespread community and union advocacy by voting down deregulation and privatisation of higher education (see Policy and Research report). In September 2015, the LNP changed leaders and the Abbott Government became the Turnbull Government. Nothing changed in the Government’s policy position until the 2016 Federal Budget. Whilst conceding that full fee deregulation was unlikely to get through any Senate, the Budget failed to clarify the Government’s policy on deregulation, but most of the 2014 package was still on the table. On this basis, the NTEU went into the election advocating for the defeat of the Coalition Government. no100kdegrees.org.au

2016 Federal Election Campaign The key objectives for the NTEU Federal Election campaign were: Images (L–R): WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert displaying her signed Defender of Higher Education statement; One of our posters for the 2016 Federal Election; Restructuring poster for the Fair Go campaign; Secure Work poster; Go Home on Time Day 2015 poster; Terry O’Gorman delivering the 2015 NTEU Lecture.

page 22 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

1. Defeat the Coalition Government. 2. Make higher education an election issue that influences voting intentions.

3. Identify, recruit, engage and develop activist members in each Branch. 4. Increase awareness among members of the link between public funding outcomes and working conditions, including workload intensity and job insecurity. The campaign elements included:

ACTU/TLC campaign – Build a better future: Fight for our living standards Most of the NTEU’s commitment was through participation in the ACTU/ TLC coordinated campaign. The NTEU contributed through a campaign levy and through Division level participation in campaign activities that included dissemination of materials in public places, phoning, door knocking, election forums, and staffing of pre-polling booths. Many NTEU activists staffed polling booths on election day, distributing NTEU and ACTU how-to-vote materials, with the theme of ‘Put the Liberals Last’.

NTEU endorsed Defenders of Higher Education In recognition of the NTEU’s high and positive public profile in opposing the deregulation and privatisation of higher education and research, those politicians with a track record of defending higher education and supportive candidates were invited to sign on as an officially endorsed defender of higher education. The candidate/recontesting member was then able to use their NTEU endorsement in their election campaign. This was endorsed by the ALP, the Greens, Andrew Wilkie (Independent MHR for

Denison) and Senators Glenn Lazarus, Jackie Lambie and Nick Xenophon. A number of individual candidates also signed up to the statement. The signatories and statement can be found on the Defenders website. The NTEU promoted videos and other materials from the Defenders on our website, through social media and more generally in localised campaigns. nteu.org.au/efenders

Social Media Campaigning As part of these efforts, numerous pieces of content, in the form of shareable memes outlining the NTEU’s key election themes and messages of ‘no $100,000 degrees’ and ‘put the Liberals last’, were developed for dissemination via Facebook and Twitter. The release of these materials began with the promotion of an ‘enrol to vote’ post, running over a week until the closure of electoral rolls in late May, with post frequency intensifying in the lead up to polling day on 2 July. Throughout the election period, the NTEU National Facebook page also featured numerous posts, including pictures and videos, promoting both individual candidates endorsed as defenders of higher education, and the defenders of higher education initiative more broadly. Federal Election-themed posts on the National Facebook page reached a combined audience of more than 1.3 million people, and generated significant volumes of likes and shares. The success of election-themed social media activity also helped grow overall page likes on the NTEU National Facebook page to more than 12,500, which will provide the Union with a larger social media audience for future campaign activities.

Fixed Term Employment Campaign Over 2,500 fixed term contract staff were invited in April 2016 to complete a national online questionnaire about their employment arrangements and conditions. The campaign’s objectives are: • To identify and take action for any staff who may be employed on contracts that

are contrary to the provisions in their Collective Agreements. • To increase awareness of the Union’s efforts to improve job security among fixed term staff. • To collect stories from these staff for campaign purposes. • To recruit new members. Over 650 responses were received and after initial analysis, 107 indicated a potential case. Work is continuing at Division and Branch level to reach out to contract staff as part of our preparations for bargaining (or to assist bargaining where it has started already). The intention is to follow up individual cases to seek conversions where possible, to publicise these, and to recruit and organise contract staff on campus around this activity. Broader actions include: • Conducting meetings of all those in each Branch who responded to the questionnaire. • Conducting meetings with staff in relevant areas to ascertain if the circumstances around a possible breach are perhaps systemic and extend beyond one person. • Framing these discussions with a focus on the next round of bargaining. To support this work, a series of posters, social media memes and a web site have been developed around the theme of ‘A Fair Go’, and consistent with the themes being developed for bargaining. fairgo.nteu.org.au

2015 NTEU Annual Lecture The Lecture was established in 2011 to provide a public forum for eminent Australians to present unique perspectives on aspects of higher education and its impact on the economic, social and cultural frameworks of Australian society. Queensland civil rights lawyer Terry O’Gorman delivered the fifth annual NTEU Lecture at Griffith University in November 2015, entitled ‘Civil liberties v terror: Advancing and preserving liberties in a complex environment and the role of the university’.

The theme of Terry’s lecture was that Australian universities should be spaces where hysteria around terrorism makes way for discussion and debate, however unpopular. A video and transcript of Terry O’Gorman’s lecture, as well as information on previous lectures, can be found online. nteu.org.au/lecture

Go Home On Time Day NTEU has for some years participated in the ‘Go Home on Time Day’ initiative developed by the Australia Institute, which occurred last year on 18 November 2015. This has primarily focused on drawing attention to the conditions of General and Professional staff, particularly around the high levels of unpaid overtime. As well as our usual on campus promotions, the Union developed a video and poster emphasising the importance of work/life balance. nteu.org.au/gohomeontimeday

UniSuper Campaign In April 2016 the UniSuper CEO Kevin O’Sullivan issued a statement saying that UniSuper did not support a Royal Commission into the banking and finance sector, a proposal that was raised by the ALP and was gaining considerable support in the general community at the time. The CEO’s statement was issued without any consultation with the UniSuper Board. NTEU appealed to members and university staff to email Mr O’Sullivan expressing their concerns about the inappropriate nature of the statement, and asking that it be withdrawn. Within two days over 2,600 NTEU members and other staff had sent an email to the UniSuper CEO along these lines. This resulted in a further statement from the UniSuper CEO and Chairman withdrawing the original statement and apologising for issuing the statement without the appropriate consultation.

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 23

Recruitment & Retention Key activities: • Recruitment and Growth Team • Member services

Recruitment and retention has been a focus of the Union in the last year. Recruitment and Retention Plan

NTEU’s work nationally on organising is undertaken by Michael Evans (National Organiser) and is overseen by the National Assistant Secretary. The National Membership Officer is Melinda Valsorda. Rifai Abdul (National Growth Team Organiser) reports directly to the National Assistant Secretary.

Adopted at the February National Executive, the 2016 recruitment and retention plan seeks to draw together the different elements associated with recruitment at the three levels of the Union into a whole-of-Union plan. Recruitment and retention is a part of organising and campaigning. National Council has previously identified the core methods of organising and campaigning work that lead to membership growth and retention, as including: • Ongoing and active campaigns to implement EBA provisions. • Developing effective delegate and activist networks. • Integrating restructuring and managing change disputes to planned recruitment activities. • Regular professional and policy based events. • Development of activist and occupational networks around specific local and broader issues. • Coordinated industrial campaigns leading up to and during the negotiation of EBAs. • Active promotion of the Union’s pay and bargaining achievements.

Images (L–R): Noeline Rudland, Barb Williams and Carolyn Cope at Brisbane May Day; NTEU merchandise stall at National Council; National recruitment brochure; Marcus Khaos and Michael Hurse at Brisbane May Day

page 24 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

The purpose of the plan was to provide an overview of work done across the Union including information and assistance with

the day-to-day organising; campaigning and recruitment work done by Organisers; delegates and activists; and to enable the work done by the Growth Team in direct recruitment to be better co-ordinated with Branch and Division activities. The key elements of the plan are: • Growth must be a component of everything we do at all levels of the Union. • Organisers will spend a minimum of 20% of their time on direct recruitment and retention work in the workplace. • Branches will assist with preparing an all staff list at least once per year. • Branch and Division officers will structure staff training, work plans and priorities to encourage and monitor activities. • The National Office will maintain an accessible all staff database and conduct regular surveys of new and past members to assess their engagement with Organisers and delegates, and their general perceptions of the Union. • The National Office will co-ordinate the production of pay rise leaflets during each Branch’s Agreement cycle. Above all else, a visible NTEU presence and activity in the workplace is the principle way that we will attract new members and hold onto existing members. ‘Building union power’ is about staff experiencing what can be achieved through collective action. The plan is about supporting the work done to achieve this. This remains an area for ongoing work and review as we look to improve our membership numbers and density across the sector.

Membership Surveys

28,000

27,529

27,458

New Member Survey An online survey of new and re-joined NTEU members at universities was conducted during April 2016, targeting people who had joined in the second half of 2015. The survey’s aim was to evaluate the reasons people are joining or rejoining and their experiences so far. The purpose is to inform improvements to the Union’s ongoing recruitment and retention activities. This mechanism of surveying new members has been improved. Instead of surveying new members every six months, an ongoing survey instrument has been put in place and a link to this survey is included in the welcome letter emailed to new and rejoining members when they sign up. The survey focuses on the reason/s why they joined and the means by which they joined. This will enable a regular flow of data in almost real time and better inform our recruitment and retention activities.

Past Member Survey An online survey of people who have left the Union in the previous two years was conducted during April 2016. The survey’s aim was to ascertain the reasons why people have left and to garner information on their experiences while they were NTEU members. This data is used to inform our organising and campaigning work and to enable improvements to the Union’s ongoing recruitment and retention activities.

Casual Member Survey NTEU casual academic and professional staff members were invited to complete a survey in August, to assess their awareness and knowledge of improvements to pay and employment conditions that have been won over the last five years through bargaining, and to get feedback on their general views about the NTEU. Survey results can be found on the NTEU Portal.

Postgraduate Member Survey A ‘census’ of existing postgraduate members was conducted in June/July 2016, to identify existing members who are postgraduate students, and to seek their

27,153

27,187

July 2015

July 2016

27,000 26,111 26,000

25,000

24,000

24,354

24,279

July 2009

July 2010

24,318

23,930

23,000 July 2008

July 2011

July 2012

July 2013

July 2014

National membership trend, July 2008 – July 2016 views on the value of NTEU postgraduate membership. Details about and access to the survey were also publicised through the Council of Australian Postgraduate Association’s (CAPA) constituent bodies, the local postgraduate associations at each university. Invitations to postgraduate students to join as NTEU postgraduate members were also promoted through these associations.

Growth Team Activities NTEU Growth Team activities started again in February with planning meetings attended by the National Assistant Secretary along with the National Growth Organiser in the five divisions where Growth Team Recruiters are based. With schedules agreed at National and Division levels, the Team works in each university across the country. The Growth Team of six members has recruited over 500 new members to June 2016 across the country. The Team’s recruitment visits are recorded electronically in an updated and improved interface with the non-member database, which is also shared with organising staff.

Organiser Training Recruitment training programs have been conducted in WA and Queensland,

with the aim to benefit both the Branch Organiser (who can continue to hone their recruitment skills with the support of the Growth Organiser) and the Growth Organiser (who can continue to develop knowledge of the issues affecting staff and the importance of collectively building Union power with the support of the Branch Organiser). Day-1: In house session involved: • Analysis of strengths and challenges and identifying opportunities and threats • Discussion partnership between organisers and the Growth Team • Practicing recruitment processes with: • listening skills and strategic conversations • focus on membership values • objection handling • closing techniques • follow-up. Day-2: Participants practiced recruitment by doorknocking in a University. Day-3: After 4 weeks, Organisers shared feedback and practiced in their own universities with the Growth Organisers. Recruitment and campaigning will be the theme of an all-staff conference in late 2016.

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nteu.org.au/join

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 25

Communications & Publications Key activities: • Media work • Social media • Magazines & journal production • Website development • Campaign & event support Communications and publications are undertaken by Paul Clifton (National Publications Coordinator) and Andrew MacDonald (National Media & Communications Officer), assisted by Elected Officers, staff and external contractors overseen by the National President and National Assistant Secretary.

Images (L–R): Two of our Federal Election Facebook memes; One of the #IStandWithCasuals posters; Federal Election DL flyer; Advocate (June 2016); AUR (Feb 2016); Connect (March 2016).

page 26 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

Media NTEU, over the past 12 months, has continued to feature extensively in the media at a National, Division and Branch level, as part of efforts to broaden discussions about higher education and research, its vital importance and the crucial role that university staff and their Union play. One key component of media efforts over this period has been an ongoing focus on halting the Government’s university funding cuts and deregulation agenda. NTEU views in relation to this have featured extensively in various print, broadcast and online media. Significant developments over the past 12 months have included: Tony Abbott’s removal as Prime Minister; the replacement of Christopher Pyne as Education Minister; new Education Minister Senator Simon Birmingham’s late 2015 announcement delaying deregulation plans; the Minister’s 2016 Budget night announcement that funding cuts would be further delayed and ‘full’ fee deregulation abandoned; the release of a higher education ‘options paper’, including a proposal for deregulated ‘flagship’ courses; the Prime Minister’s election campaign confirmation that the Coalition would proceed with partial deregulation if re-elected; and, the 2016 election result which raises further doubts about whether the Coalition’s higher education agenda can succeed. NTEU’s voice, strongly opposing the Government’s plans, has featured widely in the media during these developments, including during the 2016 Federal Election campaign.

NTEU media activities have also raised awareness around job security for university staff. Our views have featured in coverage of the proliferation of both casualisation and fixed term employment, while Union efforts to improve the situation have also received coverage. Media support has been provided to Branches and Divisions as they campaign for better pay, job security and conditions for members, particularly during the current bargaining and implementation period. Some other high-profile events involving the NTEU which received strong media coverage include: the suspension and reinstatement of Roz Ward from La Trobe University; NTEU’s call for UniSuper to retract its statement opposing a banking Royal Commission; NTEU’s fossil fuel divestment decision; and, UWA’s announcement of plans to sack 300 staff.

Social Media NTEU social media activities have continued to reach a growing audience. Since 30 June 2015, the National Facebook page has grown to over 12,500 likes, while our national Twitter account has grown to over 2,900 followers. This has enabled us to reach more people with our message. This growing audience proved important during the 2016 Federal Election period, when the NTEU campaigned hard against $100,000 degrees and the Government’s higher education agenda. On Facebook, election-themed posts, including support for candidates who signed pledges as Defenders of Higher Education, reached more than 1.3 million people during the election campaign.

Other initiatives, supported by NTEU on social media included: the #IStandWithCasuals campaign; recruitment/join promotions and videos; save Warrnambool campus petitions; NAIDOC week events; Global Climate March events; #LetThemStay and refugee marches and actions; NTEU expert seminars; bargaining updates; 2015 NTEU Lecture; Bluestocking Week; opposition to the TPP; Go Home on Time Day video; Challenging the Privatised University event; and Ivory Towers screenings. In line with a motion passed at the 2015 National Council, a social media training module was developed, offered and delivered in the first half of 2016.

edXpress With content sourced from all around Australia, edXpress keeps our members and subscribers regularly informed about what is happening across the NTEU’s Branches and Divisions, as well as national commentary. Published monthly via MailChimp, edXpress is sent to almost 2000 subscribers, including members, others in the sector and journalists. nteu.org.au/edxpress

Magazines and Journals The National Publications Coordinator produces all national magazines in association with each title’s editor and relevant staff at all levels of the Union. Advocate (editor Jeannie Rea) is published three times (March, June and November) each year. Each print run is approximately 27,000, plus 3000 soft delivery subscriptions with email notification with links to PDF on our website (average number of downloads 450) and e-mag on our issuu site (average 34% open rate). In 2016 we introduced individual plastic-wrapping for all home addresses, about 9,300 copies (35%). A B&W fly sheet was included within each envelope, with the member’s address, NTEU address and a campaign logo. The cost of the fly sheet printing and plastic wrapping (which is biodegradable), minus the savings on postage, postal bags and wages saw an overall saving of $16,000. For all three editions this means

a saving of $48,000 annually. Due to print run numbers, this would not be as cost effective for Connect, and only titles with two or more issues per year can be sent in this manner so Agenda does not qualify, However, we will instigate this procedure for AUR in 2017. nteu.org.au/advocate

Australian Universities’ Review (AUR), edited by Ian Dobson and overseen by the AUR Editorial Board was published in February 2016 (vol. 58, no. 1) and September 2016 (vol. 58, no. 2). Each print run is approximately 5,000, plus over 6,800 soft delivery subscriptions (averages: 840 PDF downloads; 32% e-mag open rate). aur.org.au

Defenders of Higher Education For this part of the election campaign, a logo was produced to strongly badge the statements signed by MPs. nteu.org.au/defenders

Bargaining An online Bargaining Kit was produced for staff and elected officials’ use only. Poster templates were produced for Branches to promote meetings, events and issues. bargaining.nteu.org.au

Fair Go A new Fair Go website was created with posters and memes covering bargaining, secure work and casual issues.

Connect (editor Jeannie Rea, co-published by NTEU and CAPA) was published in April (vol. 9, no. 1) and September (vol. 9, no. 2) 2016. Each print run is approximately 3,700. For the first time, vol. 9 no. 2 was sent to general/professional casual staff, as well as academics.

fairgo.nteu.org.au

unicasual.org.au/connect

nteu.org.au/enroltovote

Agenda (editor Jeannie Rea, produced in conjunction with WAC), NTEU’s annual women’s journal was produced in August 2016 (vol. 24) with a print run of 16,000.

Enrol to Vote The Enrol to Vote website was updated for the 2016 election. Branches and members were provided with A5 flyers, desktop signs and a powerpoint presentation.

I Stand With Casuals Three versions of the campaign poster were produced and distributed via Divisions.

nteu.org.au/agenda

unicasual.org.au/istandwithcasuals

Other Publications

Events

Updated versions of the national recruitment brochure and the A&TSI recruitment brochure were produced. Multiple customised payrise leaflets were produced for Branches.

Materials (logos, websites, programs, banners, forms etc.) were created for:

NTEU Tax Guide 2016, produced in conjunction with Teacher Tax, was published in July (digital only).

• The annual NTEU Lecture in December 2015 (delivered by Terry O’Gorman) • Bluestocking Week 2016 • NTEU Expert Seminars • National Council 2016

nteu.org.au/tax

• Go Home On Time Day 2015.

Campaigns

nteu.org.au/media

Federal Election 2016

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nteu.org.au/library

Various materials were produced for the 2016 Federal Election including A3 posters (5 versions), large corflutes for polling booths, DL flyers, memes and balloons. no100kdegrees.org.au

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 27

Infrastructure, Finance, Governance, Admin Key activities: • Electronic infrastructure • New databases • Extending member services • General governance • National financial management • Operating results The Management & Administration Unit is coordinated by Peter Summers (Executive Manager). Staff are Tam Vuong (ICT Network Engineer), Uffan Saeed (Database Programmer/Analyst), Jo Riley (Payroll Officer), Anastasia Kotaidis (Executive Officer – National Officers), Tracey Coster (Executive Officer – Administration), Julie Ann Veal (Administrative Officer – Membership & Campaigns), Renee Veal (Administrative Officer – Industrial Unit) and Leanne Foote (Receptionist).

In the twelve months since the 2015 meeting of the National Council substantial efforts have been made to continue to strengthen our systems and infrastructure to ensure that we are well positioned to continue to support the Union’s core work and central objectives. The work undertaken can conveniently be summarised as follows: • Use of digital technology to enhance member services and the efficient management and administration of the Union. • Further development and application of policies on Union governance. • Measures to strengthen oversight and financial management of capital and other assets.

The Finance Unit is coordinated by Glenn Osmand (Finance Manager).

The report below outlines the major initiatives in each of these areas since the last meeting of the National Council.

Staff are Gracia Ho (Senior Finance Officer), Alex Ghvaladze, Tamara Labadze, Lee Powell and Daphne Zhang (Finance Officers).

Electronic Infrastructure and Member Services

The Unit reports directly to the General Secretary.

page 28 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

The Union has commenced sending invoices to members by email rather than hard copy versions sent by ‘snail mail’. Members will have the option to opt out of this program and can continue to receive paper invoices when payment is due. However, paper invoices will continue to be sent to all members with invoices outstanding for 3 or more months. This measure builds on the introduction in 2015

of automatically generated emails sent to members who appear as discrepancies on the payroll deduction lists provided by the university payroll offices. During the year, our national photocopier contract was put out to tender. From June 2016, new copiers were delivered to locations around the country. The new contract will result in annual savings of $180,000 per annum. Since inception over 20 years ago, the NTEU has maintained a traditional paperbased system of personnel files for its employees. From 2015-16 a phased transition has commenced to the electronic storage of documents on personnel files and these are now integrated with our software-based personnel system. The Union has shifted its email into the cloud and instead of managing an inhouse Exchange-based system, all regular email accounts have now been migrated to Office365. Apart from economic advantages, the use of Offce365 provides additional benefits in relation to the security of backups, accessibility to the email system irrespective of where an officer or employee happens to be located, larger mailbox sizes, and the use of other features such as Lync Online (which supports internal office communication through instant messaging and cloud sharing). An integrated SharePoint service is also available through Office365 and it is intended that frequently used files and other resources will be shifted over time to SharePoint to ensure a one-stop nationally consistent file sharing service. Commencing for the round of NTEU elections conducted between June and

August 2016, a system was established to ensure that candidates for certain positions within the Union are able to communicate by email to all members entitled to vote for each contested position. Previously, candidates were limited to receiving hard copy versions of labels that could be used to send information by mail to electors. Under these new and more contemporary arrangements, the National Office is able to distribute one email message per candidate containing a statement and photograph. The system has been designed so as not to advantage or disadvantage one candidate relative to another and to ensure that the privacy of members’ personal information is safeguarded. This new system will be reviewed in light of actual experience in the just concluded round of internal elections. The work to develop a new Union database (which was reported to the 2015 NCM) to replace the existing membership database and to integrate in a single system a number of other existing discrete databases has proceeded apace. A contract was signed in July 2015 with APT Solutions for the supply of a database system called Stratum. Work to build the new database commenced in earnest in the last quarter of calendar 2015 with the Union making available our data to APT to facilitate the process of data mapping from the existing databases to Stratum. The report to the 2015 NCM anticipated that Stratum would be fully deployed by the end of 2016. However, due to the departure of our previous in-house Database Programmer, development and customisation of Stratum was paused for approximately 3 months until a suitable replacement was recruited and commenced work. When finalised, Stratum will provide real-time and personalised web-based information to members, Officers and staff of the Union. It will also provide a suite of Organiser tools to assist our campaigns and the development and maintenance of Branch-based delegate structures. Stratum will also provide a fully integrated national system of storage, retrieval and reporting against industrial case records as well as new web site pages for officers, staff and for each member’s ‘MyPage’. The new database will be built, tested and deployed in three phases. The first phase consists of building and deploying the modules necessary to enable processing of membership applications, records and subscriptions and comprises the bulk of the project development work. While work continues on the new database we must simultaneously maintain our current membership and other databases although for obvious reasons no new or further development of current inhouse systems will be undertaken unless considered to be of critical national importance. One such recent requirement led to the creation of Branch-based online lists of non-members (or prospective members in the lexicon of Stratum) to assist the work of Organisers and other

staff. A new network tool (referred to internally as ‘The Retriever’) has been enhanced to assist Organisers to record, store, search and locate contacts or delegates who have participated in campaigns, activities and events run by the Union.

Operational and Governance-related Policy Development As part of the program of continual improvements to strengthen governance and oversight within the Union, the following policies, procedures, reports and guidelines have been written and approved during the last twelve months: • Refund Policy: determines when refunds can be made to members and how much they are entitled to. • Working From Home Policy: sets out guidelines for employees to work from home in certain circumstances. • Delegations Policy: this important policy identifies those Office holders within the Union that are able under delegation to authorise expenditure consistent with the NTEU Rules. It covers all levels of the Union – Branches, Divisions and the National Office. • Update to Staff Travel Policy: further clarifying procedures for employee travel. • Expense Reimbursements: operational guidelines were adopted which stipulate the timeframes within which claims for expense reimbursements are to be made. • Complaints Policy – which sets out a process for handling complaints from person(s) about positions the Union has taken or about alleged actions taken by the Union in relation to that person(s). • Use of NTEU Mobile Devices and Tablets: elaborates the funding available for such devices, how they are to be used primarily for work-related purposes, and how the security necessary to ensure that Union property is treated with the utmost care and responsibility. Each year, the Union prepares and lodges a report with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Among other things the report measures progress in improving gender equality (including equal remuneration between women and men) in employment and in each workplace. NTEU’s report for 2015-16 can be found at: www.nteu.org.au/library/view/id/7026

Capital Assets and Financial Management

As the largest shareholder in the property, from the commencement of the 2015-16 financial year NTEUs Finance Unit has assumed responsibility for the finance functions of the FEU Unit Trust including maintaining the accounts of the FEU. The Conference Centre on the Ground Floor of 120 Clarendon Street underwent a major refit of the entire audio visual system to modernise the infrastructure and to make it easier to operate for internal and external users. The FEU and other owners of the building at 120 Clarendon Street have signed a contract to install roof top advertising signage. The advertising to be displayed must conform to specified rigorous ethical standards and will (subject to planning approvals) generate annual revenues of approximately $120,000 over a 10 year period. In June 2016, the Union was able to complete repayment of the internal loan to the Defence Fund that was borrowed to help finance the purchase of the WA Division building in 2014. The Union remains debt free and now has fully owned capital assets that house Division Offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The Defence Fund investment strategy was reviewed to ensure that our investments are ethical and sustainable, with a particular focus on environmental standards, labour standards and human rights. This involves both negative screening and positive investment measures. In April 2016, all assets that no longer fit the revised investment strategy were sold which resulted in a capital loss of about $130,000. The sale proceeds have been reinvested in new equities. The investment portfolio is now fully compliant with the new ethical strategy.

Acknowledgement This report has summarised only the selected highlights of the work undertaken by the staff of the Finance Unit and the Management & Administration Unit. As the report is a brief overview of the activities of the past year it does not fully reflect the sustained efforts of a large number of staff who consistently strive to advance the interests of our members. Their often unheralded work is deeply appreciated and gratefully acknowledged by the authors of this report.

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nteu.org.au/myunion

NTEU owns the largest share of the building that houses the National Office and Victorian Division Office (at 120 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne). The Australian Education Union (AEU) and the Victorian Independent Education Union (VIEU) each own a smaller share. Our combined interests in the building are aggregated through an entity formed for the purpose called the Federation of Education Unions (FEU). NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 29

ACT Division ACT Division Secretary is Rachael Bahl. Division President is Jack Bowers, Division Vice-Presidents are Craig Applegate (Academic) and Stephen Ohms (General). Staff are David Vincent-Pietsch (Division Industrial Officer), Tim McCann (Division Organiser) and Jane Maze (Communications Officer/Organiser).

The ACT Division represents around 1,100 members at four ACT public universities: Australian National University (ANU), University of Canberra (UC), Australian Catholic University (Canberra Campus, ACU) and UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). Membership Growth and Development Across the ACT Division, membership has declined by around 2% over the last 12 months. For the same period, membership at the University of Canberra has remained static, while membership at the Australian National University has declined by 2.5%. Development of Branch and Delegate networks remains a key priority for the ACT Division.

Strengthening Union Structures Union elections in mid 2016 saw both the UC and ANU committees achieve a full complement of ordinary members. Both Branch Presidents will continue for another term. Images (L–R): NTEU members and ANU students rallying for refugees in February; ACT Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury at NTEU stall, UC Open Day; Rachael Bahl and NTEU members with #QuestionsForMalcolm at an April rally at Parliament House; UC Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker (r) supporting NTEU campaign against fee deregulation at UC Open Day. Top: ALP MPs and supporters ‘100% Against $100K Degrees’ at ANU O-Week stall.

page 30 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

ACT Division Secretary was re-elected, unopposed. ACT Industrial officer, David VincentPietsch and Division Secretary, Rachael Bahl attended national training in Enterprise Bargaining. Communications

Officer, Jane Maze and Division Secretary, Rachael Bahl attended social media training delivered by Van Badham and organised through Unions ACT. Division staff have also attended the nationally organized Friday Webinar sessions. The Division Office has operated from a temporary office for most of 2016. A new office will soon be available at ANU.

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation The University of Canberra (UC) Enterprise Agreement 2013-2015 nominally expired on 1 June 2015. Due to its short duration, negotiations commenced for a new agreement, considered to be ‘Round 6, part 2’. A new Agreement was presented to members in December 2015. Members and staff voted in favour of the agreement, which was approved by the Fair Work Commission on 11 February 2016. The Union has gained improved provisions for parental leave, partner leave, domestic violence leave, a fairer disciplinary review process for professional staff, and improvements on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment targets. Meetings have been scheduled with UC management to discuss implementation of the University of Canberra Enterprise agreement 2015-2018. Work on the enterprise agreements for UNSW at ADFA and Australian Catholic University were conducted by the NSW Division and National Office respectively.

Round 7 Bargaining The Australian National University (ANU) Enterprise Agreement 2013-2016 nominally expired on 30 June 2016. The ANU issued a ‘Notice of Representational Rights’ (NRR) to staff on 23 June 2016 to commence bargaining, but due to a technical issue with the NRR, ANU withdrew from bargaining on 19 August 2016. We look forward to beginning negotiations on a new agreement soon.

Industrial activities ACT Division staff continue to represent individual member interests in industrial matters. In addition, ACT Division staff have responded to an increasing number of Change Management Proposals at ANU this year.

As part of the ACTU, ‘Build a Better Future’ campaign, the ACT Division partnered with UnionsACT to staff a booth in the electorate of Eden-Monaro on polling day. NTEU members also attended the ‘Questions for Malcolm’ rally held on April 18 to coincide with the recall of Federal Parliament. ACT Division members continue to be active in their support for a change to refugee policy. The Stand Up for Refugees rally on 11 October 2015 was well attended. ANU activists took part in the #LetThemStay campaign on social media. NTEU continues to support student activism and has provided local NTEU Officials to speak at events, including a briefing on the Federal Budget 2016 and its impact on students and university staff. nteu.org.au/act

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NTEU has lodged a dispute with ANU over one proposal, concerning the School of Culture, History and Language. NTEU maintains that the University has failed to adequately explain the rationale behind job losses in the school. The dispute is continuing.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The ACT Division has participated in NTEU National campaigns to communicate the ‘No 100k degrees’ message to members, non-members and the broader community. ANU is perfectly located for visits by Federal politicians. Labor MPs highlighted the ‘No 100K degrees’ message on a visit during ANU Orientation Week in February 2016.

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 31

NSW Division NSW Division Secretary is Genevieve Kelly. Division President is John Sinclair, Division Vice-Presidents are David Ritchie (Academic) and Kate Mitchell (General). Staff are Joshua Gava (Senior Industrial Officer), Jeane Wells, Kobie Howe, Lance Dale, Simon Kempton, Tamara Talmacs (Industrial Officers), Gabe Kavanagh (Industrial Organiser), Jo Kowalczyk [to Feb 2016] and Paul Doughty (Senior Organisers), Adam Knobel [to Feb 2016] and Tara Murphy (Communications and Campaigns Organiser), Rebecca Muratore, Kevin Poynter, Melanie Wood, Sean O’Brien, Jenny Whittard, Lisa Roberts, Trevor Smith, Kiraz Janicke, Martin Cubby, Cat Coghlan, Kaylene Field, Roberta Stewart, Richard Bailey, Erin Chew, Sharon Bailey and Josh Andrews (Branch Organisers ), Kerrie Barathy (Executive Officer), Sharon Muddle (Executive Office Admin), Ben Simson and Chris Garvin (Growth Team).

The NSW Division represents over 7,300 members at 11 NSW public universities: Charles Sturt University, Macquarie University, University of New England, University of NSW, University of Newcastle, Southern Cross University, University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, University of Wollongong and the University of Technology, Sydney and two campuses of the Australian Catholic University. The Division also has members at University of Notre Dame Australia and various private providers of higher education across the state.

Membership Growth and Development The NSW Division had a small membership growth during 2015-16, which is significant given a turnover of members of almost 20 per cent. Restoring membership density is crucial to our effectiveness and we must organise individuals in insecure employment within our sector. Images (L–R): Michael Thomson, Lance Dale, Kiraz Janicke, Jeane Wells and Sharon Bailey at Mortlake Primary School on election day, 5 July 2016; People’s Climate March in the Domain, Sydney, 29 November 2015; Lance Dale, Paul Doughty, Josh Gava, Kobie Howe and Dave Ritchie at a Saturday election phonebank in the NSW Division office; Labor candidate in the marginal seat of Gilmore, Fiona Phillips signs up as a Defender of Higher Education, with NTEU University of Wollongong Branch organiser Martin Cubby, June 2016. Top: NTEU members rally at the University of Sydney.

page 32 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

A survey of new members revealed the biggest reason people join the union was because ‘it was suggested to them by a colleague’. This reaffirms the importance of the identification of an NTEU delegate in every school department and work unit as a priority. For the NSW Division, delegate training and one-on-one development with organisers has been at the heart of all

initiatives to rebuild density and influence. To this end a monthly schedule of half-day training for workplace delegates was again put in place in mid-2016. Branches have effectively localised national campaigns, Defend Our Universities for instance, to act as an organising mechanism by linking ever-changing education policies with coalface issues such as workloads and restructures. The challenge has been in converting ‘one-off’ activism into ongoing engagement; this will be an objection with the rollout of a sector wide campaign on secure employment. Much has been done on developing delegate and case handling structures by Branches, with notable progress at WSU and UNE, where both have built case handling committees to cover schools across the institution, and focused delegate structures around bargaining and recruiting. A plan to better integrate the Growth Team with the needs of Organisers was developed and rolled out at most Branches across NSW.

Round 6 Industrial Implementation Branches have successfully pursued implementation and enforcement of Scholarly Teaching Fellow roles. 281 new positions have been filled or are actively being recruited. The University of Sydney and Western Sydney University (WSU) have had particular success with 92 and 58 positions respectively. The secure work theme has crossed into college negotiations. UNSW Global Teachers Agreement achieved 60 new secure positions. The WSU College achieved 18 new secure positions, with a further

12-15 positions likely in the new Enterprise Agreement. Round 6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment outcomes have been successfully implemented at some sites. The Australian Catholic University exceeded its target of an additional 12 positions with an increase of 16. Charles Sturt University (CSU) now has 60 (2.7%) positions filled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with plans to achieve 3%. WSU is closing in on its (non-binding) target with 56/60 positions currently filled. Sydney University has dropped below its targets and the Branch is in the process of initiating a dispute. There have been wins in relation to Professional Staff career development. Universities with a central fund have met their obligations (WSU, Sydney and New England). In addition, most Branches report successful implementation of mobility schemes and more robust classification and reclassification processes. Macquarie and Newcastle branches successfully opposed Professional Staff restructuring programs. Macquarie also negotiated a new Greenfield Agreement at the International College, providing significant opportunity for union organisation. Collective wins at Newcastle included the restoration of Nursing Assessor and Clinical Liaison rates of pay, the restoration of a Faculty Conference Grants Scheme, and a campaign around STF and academic workload implementation. Management at UTS has been particularly aggressive in its pursuit of staff accused of unsatisfactory performance and

misconduct - the Branch has been successful in its advocacy for members facing termination, utilising the Review Committees contained in the Agreements. The University of Wollongong , with the reestablishment of its tripartite committees, has effectively fought management attempts to control faculty workload policies and subversion of the Enterprise Agreement provisions requiring staff to determine the ratification or otherwise of workload allocations. The Branch derailed the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts curriculum renewal program, which lead to management running a job cuts and program cuts change management agenda. At the completion of the disputes process no members lost their positions and the Science and Technology Studies Major was retained after management sought to abolish it.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The 2016 Federal Election outcome was a sensational result for the union movement; NTEU members united for one of the most successful campaigns in NSW. They helped generate an average of 5.5% swing away from the conservatives in Dobell, EdenMonaro, Lindsay, Macarthur, Macquarie, Page, Paterson and Robertson. The NSW Division was responsible for campaigning in the swing sets of Banks, Reid, Page and Gilmore. Our first priority was to encourage 18-24-year-olds to enrol. We distributed flyers on campuses and engaged our academic members to deliver enrol to vote information within tutorials and lectures. Overall, there was a 20% lift in

youth enrolment between May 9 (election announcement) and May 23 (close of enrolments). Four phonebanking session were held to encourage voters to put the Liberals last and to help stop the Coalition’s proposed ‘flagship degrees’. We had a presence at each doorknocking activity held in the targeted seats of Macarthur, Reid, Banks and Gilmore. 20,000 ‘No $100K Degree’ flyers were directed to Hurstville, Strathfield and Homebush. Train station leafleting became a priority during the pointy end of the campaign; the final two weeks saw NTEU members and staff engage with voters across six different stations. The NSW Division presented four postsecondary education forums in partnership with NSW Teachers’ Federation and the ACTU’s Build a Better Future campaign. The forums were held in the crucial regional areas of Armidale and Lismore, and the outer city suburbs of Springwood and Campbelltown. The NTEU spoke passionately about the need for higher education to remain a right for individuals according to their passion and ability, not wealth and privilege. Fourteen candidates, from the ALP, the Greens, the NXT, and an Independent, endorsed the Defender of Higher Education statement. Curiously, no Liberals or Nationals chose to be involved. On Election Day, 15 volunteers attended Mortlake Primary School (Reid). The primary vote saw a 0.47% swing away from Liberals across the seat of Reid and a 2.6% swing by those who voted at Mortlake Primary School. nteu.org.au/nsw

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 33

Queensland Division Qld Division Secretary is Michael McNally. Division President is vacant due to the resignation of Carolyn Cope. Division VicePresident (General) is Brad Astbury. Division Vice-President (Academic) is vacant. Staff are Barb Williams (Division Organiser), Lachlan Hurse (State Organiser), Noeline Rudland, Bill Danby, Cathy Grant, Rohan Hilton (Division Industrial Officers), Phil Mairu (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Officer), Narelle Maxton, Angela Scheers, Dan Coughlan, David Szumer, Ivan Phillips, Peter Whalley-Thompson, Narelle Maxton Stewart de Lacy-Leacey (Branch Organisers), Joanna Horton (Research Recruitment Project Officer) and Leo Campbell (Growth Recruiter).

The Queensland Division represents over 3,700 members at seven Queensland public universities: University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, James Cook University, Central Queensland University, University of Southern Queensland and University of the Sunshine Coast. The Division also has members at the Brisbane (Banyo) Campus of the Australian Catholic University, Bond University, and various private providers of higher education across the state.

Membership Growth and Development Membership has been steady over the 2015-16 Financial Year, with a high of 3730 and a low of 3680. The figure at 30 June 2016 was 3700. As in 2014/15 the departure of members over and above the demographic aging of our membership profile can be partly explained by significant Voluntary Early Retirement schemes and restructuring, (again most notably at James Cook University). Other factors include the ‘churn’ both between universities and into and out of the university sector. Images (L–R): Past Members Association meeting; Division Secretary Michael McNally; Qld Division marching in the annual May Day rally, Brisbane. Opposite top: Union posters in a tea room at JCU.

page 34 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

The casualisation of the workforce and the increase in fixed-term contract research employment continue to be significant sector-wide challenges.

On the positive side the Division recruited 628 members during the financial year, almost totally replacing the departures. The University of Queensland Branch and the Division have this financial year undertaken a recruitment pilot project to see what the barriers to recruitment in the large research institutes are, to find new ways of engaging with contract research staff and demonstrating the utility of NTEU membership. The project will continue until the end of 2016. The continued education and training program for activists has increased our cohort of trained members who are able to assist fellow members with lowlevel industrial issues in the workplace. Implementation workshops are assisting members to assert their rights within the workplace. The Division continues with a focus on raising the visibility of the NTEU, particularly in connection with everyday business of universities. This is part of a ‘normalising’ process to embed the Union as part of the everyday, normal business of universities and the lives of university staff.

Strengthening Union Structures Branch elections in May and June have led to filling all senior positions in every Branch except USC. There are some contested elections yet to be held. Regardless of the outcome of the election at the Australian Catholic University Branch, the new Branch President will be a Queenslander and will represent ACU which has significant campuses in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

Of particular note was the filling of all the dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Branch Committee positions in the Branches and the Division. Organisers, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organiser, continue to work on mapping, delegate and activist identification and recruitment to build the delegate structure of the Union. Branch communications have been regularised and their format professionalised during the course of the year so that every member in every Branch can expect to receive regular, well-presented information about issues and campaigns at their Branch as well as about State and National matters.

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation All seven public universities now have Round 6 Enterprise Agreements in place. The Division finalised negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement at the University of the Sunshine Coast with the assistance of the Fair Work Commission in March 2016 after nearly two years of negotiations. Agreements are being implemented through: • T he joint management-union consultative committees which are required by our Agreements (and other specialised committees such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment committees). • A n education and training program for educating members about their rights and entitlements, provided through

workplace workshops and universityspecific factsheets. • Enforcement of entitlements and conditions through the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court.

Round 7 Bargaining Bargaining commenced in April at James Cook University (JCU). JCU management are seeking to remove virtually all enforceable rights and entitlements of staff from the Enterprise Agreement. Although negotiations have only been under way for two months it appears that management are mounting an aggressive campaign in conjunction with the Australian Higher Education Industry Association. Bargaining was due to commence at Central Queensland University in March, but has been postponed by mutual agreement due to management’s desire to bed down the merger with TAFE.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The Division was involved in the campaign to defeat the proposed deregulation of the Higher Education sector. Members met with and lobbied local MHRs and the Queensland cross bench Senators. Independent (formerly PUP) Senator Glenn Lazarus, and Greens Senator Larissa Waters, both voted against the legislation again when it was presented to the Senate a second time. The campaign on the ground generated strong member participation and provided an excellent platform for collaboration with student unions.

of Unions (QCU). Members participate in QCU campaigns and were involved in the QCU/ACTU Build a Better Future campaign against the Abbott/Turnbull Government. Members along with the Division Secretary and JCU Branch Organiser assisted with the campaign in Herbert which has been won for the ALP by just 37 votes. Of particular note is the work of the QCU on women’s issues. Two recent women’s fora were well attended with NTEU members being the largest contingent at both events. The Division also works closely with the QCU on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. On 18 August 2016, 35 professional staff and academic women came together in union and sisterhood for the very first time to celebrate Bluestocking Week at our inaugural NTEU Qld Women’s Conference. The title of the conference built upon the ‘A Feminist Agenda’ theme of Bluestocking Week this year, encouraging the women attending to ‘Speak Up, Speak Out, Be Heard’. Other campaign highlights have been participation in MUA picket against Hutchisons at Fisherman’s Island, a wonderful turnout at the People’s Climate March in November 2015, and a strong showing by the Division at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital protest and other community campaigns associated with refugee activism. nteu.org.au/qld

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On the State front, the Union continues to work closely with the Queensland Council

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 35

SA Division SA Division Secretary is Kevin Rouse. Division President is Ronald Slee, Division Vice-Presidents are Rod Crewther (Academic) and Peter Cardwell (General). Division Assistant Secretary is Julie Petticrew. Division staff are Annie Buchecker, Kathy Harrington, Cheryl Baldwin (Division Industrial Officers), Kieran McCarron, John Pezy, Juliet Fuller (Branch Organisers), and Donna Good (Admin Officer).

The South Australian (SA) Division represents over 2,000 members at three SA public universities: University of Adelaide, University of South Australia (UniSA) and Flinders University. STFs Adelaide

The Division also has members at various private providers of higher education across the State.

Membership Growth and Development The SA Division has experienced a downturn in membership growth during 2016. This has followed the previous four

A&TSI employment

Professional staff claim

Target 30 Current 39 58 Scholarships have approval for (2016) Appointed 8 Target 45 with a target of 40 annually. $102,681 spent. Staff secondment register is operational.

UniSA

Target 40 continuing Teaching Academic (STF) positions by June 2018.

Current 33 Staff secondment register is operaTarget 52 tional.

Opposite top: SA Unions Secretary Joe Szakacs addresses the rally to stop the Bjorn Lomborg centre at Flinders University.

page 36 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

Flinders

SA total

Target 10 Current 32 (headcount) 3 continuing (fixed-terms not Target 60 permitted under Flinders EA) Target

80 Target

Models to be created and compliant by the end of 2015. Only 4 models have been submitted.

Workload models are complaint with the EA. Two of the models are Division-based, with 7 being School-based.

Currently 112 fixed-term teaching academic positions Images (L–R): A&TSI Elder of the Year Jo Willmot with NTEU’s Georgina Hone, Kate Borrett, Julie Petticrew, Juliet Fuller and Elodie Janvier at International Women’s Day event, March 2016; AEU Federal President Correna Haythorp and Division Secretary Kevin Rouse; Adelaide Professional Staff review poster; UniSA 25 Year Gala Ball NTEU contingent (Edoardo Crismani, Kevin Rouse, Patrick O’Sullivan, Juliet Fuller, Peter Cardwell, Jennie Connor, Naomi Blake), July 2016.

Academic workloads

157

Appointed 143 Appointed 109

$89,163 of an annual $350,000 staff development fund has been expended Jan – April 2016.

NTEU continues to monitor compliance. Two models have been remade after NTEU intervention

years at which growth has been achieved. This decline is primarily due to early retirement packages offered at Flinders University, redundancies of professional staff at the University of Adelaide and a drop in overall recruitment. The major reason for members leaving the Union is leaving the sector, rather than any dissatisfaction with the Union. The Division has some preliminary data from current members under the age of 35. In brief, reasons for joining membership fall into two broad groups. One group could briefly be described as joining because of a philosophical position that is consistent with union membership. The second group joined the Union for individual employment security reasons and view the Union as an investment against what they see as a hostile employment environment. The Division is currently organising the production of a recruitment video. Members under the age of 35 have been asked to participate in telling their stories. This is to be produced with the assistance of the National Office and is intended to have broad recruitment application across the sector including a focus on the under 35, A&TSI members and gender balance.

Strengthening Union Structures The SA Division has implemented regular recruitment reports tabled at each Council meeting that detail the implementation and evaluation of recruitment activities at each Branch. New members resulting from pay rise leaflets have diminished each year since 2011. However, the accuracy of the non-member list is correlated to the

number of new members who sign up. Delivery of New Member Kits has been consistently occurring, but has at times taken longer than two weeks due to a variety of reasons including staff absences.

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation Refer to the table opposite for SA Division Round 6 bargaining results.

Industrial activities The graph below is a representation of the type of cases and industrial work conducted at each of the SA universities. They give an indication of the nature of industrial work being conducted across the Division. The similarities and differences

in the type and proportion of cases at each institution is apparent. Some differences arise from what has been occurring in the various universities while others are a reflection of the relative strength of clauses in Enterprise Agreements that determine if cases can and should be pursued.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The SA Division participated in the ‘Put the Liberals last’ campaign and campaigned with SA Unions in the seat of Hindmarsh. The seat was lost by the sitting Liberal candidate and regained by previous Labor member Steve Georganas.

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nteu.org.au/sa

Adelaide

Flinders

UniSA

Workload & Hours of work Restructure/Change/Redundancy Fixed Term Employment Casual Employment Remuneration Leave Probation Classification/ Promotion Performance/Misconduct Bullying/harassment Workers’ Comp (Temp Incapacity/OHS) Disability & Health related Other (contract issues/individual

grievances/student issues)

List of work activity by Branch

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 37

Tasmanian Division Tas Division Secretary is Kelvin Michael. Division President is Anthony Beckett. Division staff are Emma Gill (Division Industrial Officer; Miranda Jamieson (to Feb 2016), Shannon Harwood and Deborah Wilson (Division Organisers).

The Tasmanian Division represents over 640 members at the University of Tasmania (UTAS). Overview Again, this has been a year full of activity for the Tasmanian Division, with an emphasis on setting the foundation for bargaining, following the expiry of the existing UTAS Staff Agreement on 30 June 2016. We ran a successful A&TSI Forum in Launceston in May 2016, coordinated by Rob Anders (Tasmanian Division Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee representative) and also assisted by Adam Frogley (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator). We had a staffing change during the year. Miranda Jamieson (Industrial Officer) left us in January 2016 to take a role with the NTEU Victorian Division, based at Deakin University. We will miss Miranda’s dedication and professional approach, and wish her all the best in her new role. In February 2016 we appointed Emma Gill to the industrial officer role. Emma has experience working for other unions in Tasmania, and she has settled in to the role very well.

Membership Growth and Development Images (L–R): Protesting $100,000 degrees at a member BBQ in Hobart; Bluestocking Week brunch; Supporting CSIRO colleagues. Top: Stitch & Bitch session.

page 38 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

A key focus of the Division was retention of existing staff representatives and strategic recruitment of new staff representatives

to provide broader coverage across the university. We repeated an initiative to mark the 3% pay rise (paid on 13 July 2015) with a series of site visits by organisers, both in traditionally-visited areas and in areas that are visited less regularly. Organisers distributed small bowls of chocolate coins to highlight “more money in your pocket”, with a focus on driving organising/ recruitment conversations. This site visit strategy was pursued instead of a payrise mailout for 2015. A casual staff member (Emma Gill) was engaged to undertake recruitment conversations with non-members, from July to December 2015. This initiative confirmed that NTEU Tasmanian Division has reasonable profile within non-members, encountered very little push-back, and delivered a number of new members. During this period, Tasmanian Division staff collected in Launceston in September 2015 to run a recruitment blitz, aiming to knock on the doors of offices of nonmembers. We also arranged for an ACTU trainer to provide organising staff with dedicated recruitment training in March 2016. In November 2015 we offered members movie tickets as an incentive to sign up new members in their area, and in March 2016 we offered new members a $25 gift card. These promotions enable us to add a number of new members for a small oneoff outlay, and the posters advertising the schemes add to our general profile around the campuses.

Strengthening of NTEU Structures and Systems

the relevant workload clause of the UTAS Staff Agreement.

In December 2015, the Tasmanian Division Council participated in a full-day, off-site workshop, which covered the following topics: summaries of the state of the union in Tasmania, as well as the state of the industry; initial thoughts on a communications strategy; enterprise bargaining and the associated need for campaigning.

Round 7 Bargaining

On the following day, a second full-day workshop was held for a larger audience, namely Division Council and staff representatives. Grahame McCulloch (NTEU General Secretary) attended and presented a National Bargaining Overview. The workshop also considered a SWOT analysis related to the next round of bargaining, discussed different types of power in the workplace, and conducted an assessment of relative power for NTEU vs management. In January 2016, Division officers and staff met in Ross to draw up the plan of action for 2016. In February 2016, the Division engaged a publicity consultant to develop a marketing plan and strategy for the Division

In February 2016, Division staff commenced a process of phoning members to survey them about their key issues relevant to the Staff Agreement, so that we could prioritise the importance of certain issues as well as uncover other issues which could be developed into local claims. Approximately 100 members were directly contacted in this mode over about 7 weeks. At this stage, we developed an on-line survey which was then opened up for members to complete. The response rate to the survey was healthy (> 40%) and the answers penned to open-ended questions were very illuminating. Drafting then commenced for a log of claims, and a series of member meetings were run in various parts of the University during June 2016 to discuss the types of matters that were to comprise the log. Formal member meetings to ratify the log commenced on 30 June 2016, and were completed in July 2016.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns

In November 2015 we ran a series of workshops on the topic of workloads. We convened separate workshops for academic staff and for professional staff.

Bluestocking Week in August was another successful celebration of women in higher education. In the lead up to Bluestocking Week, we held ‘stitch and bitch’ sessions to knit blue squares to darn into a blanket and get things off our chests. The blanket was then raffled, with the proceeds of $500 donated to the Hobart Women’s Shelter.

In each case, the presentation was intended to inform attendees of their rights under

We ran a movie night showing Made in Dagenham, and encouraged attendees

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation

to dress in 1960’s theme, and wear blue stockings. We gathered donations on the evening which were passed on to the Malala Fund for the Education of Girls. In Launceston we held a successful High Tea during Blue Stocking Week, which was well attended by members. The Tasmanian Division organised screenings of Ivory Tower in both Launceston and Hobart during August 2015, and attracted ~ 70 people total across the two showings. In September 2015, we held on-campus BBQs in Launceston and Hobart to support the national No 100 k$ Campaign, as well as raise awareness of key local issues, principally the plans for campus relocations in Launceston and expansion into associate degree teaching. On Go Home on Time day we arranged after work drinks for member drinks in Sandy Bay, Hobart and Inveresk. Prior to the day, we had distributed Have a Break on Us posters / fliers (with tea bags attached). In May 2016, the Division Secretary assisted with organisation of and publicity for a public forum for Friends of CSIRO, a movement founded by Dr Ross Gwyther (ex-CSIRO and ex-NTEU, Queensland). nteu.org.au/tas

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 39

Victorian Division Vic Division Secretary is Colin Long. Division President is Philippa Wells, Division Vice-Presidents are Mark Schier (Academic) and Katrina Fleming (General). Division staff are Elizabeth McGrath (Acting Senior Industrial Officer), Rob Binnie, Josh Cullinan, Clare Danaher, Margaret Maloney, Stan Rosenthal, Rhidian Thomas, Gia Underwood (Division Industrial Officers), Janet Bourke (Division Industrial Organiser), Miranda Jamieson, Corey Rabaut (Division Organisers), Russel Baader, Linda Cargill, Chloe Gaul, Anna Gunn, Lisbeth Latham, Serena O’Meley, Garry Ryan, Liz Schroeder (Branch Industrial Organisers), Steve Horton, Hayden Jones, Bec Muratore, Dave Willis (Branch Organisers), Toby Cotton (Campaigns & Communications Officer), Dustin Halse (Recruitment & Campaign Organiser), Lachlan Clohesy, Jo Taylor (Member Organisers), Adrienne Bradley (Admin Officer/Executive Support).

The Victorian Division represents nearly 9,500 members at nine public universities: Deakin University, Federation University Australia, La Trobe University, University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University and Victoria University and the Melbourne and Ballarat campuses of Australian Catholic University. The Division also has members at TAFE, Adult and Community Education, Navitas, research institutes, and various other private providers of higher education across the state.

Membership Growth and Development Improved recruitment, especially connected to campaigns for secure work and in vocational education at RMIT and Swinburne, has seen a growth in membership, especially during 2016, a refreshing turn-around from the previous 12 months, when mass job losses at University of Melbourne and La Trobe hit the NTEU. Considerable effort has been put into engagement with younger staff, including: Images (L–R): Members striking at RMIT (Feb 2016); Roz Ward returns to work with a guard of honour (June 2016); Save Warrnambool Campus (April 2016). Opposite top: People’s Climate March (Nov 2015).

page 40 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

• Further development of the SuperCasuals campaign: successful campaign activities have been occurring at La Trobe Melbourne (Navitas), and

La Trobe, VU, Monash, Swinburne and Melbourne universities. A Victorian Casuals Committee was established during the year, and, with nine members, has played an important role in leading the organising of casual staff. Over ten per cent of the Victorian Division membership now consists of casual staff. • Continued development of the Union’s online and social media presence, the value of which was emphasised by the massive response to our campaign to have Roz Ward reinstated. Our Facebook reach, for instance, is now regularly in the tens of thousands weekly. • Two member-organiser positions were created, and filled by two sessional academics, who work three days for the NTEU while maintaining employment in the sector.

Strengthening Union Structures Improved National Office follow-up of unfinancial members has improved retention, but considerable work still needs to be done on basic retention tasks such as delivery of new membership kits. Accountability for Branch-based organising continues to need improvement, and is not assisted by the very decentralised nature of the NTEU. Better coordination of large-scale proactive campaigning has been achieved through the establishment of a small team in the Victorian Division to coordinate strategic campaigns around secure work.

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation The Division has placed considerable emphasis on the implementation of Round 6 bargaining claims for Scholarly Teaching Fellows and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander employment targets. Almost 200 scholarly teaching fellow positions have been created, with more due. Achievement of Aboriginal employment targets has been patchier, and the Division is commencing the more vigorous implementation of them, including through disputes. An ongoing national campaign to defeat deregulation and privatisation of universities and tertiary education was undertaken, and the Division contributed to the wider campaign to defeat the Coalition Government. The Victorian Division contributed to the successful national effort to defeat the deregulation and privatisation plans of the Federal Government. However, vigilance is required, as we know the Coalition is committed to these policies in the long term. The Division participated in the ACTU/ Victorian Trades Hall Council election campaign, targeting four marginal seats.

Other Sectors TAFE Most PACCT EBAs in stand-alone TAFE colleges have now been completed, thanks to the stellar efforts of Division Industrial Organiser and TAFE delegates. The Victorian Government’s decision to reinstate a Multi-Employer Agreement

(MEA) for TAFE teaching staff put an end to bargaining for institute-specific Agreements, but enabled the NTEU to take a seat at the negotiations for the MEA, despite objections from the AEU. The FWC found that the NTEU has coverage of all TAFE teaching staff, not just those teaching higher education programs, as asserted by the AEU. Negotiations for a new Agreement in the vocational education section or RMIT have been long and arduous, but may be approaching a successful conclusion.

Several important FWC and Federal Court cases were run and won, including: the judicial review of the Swinburne EBA, which led to that Agreement being quashed and a much better Agreement made; and full court of the Federal Court confirming the NTEU’s interpretation of La Trobe University’s EBA redundancy clause.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The Division has been very active in relation to climate change and other social justice issues, including the following:

A campaign around secure work for TAFE staff at Swinburne saw terrific growth in membership there; we are now trying to force Swinburne to the bargaining table.

• We took the lead on organising unions for the People’s Climate March, which was very successful, with Melbourne holding the largest march in the world

Adult and Community Education

• Division Secretary attended COP21 in Paris, participating in the ITUC delegation.

Agreement was reached on a new MEA for neighbourhood houses early in 2016. However, the employers introduced complications that have made it difficult to conclude the process of completing the Agreement. The ACE Branch is the best functioning and most active due to the efforts of a number of activists over the last year.

Industrial Activities

• Participated in the development of Manufacturing Futures Competition, in conjunction with several other organisations and the State Government. • Support for refugee organisations, including speaking at rallies. • The development of a partnership with St Joseph’s College on post-school pathways for asylum seekers.

Activities include the defence and reinstatement of Roz Ward following her standing down by La Trobe University, after a campaign against her by the Murdoch press and other politicians.

• Continued engagement with 350.org around divestment

After concerted lobbying by the Victorian Division, the Victorian Government reinstated staff and student representatives to university councils.

• Support for Australian Unemployed Workers Union.

• Division Secretary continues to participate in Global Advisory Group of Trade Unions for Energy Democracy.

nteu.org.au/vic

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 41

WA Division WA Division Secretary is Gabe Gooding. Division President is Stuart Bunt. Division Vice-President is Ute Mueller, Division Staff are Marty Braithwaite (Senior State Organiser), Alex Cousner and Glenn Walsh (Industrial Officers), Mark Charles and Donna Shepherdson (Division Industrial Organisers), Beth Cole, Ryan Costello, Eileen Glynn and Jayne van Dalen (Branch Organisers).

The Western Australia (WA) Division represents over 2,500 members at the four WA public universities: University of Western Australia (UWA), Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University (ECU) and Curtin University and the University of Notre Dame Australia. The Division also has members at Navitas and some private colleges. The past year has been an active one for the WA Division as we sought to focus our activities on building union power and influence.

Membership Growth and Development

Images (L–R): Members demand secure jobs in the Value University Staff bargaining campaign; Gabe Gooding and Owen Whittle, Assistant Secretary of UnionsWA, at the protest against UWA’s 300 redundancies; Stuart Bunt and Jamie O’Shea at an O-Week stall; Donna Shepherdson and Beth Cole. Opposite top: UWA members protesting against the VC’s planned 300 redundancies.

page 42 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

There has been a renewed focus on recruitment, with each Branch working towards a target and there is now a renewed sense of collective responsibility for securing the future of the Union through building membership. At the time of writing the Division membership had increased by 3.5% over the year, on track to reach our overall target of 5%. This is particularly pleasing as there have been several major rounds of restructuring in WA universities in which we always lose members.

Strengthening Union Structures As a part of our commitment to building union power we have devoted considerable

effort to building our numbers of accredited and trained delegates. We now have a growing cohort of trained delegates who are committed to promoting the Union within their workplaces.

Industrial Activities The Division has taken a new approach to case work this year, targeting high profile winnable cases that have the capacity to demonstrate Union effectiveness. When linked to social media promotion we are confident that this will result in a higher profile for the Union. A notable win was on fixed term contract conversion at Murdoch which went to arbitration and which we won. We are now working on flowing that decision through to other fixed term contract members at Murdoch. At the same time we have been continuing our traditional and very important work in supporting individual members. There have been several major industrial issues within the Division in the last year, but undoubtedly the biggest has been the restructure at UWA that was planned to result in the axing of 300 jobs. Despite being announced at the Vice Chancellor’s Christmas address last year, at the time of writing the identification of 200 of those positions had not yet begun. One development of concern has been misconduct proceedings instigated at two universities where allegations were made of staff breaching their institution’s code of conduct in what were clear exercises of academic freedom. While both instances had satisfactory outcomes it is indicative of the trend of managements not to understand (or care about) the broader role of academia.

Round 7 Bargaining The WA Division has been at the forefront in Round 7 bargaining, in part due to our early expiry dates. Preparation for bargaining began six months before the kick off at the end of March. A full report on the bargaining progress will be presented at National Council in October. What has been notable is a more aggressive stance from WA university employers not just with their orchestrated approach to bargaining but to industrial relations generally, and an increasing lurch towards commercialisation and corporatisation of the sector. Illustrating their changing approach to industrial relations is UWA’s attempt to require NTEU to adhere to right of entry provisions, being taken to the Commission by the management of all universities seeking bargaining orders even before negotiations had begun, and what has become a steadfast refusal in many cases to resolve disputes and grievances collegially but instead forcing matters to be remedied through legalistic processes. Outside Round 7 bargaining has been the negotiation of a new but yet to be certified Agreement at Notre Dame University and at several student guilds. It is pleasing to be able to report that the new Notre Dame Agreement includes 10 days paid domestic violence leave, the first of the WA Agreements to include such a provision.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns This year has also seen the Division step up its activities within the political sphere with intensive lobbying efforts on the university governance legislation produced by the State Government. This

legislation which sought to amend all four WA public university Acts of Parliament was developed at the initiative of the universities and puts in place measures to reduce staff, student and alumni representation on Senates and Councils, to replace elected positions with appointed ones, to remove the current requirement that the universities pay at least 50% of the student services and amenities fees to the student guilds, and to make the generation of revenue a core purpose of universities. When eventually tabled we had beaten off the elimination of elections and managed to have alumni/convocation reinstated, but we continue to lobby against the SSAF provisions. The obvious danger being that tying the funding of student unions to a discretionary decision by the universities will significantly undermine the independent collective voices of students. The WA State Government also introduced legislation this year to limit the capacity of free protest. The Criminal Code Amendment (Prevention of Lawful Activity) Bill makes it a criminal act to engage in peaceful protest if it prevents or hinders any person going about a lawful activity with penalties of 2 years gaol and a $24,000 fine. It also makes it an offence to carry a ‘thing’ in order to prevent a lawful activity, as well as reversing the onus of proof such that the protester would need to prove that they were not intending to prevent lawful activity. A good analysis can be found at www.smh.com.au/comment/ wa-antiprotest-laws-shake-the-core-of-ourlegal-system-20150324-1m6bul.html. Of considerable concern to the Union is the fact that a great many of our normal protest activities including picket lines

would now be unlawful. The Union has been active in many protests against the legislation. Our relationship with other unions has strengthened and we have supported a number of unions at pickets and protests. As well, we worked alongside UnionsWA on their Build a Better Future campaign which culminated in a good but narrow win for Labor candidate and ECU academic Anne Aly in the Federal seat of Cowan. Our good relationship with NUS locally has resulted in students supporting a number of our activities, such as the protests against restructuring at UWA, and NTEU members turning out at a number of student activities such as their actions against fee deregulation. During the year the Division has conducted or participated in a multitude of events and activities. Some that stand-out during the year are: • A launch of the book The Intervention performed by Rosalie Kunoth-Monks on the shoreline in Fremantle at dusk. • Very successful screenings of Ivory Tower. • Bluestocking Week events, including an incredibly well supported collection for domestic violence women’s refuges. • May Day. • Climate Change march. • Support for a number of social justice issues such as refugee-rights, marriage equality and the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in custody. nteu.org.au/wa

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NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 43

NT Division NT Division Secretary is Lolita Wikander. Division President is Darius Pfitzner, Division Vice-Presidents are Susan Bandias (Academic) and Sylvia Klonaris (General). Staff member is Heinz Schmitt (Division Industrial Officer).

The NT Division represents over 350 members at Charles Darwin University (CDU) and Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE), as well as the Central Australian Remote Health Development Service and the Menzies School of Health Research. Membership Growth and Development The delegate network expanded during 2015 – 2016. The Division held monthly delegate meetings and some delegates took advantage of the training offered by National Office, as did Elected Officers. The Writing for the Union/Academic Freedom course delivered in Darwin was extremely popular and had excellent feedback. The National President visited the NT and gave a presentation to members entitled Can We Future Proof Our Careers? The NT Division Secretary and the National President also met with the CDU Vice Chancellor. The NT Division conducted several Bluestocking Week activities, General Staff Classification Sessions and an NT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum. Recruitment of new members continued and membership held steady with a slight increase. Local recruitment efforts were supported by several visits by the National recruiters, pay rise leaflets and mail outs from National Office.

Membership at Menzies has increased but is still very low. Membership at Batchelor Institute remained steady. The NT Division performed financially above set targets.

Strengthening NTEU Structures The Division continued to develop a series of fact sheets to guide members through common topics of enquiry. A survey of teaching focused staff was undertaken regarding the implementation of nonattendance time. The results from this survey will inform local bargaining claims. General newsletters were inconsistently circulated.

Round 6 Bargaining and Implementation Implementation of the CDU Agreement continued during 2015 – 2016. Three monthly Joint University Union Consultative Group meetings were conducted. These proved largely inefficient and the NTEU withdrew their participation and proceeded to lodge disputes on outstanding items. These included: the Indigenous employment strategy and targets and the Early Career Development Fellowships. Bargaining at Menzies was concluded. The Batchelor Institute Agreement was completed late 2015.

Round 7 Bargaining The core bargaining team has been established and some early planning is underway. This included the decision to carry out bargaining training in Darwin to facilitate engagement with interested delegates and members.

Public Advocacy and Campaigns The Division and members conducted or attended several activities aimed at drawing attention to deregulation and attempts to privatise the university sector. Activities included an NTEU stall at the CDU Open Day and orientation, a breezeway event, members attending the May Day march and participating in activities during the Federal Election. Members also supported Unions NT at rallies around Federal Election issues such as save Medicare and penalty rates. nteu.org.au/nt page 44 • NTEU Annual Report 2016

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Budget Report The NTEU budget cycle is a complex process which must take account of total assets of $26 million, annual revenues of $21 million and the employment of over 120 staff.

Defence Allocation Fund 3%

Discretionary 8% Operating 14%

Salaries and On Costs 72%

Leave Provision 3%

The National Finance Unit oversees this process through the centralised collection and distribution of members’ fee income, budget setting and the preparation of income and expenditure statements for all levels of the Union. Financial probity and the responsible management of members’ funds is central to the Unit’s work, with each level of the Union being required to account directly for all expenditure transactions with three separate levels of authorisation and review. Key highlights for the last financial year are set out in the chart and table below, and include: • An operating surplus of $5,000. • Membership income lower than expected by $47,000. • Expenditure under by $610,00. • Repayment of internal loan to defence fund, the Union is debt free. NTEU will publish Audited Financial Statements later in calendar year 2016 in line with Fair Work Australia regulations and International Accounting Standards.

2015-2016 Union Expenditure

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nteu.org.au/myunion/about_us/finance

Budget 2015-2016 NCM 2015 (adopted Oct 2015)

Actual Surplus/(Deficit) June 2016

21.08

21.03

INCOME Membership Fees Other Income

0.11

0.24

21.19

21.27

Salaries & On Costs

14.70

14.74

Leave Provision

0.62

0.63

Operating

2.95

2.91

Discretionary

2.02

1.71

Defence Fund Allocation

0.63

20.92

20.62

0.27

0.65

Growth Team Expenses

0.69

0.64

Growth Team Result Surplus/Deficit

0.69

0.64

FINAL RESULT Surplus/Deficit

-0.42

0.01

EXPENDITURE

Operating Result-Surplus/Deficit

GROWTH TEAM

Summary of 2015-2016 Income and Expenditure - Actual vs Budget

NTEU Annual Report 2016 • page 45

nteu.org.au/annualreport