EDITORIAL
Welcome to Sentry, NTEU's new e-magazine Sentry is NTEU's new e-magazine, to be published monthly in between issues of Advocate. It will bring members useful information about coping with the myriad effects that COVID-19 is having on our work and lives, plus lighter items to help you get through the days of lockdown.
In this inaugural Sentry we examine what’s happening with international students and how one university is maintaining its support for Aboriginal students during the shutdown. There's useful tips for online teaching and information on a workingfrom-home tax shortcut.
NTEU proposes a Jobs Protection Framework Our sector is facing an unprecedented crisis. The drop in international and domestic student enrolments could result in a revenue shortfall of up to $5 billion. Universities Australia estimates up to 30,000 jobs (21,000 FTE) will be lost, without a real rescue package.
Education Minister Dan Tehan hanging university staff out to dry during COVID-19 (TM)
So far the Morrison Government has failed to come forward with any meaningful support, and instead have put a sequence of barriers into place to prevent university employees (including long term casuals) from accessing JobKeeper payments. We will continue to campaign hard, but with no leadership from government we are doing everything we can to save every job we can. That’s why we are trying to negotiate a National Jobs Protection Framework with university employers, which would secure protections for staff that are not currently available under our enterprise agreements or the Fair Work Act.
vol. 1 no. 1
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nteu.org.au/sentry
This first issue brings you links to the policy briefings and fact sheets that have been produced to inform members about COVID-19 and its effects on tertiary education, including a timeline of how this has played out over the last months. We hope you enjoy reading our new magazine!
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In order to save jobs it is likely that we will need to agree to some short-term amendments to working conditions. Any agreement reached would be time-limited, indicating when existing employment conditions would be re-established. We want the Framework to include the avoidance of stand-downs without pay; no new external appointments; redundancies to apply only where the work is ceasing permanently; casuals to receive the work where it is still required to be done; and superannuation payments to be maintained. If we can achieve these things then we would consider offsets that allow employers to implement some cost-saving measures in exchange, such as deferral of pay rises, limited fraction reductions and direction to work other duties. And of course, no agreement will be finalised until members across the country have voted on it. An online meeting of NTEU National Councillors on 24 April endorsed the plan by an 85% majority vote.
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