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Issue No. 199 | 10 October 2003 |
Bush-Whacking
Interview: No Ifs, No Butts Unions: National Focus Industrial: Fools Gold Bad Boss: Bones of Contention History: The Gong Show Politics: The Hawke Legacy International: Sick Nation Economics: Closed Minds Review: Mixing Pop and Politics Poetry: One Size Fits All
Rail Whistleblower Attacked - Again Breakthrough for Email Privacy Harbour Sell Off Sparks Occupation Harvey World Travel Locks Up Tour Employees Disable Hard-Ball Bosses Assault Costs Education Department
Postcard The Soapbox Media The Locker Room Culture Politics Postcard
An Honest Job Letter From America
Labor Council of NSW |
News Uni Workers Stand Up To Feds
Seven unions covering university staff across Australia will be supporting the October 16th higher education strike to protest the Government's proposal to deny universities access to $404 million in funding unless they adopt a series of hard line industrial conditions. "The decision represents an unprecedented level of cooperation on the part of trade unions in the university sector," says Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary. "[It] demonstrates to the Government and university management the determination of academic and general staff to resist Commonwealth meddling and protect the independence of our public university system." The defiant note was echoed by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), who represent the general staff that work in universities.
"The Government's industrial requirements, including forcing staff onto Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), would leave nonacademic staff without many of the protections union negotiated agreements provide such as maternity leave, overtime and penalty rates," says David Carey, CPSU Federal Secretary. "The Government's requirements do not deal with the real workplace issues facing academic and general staff," says McCulloch. "Forcing university staff onto AWAs and lifting limits on casual employment, will make the situation worse and erode the quality of education provided by our public university system." The strike comes on the heels of Sydney University staff shutting down their campus on October 7 in response to management buckling to pressure from the Federal Government. In September Sydney University management were set to sign off on a new EBA but backed out at the eleventh hour in response to the reforms announced by the then Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott and Education Minister Brendan Nelson. In addition to the NTEU and the CPSU, the trade unions that have officially indicated that they will be supporting the October 16 strike are the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union; Australian Education Union; Australian Services Union; and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. In Sydney the Higher Education Unions and their supporters will be rallying in Belmore Park at 1pm on October 16.
Meanwhile the NSW Teachers Federation has slammed the NSW ALP Government for ignoring Labor Party policy on TAFE. Despite a recent backflip from the NSW Government over fee hikes for some of the most disadvantaged people in the community, many thousands of people will still be unable to access TAFE courses. ALP Policy is that TAFE courses should be free. The Teachers Federation also called on the NSW Government to reverse a proposal to slash 1000 jobs from the Department of Education and training and TAFE.
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