E D I T O R I A L

Be My Guest
Is anyone else confused about the current behaviour of our Prime Minister? In just a few short years he�s transformed himself from National Door Bitch to Regional Street Spruiker.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Australia@Work
Labor's Penny Wong has the job of getting more people into the workplace and keeping companies honest. In her spare time ....

Unions: State of the Union
Unions NSW secretary John Robertson unveils the annual survey of attitudes of workers to their jobs, thier lives and the union.

Industrial: Fashion Accessories
Jim Marr unpacks the unlikely claim of a suburban house to be considered the New Mecca of the New Right �

Legal: Leg Before Picket
Chris White looks at how the federal industrial changes will impact on the basic right to strike.

Politics: Business Welfare Brats
Neale Towart asks why the only form of legitmate welfare seems to be going to the top end of town.

Health: Cannabis Controversy
Zoe Reynolds looks at how drug and alcohol testing is leading to some addled outcomes.

Economics: Debt, Deficit, Downturn
As the indicators head south, Frank Stilwell wonders whether it is the way we do economics that is to blame.

History: Politics In The Pubs
Phil Doyle reports on the increasingly-popular Struggles, Scabs and Schooners day out.

Review: Three Bob's Worth
Doing their best Margaret and David, Tara de Boehmler and Tim Brunero have different takes on the new Australian flick Three Dollars.

Poetry: Do The Slowly Chokie
Workers Online bard David Peetz teaches how workers to dance to Howard's industrial laws.

N E W S

Cash Grab Targets Families

Wattyl Lacks Colour

Censors Ban Workers Online

Stink Over Water

Cole Slurs Slide

Table Hands Stuffed

Sweat Shop Taxes MLC�s Patience

Cops Strengthen Thin Blue Line

Buses Drive Commuters Crazy

Guards Win Rail War

Building Families Pocket $15 Million

Students Mark Lecturers

Activist�s What�s On

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Notes From a Laneway
Mental Health Workers Alliance member Toby Raeburn shares a week on the frontline.

The Locker Room
War, Plus The Shooting
The Socceroos aren�t their own worst enemy after all, or so says Phil Doyle

Culture
Life Imitates Art
The jokes have been around for some time about the economic rationalist's approach to the orchestra, writes Evan Jones.

Parliament
The Westie Wing
Ian West takes the secret passage out of Macquarie Street to deliver his take on NSW Parliamentary Committees and other goings on.

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

	About Workers Online
	Latest Issue
	Print Latest Issue
	Previous Issues
	Advanced Search

other LaborNET sites

Labor Council of NSW
Vic Trades Hall Council
IT Workers Alliance
Bosswatch
Unions on LaborNET
Evatt Foundation

Students Mark Lecturers

The academics have taken their case to graduating students following a six-month management's refusal to negotiate.

Staff have begun campaigning at graduation ceremonies fearing the University's "appalling" student staff ratio is undermining the value of degrees.

NTEU official Kevin Poynter says students have been supportive of the campaign with graduates and parents stopping to talk to leaflet totting lecturers.

Poynter says workload pressure has led to the University being the most "productive" in the country with annual productivity growth of 12.2 percent compared to a national average of 1.8.

"While this may make the University's finances look good it is important everyone realises that such a high student staff ratio seriously reduces the quality of teaching," said Poynter.

Poynter said staff are working long into the night and on weekends to keep up teaching standards. He says many employee's personal lives are suffering as a result.

"It's fair to say the Uni is only running on the dedication of its staff," he said.

Charles Sturt University's last enterprise agreement with academic and general staff expired almost two years ago.

Since then the university has refused to discuss staff concerns about bullying and three year probationary contracts which allow for staff to be punted with no mechanism of appeal.

Though no agreement has been reached with staff over pay, the University has been simply paying increases it deems appropriate.

Poynter says staff are prepared to take industrial action if University management does not meet with staff.

"It's difficult because the students are the ones who suffer," he said.

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 258 contents

© 1999-2002 Workers Online
Workers Online is a resource for the Labour movement
provided by the Labor Council of NSW
URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/258/news94_stud.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005