NTEU Victorian Division

New Campaign Campaigns

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  Open the Books: Financial Transparency at the University of Melbourne

  The University has made clear that it intends to carry out restructuring which will see workers across the University made redundant, and has made no promises to retain casual and fixed-term staff, hundreds of whom have already lost their jobs. Senior management have not made the case that any of these job cuts are necessary and should open up their books so that the university community can see the real extent of the financial crisis. This is key information that staff and union representatives need in order to fully assess any change plans proposed by the University.

  638 of 800 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Victoria
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  DV leave for all University Staff

  Submissions made to the Royal Commission report into Family Violence, delivered in March this year reinforced that paid leave rights and other arrangements for people experiencing domestic or family violence are crucial in terms of both reporting and recovery. People employed casually experience intimate partner or family violence too. Workers in precarious employment already have fewer protections. Of course, the casual loading does not consider this form of leave. It is self-evident that domestic and family violence paid leave rights should be extended to all staff of all Victorian universities.

  163 of 200 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Victoria
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  Academics Demand La Trobe Management Reinstate Roz Ward Immediately

  The case against Roz is a case against all workers and activists. Roz is facing a serious misconduct charge and has been suspended for stating a political belief. La Trobe University management are participating in a witch hunt driven by the Murdoch Press and right wing bigots. We need to defend Roz's job and the rights of any worker in any workplace to express political beliefs.

  1,539 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Rosie Murphy
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  FORCED REDUNDANCIES ARE NOT THE ANSWER

  • ‘Spill and fill’ redundancy measures will only exacerbate the anxiety and stress experienced by staff. • The University has a responsibility to its staff and to do the right thing for them. • Redundancies may lead to important work being shifted onto remaining staff or outsourced to external agencies at a substantially higher cost than if performed by University staff. Your signature is important to demonstrate support for La Trobe staff and students and to ensure that the University uses our public resources to maintain high quality employment conditions, so that University staff can continue to deliver quality education and research across Victoria.

  1,224 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by La Trobe NTEU
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  Open Letter to: Deakin University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Iain Martin

  As university teachers and support persons, casuals represent and maintain the reputation of the university, as it is casuals who interact with students in the classroom and in providing support services every day.

  407 of 500 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Victoria
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  UniMelb must pay Arts tutors for Lecture Attendance

  Lecture attendance is crucial for university teaching. While 16 university management executives are making more than a combined $10 million and students are paying more than $50,000 for degrees, 4000 staff members are having to work 2-3 casual teaching jobs to make ends meet. This petition responds to the cessation of payment for lecture attendance in the School of Culture and Communication, but advocates for all staff and students in the Faculty of Arts. For the University of Melbourne to have a vibrant intellectual community, that community needs a place to meet and belong. The lecture theatre is one of the few fixed locations on campus where tutors carry out their work alongside lecturers and coordinators. Content isn’t merely disseminated downward from the lectern. The lecture theatre is a space where practitioners share knowledge before, during, and after the lecture itself. It is an important space for lecturers to receive feedback and contribute to ongoing discussions, and for senior tutors to mentor junior tutors. The integrity of the tutorial space is in question when lecture attendance is neither expected of tutors, nor paid. In order to appropriately model and support student engagement with course content, tutors need to attend lectures. Tutors provide the majority of face-to-face contact students have throughout their degrees. Students need assurance that the Faculty values best practice pedagogy, and that their tutors have a meaningful relationship to the campus they work on and the content they teach. We, the undersigned, petition the Faculty of Arts to recognise that staff working conditions are student learning conditions, that lecture attendance is vital pedagogical work, and that tutors must be paid for this work separately from and in addition to tutorial preparation.

  312 of 400 Signatures

  Created by NTEU UniMelb, ANU, UoN & UQ Casuals
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  Save Foreign Languages @ Swinburne University and protect Swinburne’s Reputation

  The proposed cuts of all foreign language studies (Chinese, Italian, and Japanese) at Swinburne Uni will be detrimental to students, denying them the possibility of learning critical languages skills. Current language students will be disastrously impacted as the proposed changes do not offer a teach out of language units leaving the more than 100 students enrolled in languages with nowhere to go to finish their studies. It will also impact the University’s reputation as a University that puts the needs of its students first. We the undersigned ask the VC Professor Pascale Quester to reconsider this decision, and ensure Swinburne University’s reputation as a University that cares about its students.

  1,340 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Victoria
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  Monash employees need a 4% administrative pay rise

  Australia has a cost-of-living crisis. CPI is rising at 5% per annum, and Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe says inflation could reach 7% by the end of 2022. Staff need a pay rise to keep up with rising food and petrol prices, rising interest rates, and rising rents. Melbourne faces an acute rental crisis. Some staff are having their rents hiked $50 or $100 a week. Monash staff moved mountains to keep the University operating through the pandemic -- voting for a pay freze in 2020-21 to help the University through. While the Vice-Chancellor takes home $1.3m a year, many Monash workers are low-income casual teachers, librarians, and adminstrative and laboratory staff. Now we need the University to do its bit. Monash University can afford a pay rise. Monash made a $416 million operating surplus in 2021. There is more than $800 million cash in the bank. Since 2019, the University has tallied $1 billion in supluses. Normally, staff would negotiate a pay rise through enterprise bargaining. The NTEU has been trying to negotiate, but Monash University refuses to talk. Monash University's Enterprise Agreement expired on June 30. Monash management have refused to open pay negotiations, despite repeated requests from the NTEU for months. Every fortnight that Monash refuses to negotiate is a fortnight where real wages go backwards. It's time for Margaret Gardner to step in, and give Monash University staff some cost of living relief.

  21 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Ben Eltham
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  An open letter to RMIT Chancellor Dr Ziggy Switkowski

  The Higher Education Act (2005) requires by law that University Council members have “an appreciation of the values of a University”. Given RMIT values include being “agents of positive change for our students, the community and beyond”, it is simply untenable that Ziggy Switkowski continues in his role of RMIT chancellor or as a Council member whilst chair of Crown Resorts Board .

  336 of 400 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Branch
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  NTEU Solidarity with Swinburne Staff and Students

  So far this year Swinburne Council have; 1. embarked on a mass voluntary redundancy round that was not needed while taking on millions of dollars in debt to fund the redundancies – debt the union says the university will be continuing to pay off well after the Covid-19 crisis has passed. 2. Started another University wide sacking, sorry as Pascale says 'optimisation opportunity', while trying to tell NTEU they don't have to consult with anyone about that (yes we have put Swinburne in formal dispute) 3. Make big cuts to STEM while publicly announcing they want to be STEM focused. This includes cutting the only public health program in Victoria that teaches research and responses to pandemics. We urge all NTEU members and university staff to sign this petition in solidarity with Swinburne colleagues and to #defendhighered

  261 of 300 Signatures

  Created by NTEU Victoria