NTEU national council sets strategy

By Jeremy Smith

The National Tertiary Education Industry Union held its national council meeting three days before the October 3 federal election. Under the slogan “NTEU: Leading the Industry”, more than 200 councillors, officers and visitors took stock of the union's strengths and the tasks it faces.

NTEU federal president Carolyn Allport opened the meeting with an assessment of the state of the union. “The NTEU's internal and external standing has never been higher. Our performance in the last bargaining round and in the achievement of the new award is seen as one of the best in the union movement ... NTEU's increasing membership bucks the trend [in Australian unions]”, Allport reported.

General secretary Grahame McCulloch said, “both [major] parties are committed to continuing fiscal restraint, both embrace the need for extensive workplace bargaining and both will support a recasting of the existing boundaries within and between universities”. Departing from the written text of his speech, McCulloch emphasised the NTEU policy of independence from all political parties and the ACTU.

McCulloch and Allport listed enormous difficulties facing the industry and the union: the loss of 2500 jobs since 1996, the deepening of corporatisation of the structures and content of education, the erosion of job security, and the undermining of intellectual freedom.

The next round of enterprise bargaining will be difficult for the NTEU. The Coalition's victory raises the stakes. Prior to the election, education minister David Kemp commissioned a report by former Bond University vice-chancellor Raoul Mortley into the bargaining process.

The national council was told that the report foreshadows a “MUA-style” attack on the NTEU. One recommendation is to link future public funding to the introduction of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). The council is willing to fight such a move.

The NTEU industrial strategy aims to maintain award conditions for all staff. As well, all NTEU logs of claims will include a 19% pay increase, incorporation of award conditions, maintenance of employer contributions to superannuation schemes and provision for the regulation of workloads.

No agreement will be approved by the NTEU if it allows AWAs, pay rises contingent on performance targets, use of contracts outside of the award or reduction in superannuation. The current award is seen as the cornerstone of the industrial strategy.

A number of concerns were raised by councillors about the spread of casual work in the industry.

McCulloch signalled a shift to greater Asia-Pacific solidarity work. One motion called for solidarity with Indonesia's independent trade unions and the People's Democratic Party. It called for the release of all political prisoners and highlighted the case imprisoned union leader Dita Sari. The NTEU agreed to affiliate to Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor.

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