University breached agreement by sacking academic

BY VIV MILEY

Sacked academic Ted Steele and the National Tertiary Education Union have won their federal court case against Wollongong University, in a decision the union believes is an important win for academic freedom.

Steele and the NTEU alleged that Wollongong University vice-chancellor Gerard Sutton breached the university's enterprise agreement when he sacked Steele without notice earlier this year.

Steele was sacked for allegedly bringing the university into disrepute, after speaking out to the Sydney Morning Herald about "soft marking".

The biologist was outspoken about what he saw as compromised academic standards, particularly the university's practice of awarding honours degrees to fee-paying students he had supervised and who work he believed to be sub-standard.

The court case was not concerned with whether or not Steele's actions had constituted a "serious misconduct", but rather focused on the enterprise agreement under which Steele was employed, and the procedure Sutton used to dismiss Steele.

On February 26, several weeks after speaking to the Herald, Steele was dismissed without notice by Sutton. Thinking that he had the backing of the draconian Workplace Relations Act, the vice-chancellor dismissed Steele without due process.

The court ruled in favour of Steele and the NTEU, interpreting that procedures described in the enterprise agreement should have been used to dismiss Steele, rather than those of the Workplace Relations Act.

The enterprise agreement's clause 61 states: "Before the vice-chancellor takes disciplinary action against a staff member for reasons amounting to misconduct or serious misconduct, the vice-chancellor must take the steps in this clause." It outlines a five-step process of laying allegations, allowing a response, allowing the right to a hearing before a committee, a report of the vice-chancellor and then, finally, a decision by the vice-chancellor.

The court found that by skipping straight to the fifth step, Sutton had inadvertently breached the enterprise agreement.

The next battle for Steele is to be reinstated and compensated for the breach.

From GLW issue 460