Ballarat NTEU beats sackings
By Jeremy Smith
On January 10, five workers in the University of Ballarat Student Union were handed redundancy notices. On January 11, they awoke to find their jobs advertised in the local paper.
The sackings were initiated by the incoming student leadership, which, it is believed, has links with the local branch of the Liberal Party.
All five workers were members of the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union. They were given four weeks' notice, the bare minimum under the government's new industrial relations legislation. However, they were not offered any of the further entitlements due to them under the award or the workplace agreement.
The NTEU filed for unfair dismissals on the basis of breach of agreement. An emergency union meeting on January 14 resolved to conduct an uncompromising campaign to reinstate the five staff. A variety of tactics were discussed as part of a medium-term campaign, including encouraging student pressure on the leadership of the Student Association.
It is rumoured that a Liberal Party member who is a student on campus has been appointed on a short-term basis to "restructure" the union. The plans of the new student leadership were stymied, however, when the case went before the Industrial Relations Commission.
On January 16, the commission found in favour of the NTEU and ordered the Student Association to reinstate the staff, shifting them from the agreement to the federal award.
The Student Association can reinitiate redundancies, but will have to offer a full award package including six months' notice, six months' pay and two weeks' pay for every year of service. At this stage, there is no indication that it will pursue this course.