UNSW academic staff vote for bans
By Helen Jarvis
SYDNEY — A general meeting of NTEU members at UNSW on November 19 voted to impose bans on submitting assessment results. This was one of a number of motions expressing anger at the restructuring proposals being developed by the vice-chancellor, which will lead to forced redundancies and resulting increased workloads for those remaining, and to the closure of schools and courses.
The most significant of these is the closure of the St George campus in southern Sydney, affecting more than 100 staff and 1000 students.
Academic staff also voted to hold a "large and ruly" stop-work meeting on December 2, when the UNSW Council meets to decide on the vice-chancellor's proposals, being developed under the heading of "UNSW 2000".
It is hoped that the CPSU, which represents general staff at UNSW, will reconsider its earlier decision not to stop work on December 2, and that students will also participate, although they have now finished their classes and most have left the campus.
In addition, a vote of no confidence was passed in the vice-chancellor and in the Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Committee (consisting of deans and senior executive officers of the university). The next day, however, the Academic Board (which contains elected staff members and students as well as those ex-officio VCAC members) voted to endorse the UNSW 2000 process.
Although not mentioned in the motions, the long overdue claim for a salary increase of 15% formed a backdrop to the meeting, and the university was advised on November 21 that the bargaining period for the enterprise agreement was to begin shortly. The bans are to be reconsidered on December 3 in the light of the decisions made by council the previous day.
[Helen Jarvis is a member of the NTEU at the University of NSW.]