Shua Garfield, Sydney
As University of NSW Student Guild representatives crossed their picket line, guild staff organised by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) leafleted passers-by to explain the one-day strike action they took on March 22.
Staff struck because the current Student Guild administration has refused to concede to the workers' demand for a minimum of 26 weeks' redundancy pay, with additional payment based on time served. They are also demanding protection of the existing redundancy entitlements for one member of staff who has been employed by the guild for 30 years.
NTEU delegate Jesse Wynhausen told Green Left Weekly that the previous year's guild executive officer had agreed verbally to the demands put forward by the NTEU. Staff were expecting the incoming guild to formalise the agreement. However, the new guild has refused to recognise the agreements made at the end of 2004, claiming that those negotiations were unofficial.
Instead, the guild has offered staff a redundancy package that, according to Wynhausen, would cut by half the redundancy package that most of the 10 staff members concerned are entitled to under the previous agreement. The longest-serving employee would have his redundancy package reduced by $70,000 under the guild's current offer.
When asked for comment by GLW, Student Guild president Manoj Dias-Abey claimed that the staff's demands were unreasonably high and could cripple the guild financially. Dias-Abey admitted that the guild had cash reserves totaling $700,000 and that total staff redundancy pay-outs under the NTEU's plans would total around $450,000 in the event of lay-offs.
However, he claimed that these reserves were necessary for the guild to survive the likely imposition of "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) by the federal government.
Wynhausen said that guild staff were also concerned about VSU, and would rather be collaborating with the guild representatives in the campaign against VSU than fighting over entitlements. However, in the event that VSU led to staff redundancy, the priority for the NTEU was to guarantee the livelihood of its members.
Wynhausen claimed that the NTEU was still willing to negotiate details regarding the eligibility of staff for the 26-week pay-out but that recent offers to negotiate had been stonewalled by guild representatives.
In the event that an agreement was not reached soon, Wynhausen said rolling industrial action would follow.
From Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2005.
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