Respect at work is a reasonable workload!

Workloads: The elephant in the room

Work / life balance is an issue confronting many university staff. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is working hard to ensure that university staff have a decent life outside of work.

The NTEU NSW Division in conjunction with Unions NSW has produced a video highlighting work-life balance issues. The video goes for 2 mins and you can watch it below.

We want to hear your story

Leave your message below in the comments section (where it says “Speak Your Mind”), or email your story to nteunsw@nsw.nteu.org.au. Please note that if you leave a comment below, it will automatically be made public.

Respect @ Work: Campaigning for a Better Workplace for staff at Newcastle University

The current University of Newcastle Workplace Agreements have expired.

Over a year ago, the NTEU asked staff employed at University of Newcastle what they would like to improve and retain from their current Agreement.  After conducting surveys and meetings, NTEU members collated these issues into a ‘Log of Claims’ which was sent to university management in May 2008.

The Log of Claims outlined the employment conditions important to UoN staff including:
• Effective regulation of workloads for both academic and general staff
• A competitive pay increase;
• Improved general staff reclassification procedures with transparent appeal rights;
• Improved grievance procedures in response to the systemic bullying at the University
• A career path for casual staff with payment for all work performed;
• Improvements in employment conditions for contract research staff;
• Greater job security for all staff;
• Achieving a balance between work and life commitments

A General Meeting of NTEU members on 30 June 2009, unanimously endorsed a call for management to meet with the Union on our claim. We wrote to  Vice Chancellor, Professor Nicholas Saunders requesting that a bargaining meeting be urgently called on or before Friday 10 July 2009.

University management claim that they have consistently indicated that they are willing to enter bargaining discussions. However not one meeting has taken place in the last 12 months and the University has not actually agreed to meet directly with the Union bargaining representatives.

At a general meeting on 15th July a motion was unanimously endorsed by NTEU members directing the Branch Executive and Bargaining Team to again demand that the management urgently meet with the NTEU  to discuss our claims. They appear to  want to identify the Combined Consultative Committee set up under the Howard government regime as the staff representative body for bargaining purposes.

The NTEU is concerned that the University management’s refusal to meet specifically with the Union Bargaining Team is an indication of their failure to recognise the NTEU as a legitimate representative body and/or a tactic to stall the bargaining process.
University management is specifically obligated to meet and commence Enterprise Bargaining negotiations with the Union under the new Fair Work Act.  We demand this be done immediately.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

We need you to join our campaign, to achieve fair and manageable workloads, a pay rise which will fairly acknowledge the hard work of  staff , and to achieve respect at work for all.

If you’re not currently a Union member, please join.  To be a part of our campaign, you need to join the Union today.

If you are already a member of the NTEU, please contact your Union to volunteer in our Campaign Committee work. You can do as much or as little as you like. Every helping hand will help us win the kind of pay and conditions YOU deserve!