Deakin Staff on Strike
On Friday 30 June, members voted overwhelmingly to undertake three industrial actions to increase our leverage in bargaining and try to get management to move:
- A week-long ban on teaching, and
- 24 Hour Strike, 20 July, with:
- Rally at Burwood, Central Precinct (Building HF) at 10am and
- Rally at Geelong Waterfront, Gheringhap St campus (near the Cube) entrance at 3pm
- A ban of attending campus for Professional Staff from Friday July 7 to Tuesday 11 July.
The National Tertiary Education Union has been in negotiations with Deakin Management for a new enterprise agreement for eight months, with little progress being made. On June 7, NTEU members passed a motion calling on management to make significant progress by June 30. Unfortunately, this progress was not made.
First, because despite the positive tones of some of the meetings, management’s behaviour has disappointed the NTEU. For example:
- Despite our requests for regular, all-day meetings, management has only met with the NTEU on four occasions for a handful of hours.
- While management has agreed in our meetings to approach key stakeholders to attend bargaining meetings, such efforts have not been made to the NTEU’s knowledge. When sessional DVC academic experience, Jaqueline Broadbent was approached separately to the NTEU (when attending an all-staff session on our clause), she stated that she had not been invited by the management bargaining team, despite management’s assurances they would invite her.
Second, because despite making promises in meetings to consider our claims, the substantive offers being made offer nothing to meet any of our core claims. We don’t yet have:
- A calendar of meetings moving forward
- Workload protections
- Working from home rights
- A commitment to decasualise the university
- Improved casual rights
Management claims to be in ‘partial agreement’ with many claims, but the substance of their offers suggest otherwise. We are disappointed by this slow progress. We have made ourselves available to the university at their convenience, provided materials to the university well ahead of our meetings, and signalled our willingness to negotiate on the substance of our claims. If we want to make progress in bargaining, we must show management that we’re serious.
Deakin Strike Fund
We know that a strike means our members lose money, and that for some people, it’s money they just can’t afford to lose. We have established a strike fund for low-income staff who will loose more than 20% of their weekly income as a result of taking industrial action. Instructions on how to apply will be provided via email. Anyone can donate, regardless of their NTEU Membership status.
Eligibility:
Hardship payments can be made on the following basis:
- Casual staff on less than 60k pa who will loose 20% or more of their weekly income for taking industrial action
- Any other staff on less than 60k pa who will loose 20% or more of their weekly income for taking industrial action
To request support, please email the branch at deakin@nteu.org.au, with evidence of your employment and loss of pay, and a description of action taken. The action has to be action taken on a day when you would normally have worked.
Any questions, no worries! deakin@nteu.org.au.
Resources
- Flyer (general)
- Flyer for Students Burwood
- Flyer for Students: Geelong
- Poster (Geelong)
- Template communication to inform students
- Template Text for Communicating with Academic Colleagues
- Template Text for Communicating with Professional Staff Colleagues
- Template for unit chairs communicating with sessional teaching teams
- Template for sessional staff informing their unit chairs re: teaching ban
- Template email for students to write in support of the NTEU
- Template for professional staff re: the ban on attending campus
Industrial Action FAQs
For the ban on attending campus?
It depends.
In short: Management can decide to deduct less than 100% of work based on the impact on your work on any given day. There are strict notification requirements if management want to deduct from your pay and notice must be given a day before it takes effect. If this advice is given, and you believe the amount to be unfair, please contact deakin@nteu.org.au.
In Detail: Management has 3 choices when it comes to pay and this action.
- Ignore the action and keep paying in full
- Give a notice that no payment will be made during the partial work ban. The
notice must state management will also not accept any work from you until you
resume normal work duties. - Pay a proportional amount, in which case proportional payment rules apply. Management may give you a partial work ban notice that contains details of the proportional of the reduction of your pay. If you disagree that the banned work
takes as much time as management claims, contact the Deakin NTEU office.
Still concerned? No stress! Contact: deakin@nteu.org.au
For the 24 hour strike on July 20, you will not be paid.
It is illegal for staff to request payment during a work stoppage action. It
is illegal for management to make payment.
For the Teaching Ban? It depends.
Management can decide to deduct less than 100% of work value during these
periods.
In these cases, management has 3 choices:
Ignore the action and keep paying in full
Give a notice that no payment will be made during the partial work ban. The
notice must state management will also not accept any work from you until you
resume normal work duties.
Pay a proportional amount, in which case proportional payment rules apply. Management
may give you a partial work ban notice that contains details of the
proportional of the reduction of your pay. If you disagree that the banned work
takes as much time as management claims, contact the Deakin NTEU office.
Still concerned? No stress! Contact: deakin@nteu.org.au
The same obligations apply as to any other protected action. Management can require staff to do other work etc but members can refuse to do anything that requires them to be on campus.
Yes, but there are some nuances. Please see below.
No, and you are not required to volunteer this information. If you are asked about bans, you may reply:
“NTEU currently has a number of bans in place to facilitate a new enterprise agreement and I am in support of the union.”
It is illegal for management to threaten or disadvantage you for not advising them in advance.
If management tells you that you must tell them whether you intend to take industrial action, that is a breach of the law. You should report it to the union immediately.
The same way you would usually call in sick, whether that is a text message or email, either is fine. You can even call them if that’s your style.
If you are asked directly whether you have taken industrial action or a presently imposing a ban, you should answer the question honestly and accurately. You may reply: “Yes, I am currently participant in the protected action XYZ”.
Still concerned? No stress! Contact: deakin@nteu.org.au
Absolutely not. 🙂
Still concerned? No stress! Contact: deakin@nteu.org.au
No members are obliged to take part in any actions, however the more of us take part in every action, the more powerful it is.
No – you can still teach your classes if you wish to participate in the ban on attending campus, you just have to move them online.
There are a few answers to this question. If a member has advised that they will not be performing a duty, and it is your responsibility to replace that member, then you are required to do so. However, staff members are not obligated to inform their managers before undertaking industrial action. Therefore, if you have not been explicitly advised, you do not need to find replacements for staff members, and if a staff member informs you of their intention to participate unprompted, you should feel free to remind them that they do not need to make up their mind until the beginning of the industrial action. Further, you should avoid a potential breach of the Fair Work Act by suggesting that a staff member might be required to inform you of their intention to participate in industrial action in the future. We strongly encourage staff members not to inform their supervisors before taking industrial action.
It depends. Each faculty WAM allocates supervision to either teaching or research. For the purposes of the 17-21 July Teaching Ban, we advice that staff continue their supervison duties as normal.
If a member is on paid leave and they want to go on strike, they would need to formally cancel their leave for the relevant period and notify their line manager that they are on strike.
The ‘making statements’ action means that you can take up work time talking about the Union’s enterprise bargaining aims and goals, and your manager can’t tell you to stop. For example, if you are a professional staff member, you might spend 10 minutes in a meeting talking about Deakin’s dodgy deal, or spend 3 minutes including a message about the dodgy deal in an email that you are sending. If you are an academic staff member, you might give a 10 minute presentation to students about the dodgy deal, and/or what the NTEU would like to see in a real offer to staff. Doing this is not misconduct, and it would be illegal for your manager to tell you to stop.
Send us an email at deakin@nteu.org.au. Will will also periodically update this page to reflect concerns as they arise.