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In an attempt to hold down wages La Trobe University management have proposed a staff ballot in an attempt to have an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) implemented. This EBA would remove job security and strip away basic rights and conditions.
It is the first ballot to occur in the university sector under the Howard/Reith anti-union, anti-worker industrial regime and a straight out union-busting campaign against the local branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). Government austerity - in the form of massive funding cuts and Vice Chancellors chasing the corporate dollar - have already resulted in heavy job losses and dramatically increased workloads, in the wake of last year's federal budget.
Negotiations over the EBA, between the NTEU-La Trobe University branch and administration, reached a deadlock at the end of June. The NTEU branch placed a ban on releasing exam results, in response to the University's refusal to grant some very minor concessions concerning the level of pay, the duration of the EBA and the prohibition of industrial action over the course of the agreement.
The proposed agreement would erode conditions, severely restrict industrial action and stretch the salary increase of 12.5% over two years with no backdating of pay, casuals will be subjected to two-year performance-based contracts. Despite these factors, it appeared that a settlement over the proposed EBA was close at hand.
Resistance by the local NTEU branch leadership has been minimal. In spite of the general worsening of conditions, funding cuts and University initiated productivity hikes, the NTEU branch has been willing to accept the main thrust of trading off conditions and jobs for a salary increase. Even so management and Vice Chancellor, Michael Osborne, have decided to halt negotiations and launch an all-out attack on the union. The University is taking the proposed EBA to a ballot of all staff.
The consequences of this action could be catastrophic for the NTEU, given that the ballot will bypass the NTEU as the chief bargaining agent. Staff will be asked to individually decide whether or not to accept the EBA, which can be read as a precursor to the implementation of individual contracts.
Contrary to the Vice Chancellor's claim that the 'Decision is Yours' in a message dated 14 July, the decision to conduct the ballot is aimed directly at undermining the collective bargaining power of the union. It is a classic union-busting tactic.
Furthermore, the Vice Chancellor has indicated that if the ballot goes against the University, he will seek to impose even worse conditions upon staff, 'Should the offer not be formally endorsed by staff of the University, obviously there will be no Agreement and no salary increase'. The Vice Chancellor goes on to explain that in the absence of endorsement from staff, the University will continue to negotiate with the NTEU as the sole agent. The Vice Chancellor has claimed, 'salary increases will be reconsidered in the light of the strict capacity of the University to pay and that specific reference to productivity measures will be incorporated into any revised offer'.
The motivation of management is to undermine the union's position as the chief bargaining agent and to accelerate the drive towards a 'leaner' and more 'productive' workforce (less staff, working harder, for less pay).
This is an attempt to weaken the NTEU.
The future for the NTEU looks somewhat bleak. The local branch of the Community & Public Sector Union (CPSU) has already agreed to the EBA. In response to the ballot, the branch is conducting a 'Vote No' campaign . It is likely the NTEU will lose the vote if a majority of staff participate in the ballot.
La Trobe has endured the largest loss of staff of any university in Victoria, 240 positions overall. As La Trobe's management slashes the workforce to absorb the loss of funding, it gains the added advantage of tailoring its educational services to the interests of the market place and profit accumulation.
More recent events, which have led to the ballot and bypassing of the union, are the result of the NTEU's acceptance of redundancies and its continual unwillingness to resort to strike activity. Every time the branch's leadership has refused to engage in actively fighting against the loss of conditions and job cutting, University management's confidence has grown in carrying out attacks upon the workforce.
[STOP PRESS: The Offer was rejected in the staff ballot 884 to756.
The V-C responded with a statement that:
"In the case of members covered by the NTEU negotiations will recommence in due course. I take the staff vote to indicate a desire for the key issues identified by the NTEU, namely
1. a backdating of the first salary instalment to 1 January 1997; and
2. a shortening of the lifetime of the proposed agreement.
As I explained in my Message of 14 July 1997, the University was prepared to rely on natural attrition to meet the shortfall in funding for the proposed Agreement but obviously it cannot afford to meet the first of the demands without significant compulsory redundancies. In deference to the majority view of the staff, however, the University will now formulate a proposal to address the cost of this demand which, as at other universities, will necessarily involve staff reductions."]