Campaign to Reinstate Teacher Activists
Unionists & Students Present Protest Petition
The campaign to reinstate three sacked teachers at the Northern Melbourne
Institute of TAFE (NMIT) used the institute's open day to set up an
information booth to gather support for the campaign but were ordered to
move by the City of Darebin with the threat of a $200 fine.
Ms Alison Thorne, one of the protest organisers and sacked teachers said,
'Darebin Council is guilty of double standards. Northern Melbourne
Institute of TAFE had a large sandwich board placed prominently on the
footpath. It is ironic that at the same time residents in Darebin are
fighting to defend local democracy and win back the right to elect their
council, the apparatus of local government has been used in a politically
partisan way to attempt to shut workers up.'
The campaign was established after three permanent teachers and union
activists were retrenched last April and replaced by low paid casual staff.
The campaign committee is demanding an end to discrimination at the
Institute, reinstatement for former teachers who want their jobs back and
for management to cease its union busting campaign against all unions on
campus, including the student union.
One hundred and sixty visitors to the Institute Open Day signed the
campaign petition. Student activists also collected contact details from
potential students who are keen to get involved and build an independent
student union.
A Speak Out at 1 pm announced the number of signatures collected in the
ongoing campaign. The Reinstate the Northern Three AEU Campaign Committee
had set a goal to collect 1,000 signatures on the petition by Open Day. By
the end of the day, 1,400 signatures had been collected. A delegation from
the AEU and the Student Union presented the petition to the Deputy Director
of the Institute, Mr Shearer.
Mr Shearer accepted the petition and then informed the delegateion that he
had been instructed to throw them in the rubbish bin.
Ms Alison Thorne, a former President of the AEU Sub-branch and one of the
sacked workers seeking reinstatement, says management should not ignore
such an outpouring of community concern about its anti-union
practices.
"Members of the public are very interested to know about how
workers and students are treated at Northern TAFE. People are concerned
about casualisation and discrimination and very willing to add their voice
to the growing protest. We have justice on our side and we have the
tenacity to keep campaigning for as long as it takes" she said.
The AEU is lodging an Equal Opportunity complaint on Thorne's behalf. The
union is also pursuing the discriminatory treatment of former sub-branch
secretary, Barbara Morgan, whose contract was not renewed mid way through
1996, despite her long service at the Institute and excellent performance.
Reinstate the Northern Three Campaign Committee
For more information:
Alison Thorne, 9386-5065
C/- PO Box 266 West Brunswick Vic 3055