INDUSTRIAL ACTION

VIC UNI STAFF OVERWHELMINGLY VOTE IN FAVOUR OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION

MEDIA RELEASE
28 November 2008

Victoria University staff have voted to take protected industrial action to secure a collective agreement and protect quality of teaching, following the largest round of targeted redundancies in Australian university history.

“The initial reports indicate that over 98 percent of NTEU members have voted to take protected industrial action,” said Matthew McGowan, Victorian Secretary of the NTEU.

“This result in this vote is a overwhelming rebuke of the Vice-Chancellor and the senior management behind her and follows on from an NTEU survey conducted over the past fortnight that showed over 80 percent of surveyed staff had no confidence in the Vice-Chancellor.”

“Staff are saying that they want respect from Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman, rather than disdain and contempt,” he said.
The industrial action ballot authorises legal, protected industrial action, including work bans, bans on the transmission of student examination results, over-time bans and strike action.

“There is a strong feeling amongst Victoria University staff, and that has been reflected in the results we are seeing today. Elizabeth Harman needs to come to the bargaining table to genuinely negotiate. VU staff want job security and a restoration of lost conditions, but most of all they want respect,” said Mr McGowan.

“If the job cuts go through and the University refuses to negotiate a collective agreement, students at VU will be facing the worst student-teacher ratios in Australia. We are acting now to protect the quality of teaching and research at VU, as well as to ensure that students in the West receive the best possible education,” he said.

Victoria University NTEU members will be considering in the next few days what form of protected industrial action will be taken and when.
The Union will be meeting with the Vice-Chancellor this afternoon at 4pm in an attempt to get the University to engage in genuine negotiation.

For more information:
Matthew McGowan
State Secretary, NTEU Victorian Division
0417 054 110

Richard Gough
President, Victoria University NTEU Branch
0418 102 547

http://www.nteu.org.au/news/current/untitled_2