Victoria U has had a great week with an applause of approval for its plan to extend block-teaching to all courses. But it’s back to industrial relations reality with the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union announcing its enterprise bargaining position.
This seems set by last year’s campus experience, when the intensive-teaching First Year College model (now to become the every year experience), meant job changes and losses for staff, (CMM March 13 2017). The union says it wants to “significantly improve” conditions for academic teaching scholars, “to end the underclass system.”
In common with NTEU branches across the country, the union also wants 17 per cent super for all staff, continuation of existing misconduct policies and no change to intellectual freedom protection but it is the restructuring of the last 18th months that will be front of union minds as bargaining begins. “Change processes at VU are some of the worst in the country … The union will be seeking better job security and organisational change provisions to protect staff in times of change,” the NTEU asserts.