Over the next few weeks, Curtin employees will be taking industrial action to protest against the university’s new pay and working conditions by voting “no” on a new enterprise agreement, and some will take it further by not appearing on campus on Monday the 20th of February and Tuesday the 21st of February.
Curtin University walked away from negotiations with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) which called for a pay rise intended to keep pace with inflation, provide better working conditions for casual staff, open one-hundred new permanent teaching and research positions, as well as a 7% indigenous employment target as a part of the university’s previous Reconciliation Action Plan.
Needless to say, abandoning negotiations with the NTEU is not in the best interests of staff – and the decision will undoubtedly affect students as well.
It’s no secret that students pay a lot of money for their courses and expect the highest quality of education – but this is only feasible if employees are supported with fair working conditions, as well as pay that accommodates all of their hard work and keeps pace with inflation. While inflation is 8.3% in Perth, Curtin staff are only being offered a 2.2% pay increase per annum over the span of five years.
As a result, this choice is likely to impact the quality of education because many teachers are casual employees, and the university is refusing to offer them sick leave and adequate superannuation entitlements despite their chronic workload issues.
According to the Curtin Student Guild, aiding staff – even when they’re taking industrial action against the university – will most certainly lead to better pay and working conditions. This will ensure that teachers have the appropriate resources to mark assessments, provide valuable teaching and feedback, while also continuing to support students at Curtin to the best of their ability.
The Curtin Student Guild are urging the university to continue negotiating with the NTEU to give all staff a fairer deal – particularly, one they rightfully deserve. You can hear what the Guild Executives had to say about this issue in one of their recent reels.
Since the Non-Union Ballot closed on the 16th of February – therefore, making this an ongoing situation – future updates will be uploaded to the Grok website over the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can find more information at nteucurtin.info or NTEU Curtin Branch’s YouTube channel about the matter at hand.
