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Higher Education
Union slams University 'threats'
By David Carey
Federal Secretary (SPSF Group) - CPSU Joint National Secretary
The Union covering non-teaching General Staff in Australian universities, the CPSU, has called an urgent national conference of its University union delegates, to plan a national campaign against the joint announcement by Tony Abbott and Brendan Nelson, on university funding and industrial relations.
The Union Federal Secretary, David Carey, condemned the announcement as nothing short of "blackmail' against the university sector and said the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements (HEWRR) plan has "trashed" months of constructive negotiations for the University Staff Enterprise Agreements.
Mr Carey said "The announcement, by Abbott and Nelson, that the Government will not provide more than $400 million to Australian Universities from Tuesday this week, unless those Universities force employees, and their unions, to accept of the Government's secret individual contracts (Australian Workplace Agreements or AWA's) is a disgrace."
"The Union has been in negotiation for almost a year on many Agreements, free of industrial action. This announcement has almost guaranteed that those negotiations will be thrown into the bin, while the university staff have to fight the plan for AWA's"
"It was nothing short of blackmail to hold money back from the sector unless universities sign up to what is essentially an anti-Union agenda. That money is supposed to fund quality education for young Australians, not Tony Abbott's anti union plans." Mr Carey said today.
"What on earth does an AWA, a secret employment contract, for university teachers, librarians, laboratory assistants and technicians have to do with how a student learns, or how well a university conducts research?"
The CPSU will debate a plan to join forces with the Academic Staff union, the NTEU, and Students in combined national action to stop the HEWRR.
The CPSU is the largest General Staff union in Australia, with thousands of members in every University campus across Australia.
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