NTEU Annual Report 2013-14

Annual Report 2013–14

Contents

Introduction 3

Purpose and structure of the NTEU 4

National President 6

General Secretary 8

National Assistant Secretary 10

Indigenous Policy Committee 12

Women’s Action Committee 14

Industrial 16

Policy & Research 18

Union Education 20

Organising & Recruitment 22

Communications & Publications 24

Infrastructure & Governance 26

Finance Report 28

NTEU Annual Report 2013–14, National Office Report to the 2014 National Council Meeting

Published by National Tertiary Education Union ABN 38 579 396 344

Publisher: Grahame McCulloch Editor: Jeannie Rea Production: Paul Clifton All text and images ©NTEU 2014 unless otherwise stated.

NTEU National Office PO Box 1323, South Melbourne VIC 3205 1st floor, 120 Clarendon St, South Melbourne VIC 3205 phone: (03) 9254 1910 fax: (03) 9254 1915 email: [email protected] online at www.nteu.org.au/annualreport

Introduction

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 3

NTEU National Council meets annually in October to reflect upon the previous year’s performance and to determine policies and priorities for the coming year. Last year NTEU celebrated our 20th anniversary as the Union for tertiary education and research staff, initially merging two academic unions and three general staff unions. NTEU continues to grow in membership, in in-dustrial influence across the sector and in our public profile as the Union seeks to represent the interests of members.Following the 2013 National Council policy and budg-etary decisions, National Executive, determined that NTEU’s four key strategic priorities for 2014-15 were:

• Completion of university and other bargaining.• Membership growth and development.• Public advocacy and campaigns in higher educa-

tion and research (and allied sectors).• Improved systems and infrastructure.This year NTEU has changed the format of reports to National Council. Firstly, delegates will receive Council materials electronically and Council busi-ness will also be conducted without paper copies (to the extent that is practicable). Secondly, we have moved to an Annual Report format for the Council papers, again electronically distributed and available for all members to view on the website following the Council meeting.

This Report provides an overview of the work un-dertaken through the National Office since the 2013 National Council Meeting. The organisation of the Report reflects that of the National Office with re-ports from the Indigenous, industrial, higher educa-

tion policy and research, union education, recruiting and organising, communication and publications, and finance and administration sections. Embedded within the reports are links to further documents.

The election of the Coalition Government in 2013 has framed much of the NTEU’s focus since the last National Council. At that time we were under no illusions that the incoming federal government had public funding of education and research, as well as workplace rights and trade unions, in their sights.

The measures in the 2014-15 Federal Budget, if implemented, will radically change the composition, funding and regulation of Australia’s higher educa-tion system, as well as reverse the progress towards universal access to higher education. The prospect of such changes, along with a bevy of attacks upon workplace rights, social security, health, educa-tion and superannuation have clouded all unions’ collective bargaining negotiations and most other industrial and policy matters.

However, NTEU membership has increased and our internal systems and processes have been strengthened. With a comprehensive membership representation system at individual branch, division and national level there are ample opportunities for members to be actively involved. None of this would be possible without the dedicated staff at all levels of the Union. What is sometimes also inadequately acknowledged is that representatives and delegates do this on top of their paying job. There is great satis-faction in being actively involved in the Union, and I hope that will continue to outweigh other sacrifices.

Creating this first Annual Report amongst the many other demands and priorities has added to the re-sponsibilities of National Office staff for which I am extremely grateful. Specifically I want to acknowl-edge Paul Clifton who designed and produced this Annual Report. (Any critiques though should be directed to me, [email protected])

Jeannie Rea, National President

Purpose and structure of the NTEU

page 4 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

The NTEU was formed in 1993 from an amalgamation of five separate unions that represent-ed academic and general staff in higher education, TAFE and adult education in Australia. NTEU now proudly represents some 28,000 workers across these sectors. As an ‘industry union’ NTEU represents all employees in academic and general/professional classifications ranging from professors to accountants to gardeners. No other organisation in Australia is able to speak with a unified voice in support of tertiary education and allied institutions and the unique and vital public interests they serve.

Purpose of the Union

The broad purpose of the Union is to advo-cate for, and represent the rights, interests and welfare of members in the industrial, legal, political and social spheres.

The primary objects of NTEU are to:

• Improve and protect the conditions of employment of members.

• Promote the work of tertiary education institutions in Australia and to preserve their independence and integrity.

• Foster the process of intellectual debate within the Australian community.

• Defend and promote the rights of mem-bers to teach, research and disseminate knowledge and information without fear of reprisal.

• Promote the concept of equal opportu-nity in employment and to eliminate all forms of discrimination in tertiary edu-cation and in all spheres of the Union’s activity.

• Create and maintain an informed public opinion concerning tertiary education institutions and their staff.

Structure of the Union

The Union is organised across three levels: the National Office (located in South Melbourne), State and Territory-based Divisions and workplace-based Branches in each of the nation’s 38 universities, as well as Branches covering members in ACE (Vic), TAFE (Vic), Research Institutes, Navitas, RACGP and College of Law.

Our permanently staffed workplace-based local Branches in universities is a feature unique to NTEU in the Australian trade union movement. These structures permit NTEU to build and maintain a visible and organised presence at each university and to be able to rapidly respond to industrial and organisational issues.

NTEU is a highly democratic member-driv-en union with elected Branch Committees, Division Councils, and a National Council comprising representatives elected by members on a two year cycle. Council meets annually in October.

At each Branch, the highest decision-mak-ing body is a general meeting of members. A Branch Committee comprising elected representatives of members governs the affairs of each Branch in between gen-eral meetings of members. Each Branch also elects National Councillors, who also constitute the Division Council. This

mechanism ensures that each Branch is represented on the relevant State or Terri-tory-based Division Council.

National Council

National Council consists of members directly elected from Branches (in propor-tion to the number of members at each Branch), three full time National Officers, the eight State and Territory based Divi-sion Secretaries plus three Indigenous National Councillors and members of the Executive. National Council has a total membership of about 130 delegates.

National Council is the supreme decision making body of the NTEU while the National Executive (which meets six times per year) is responsible for running the Union between meetings of the National Council. National Council also has the critical task of setting the Union’s budget for the forthcoming year.

National Executive

The National Executive is composed of the three full time National Officers, eight Division Secretaries, the Chair of the Indigenous Policy Committee and ten ordinary members elected from the floor of the National Council (who are elected for a two-year term).

A ballot is held at National Council to elect ten ordinary members of the National Ex-ecutive. From these National Council elects a Vice-President (Academic) and Vice-Pres-ident (General Staff). As 2014 is an election year, a ballot will be conducted at the National Council to elect the ten ordinary members of the National Executive, and subsequently the two Vice-Presidents.

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 5

Decisions of the National Council and the National Executive are implemented by three full time salaried National Officers (National President, General Secretary and National Assistant Secretary) and by full time salaried Division Secretarys in all States and Territories (other than Tasma-nia and the Northern Territory).

In the 2014 direct elections, the three Na-tional Officers were returned unopposed and there has been one change at the Divisional level with a contest for Division Secretary in Queensland following the retirement of the incumbent.

Staff

In 2013-14, the Union employed approxi-mately 121 FTE staff and elected Officers. Of these, some 33 staff are based in the National Office and 88 are locally based in a combination of Division offices and workplace-based Branches.

These structures and staffing arrange-ments ensure that NTEU is able to resource and mount coordinated and dis-ciplined industrial and policy campaigns. As a consequence, no matter where our members work, they benefit from a robust and highly competitive constellation of employment conditions and wage rates.•

x

Stephen Darwin ACT

Gabe Gooding WA

Genevieve Kelly NSW

John Kenny Tasmania

Margaret Lee Queensland

Colin Long Victoria

Kevin Rouse SA

Lolita Wikander NT

x

National OfficersNational President: Jeannie ReaVice-Presidents: Kelvin Michael (Academic) Lynda Davies (General Staff)General Secretary: Grahame McCullochNational Assistant Secretary: Matthew McGowan

National Executive

Terry Mason Indigenous member (IPC Chair)Stephen Darwin ACT Division SecretaryGabe Gooding WA Division SecretaryGenevieve Kelly NSW Division SecretaryJohn Kenny Tas Division SecretaryMargaret Lee Qld Division SecretaryColin Long Vic Division SecretaryKevin Rouse SA Division SecretaryLolita Wikander NT Division SecretaryAndrew Bonnell UQStuart Bunt UWALinda Cecere (to 18/3/14) AdelaideRyan Hsu SwinburneVirginia Mansel Lees La TrobeJohn Sinclair ACUMelissa Slee RMITMichael Thomson USyd

Division Secretaries National Executive 2013-14

National President

page 6 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

While there may be further outcomes of our 2014 National Council deliberations, NTEU’s 2015 priorities must include implementing our Collective Agreements and identifying what else we need to concentrate upon next time; campaigning for publically funded, quality higher education and research; contin-uing to increase membership and the active involvement of members; and further improving our systems and infrastructure. These priorities are based on the following reflections of the past year.Never has the month between writing the President’s Report and the National Coun-cil Meeting been so prescient. As I write, the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill is before Parliament. Arising out of the higher education and research measures (I refuse to call them ‘reforms’) in the 2014-15 Federal Budget, this Bill is the most significant since Australia’s first public universities were established in the 19th century.

Much of the attention has been upon the cuts to government funding through the Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs), with the weight of costs shifting to stu-dents, plus the deregulation of the fees uni-versities can charge, to be repaid through the HECS-HELP loan scheme on market

interest rates. However, I contend that the shift to hand over CSPs to private providers, including for-profit businesses, is equally as significant. We are looking at privatisation of Australian higher education, not only through the cutting of government funding to public universities, but through govern-ment subsidies to private interests selling education. This transfer of taxpayers’ mon-ies to private operators immediately draws corollaries with government funding of private schools and hospitals, which has not contained costs nor increased the general quality of provision. Rather it has led to, at one end, a private well resourced service for the well heeled and, the other, a struggling public system.

For the NTEU this presents a very signif-icant challenge – and it is not because we are unwilling or unable to unionise the staff in these private tertiary education providers. We will and we can do that. The challenge is in reconsidering the parame-ters of our own discourse around the role of the higher education and research and the public good, appropriate government funding levels, self-accreditation and consequent responsibilities, intellectual freedom, governance and the role of staff and students, private investers and part-nerships and so forth. We have tended to pursue these debates within the context of a largely government funded, public system with broader societal obligations. Regard-less of whether the Government succeeds in deregulating and privatising this time around, we need to sharpen our critiques and positions.

Since 2011, NTEU has campaigned around the quite conservative position of urging a minimum 10% increase in CSP funding, as

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 7

recommended by the Bradley Report. While the previous ALP government did put more funding into higher education and research, they also clawed this back every time there was an apparent greater political priority.

In the current campaign, we have argued that ordinary people now expect that their children can go to university if they qualify. Merit not money determines university entrance. The Coalition’s policies attack middle Australia’s expectations. Is the Gov-ernment’s plan to turn around the increase in bachelor degree graduates, once again closing out poor, women, Indigenous and rural students?

NTEU members and elected representa-tives can rightly take much pride in our Union’s success in making higher education a public and political issue. Following on from the ‘Dumb cuts’ campaign last year, this year’s ‘A Degree Shouldn’t Cost A Mort-gage’/’$100,000 Degrees, I Didn’t Vote For This’ campaign has captured public, media and political attention. Our elected repre-sentatives and staff around the country are consistently ‘on message’ to the media, to members and community forums, to local politicians and anyone we can reach. This is making a real difference. The background research and analysis by National Policy & Research Coordinator Paul Kniest has been invaluable in ensuring the NTEU has become the reference point in much of the public commentary.

Our responsibility is to pursue a political discourse of quality educational opportu-nity and governmental responsibility. This must not be uncritical of higher education and research institutions, of how they are now run as international corporations with students turned into customers and research fulfilling output targets rather than fearlessly finding the answers to the big questions.

One of the greatest threats to intellectual freedom in the current environment is the increasingly precarious nature of university employment. When four out of five new university jobs in the past decade are con-tract or casual, fewer and fewer staff are in a position to critique and take on unpopular issues. Through the consistent campaigning of NTEU and academic casual networks, the reality of the casualisation of academic

teaching and the consequent deleterious im-pact upon academic careers and the quality of university education are well understood. Yet universities continue to rely on casual academics, exploiting their career hopes and loyalty to students. By the end of this univer-sity bargaining round, NTEU may have won 1000 new academic teaching focussed positions open to casuals. This can start to make a difference, but only if we are vigilant in implementing our Collective Agreements including ensuring improved conditions for all casual academics.

We must also increase our understanding of, and campaigning for, grant funded research staff (academic but also profes-sional and technical) who are employed from grant to grant. Eighty per cent of research-only staff are on limited term contracts. There are also increasing num-bers of staff contracted on other so-called ‘soft money’ projects. These issues are the focus of the Insecure Work Conference this November in Hobart.

Implementing our Agreements must be the focus of the coming year, and as we take stock of the completing university round there is much justified concern about areas where we did not get the universities to see sense. However, we have much to work with in implementing Indigenous employment targets, academic workload regulation and advancing general staff careers. It is though tough to sometimes see the gains amongst the constant restructures, redundancies, intensification and casualisation of jobs.

Our membership, though, continues to increase despite a wave of retirements. Our organising is getting more strategic and our campaigning better targeted. While mem-bers are over worked and exhausted, they are also getting angrier. We had a timely na-tional professional development residential for our Branch Organisers earlier this year which has contributed to further improving our organising capabilities. Our national Union Education team is working with Divisions and Branches in more systematic education and training across many areas. This all adds up more opportunities for members to become active in their Union.

We held our third Bluestocking Week in August with Branches and Divisions holding events with members and ‘not-yet’

members. Like other regular events, such as Go Home on Time Day, consistently holding forums and ‘get togethers’ gives our Union visibility and demonstrates that the NTEU gets what matters to people. Our Indigenous membership density is over 40%, which is indicative of the Union’s relevance and that we are taking up the industrial, professional and political issues that matter. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff still reported last year that the majority experience racism and discrimination at work. It is our collective responsibility to turn this around. NTEU provides leadership to other unions in our demonstrated commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through our policies, priorities and our own employ-ment practices. We have a responsibility and obligation to continue to walk together.

We have also contributed strongly to the Australian union movement’s global leadership in making domestic violence an industrial and workplace issue by achieving breakthrough clauses particularly on speci-fied leave in our Agreements.

The Work and Careers in Australian Universities ARC linkage project, led by Glenda Strachan and partnered by NTEU, was completed this year and provides rich data and analyses. NTEU is currently using this research to inform our award mod-ernisation case, insecure work conference, experts’ seminar series and the WAC.

All of the above are the reasons why I renominated for National President. I am humbled to have been re-elected unop-posed with Grahame McCulloch as General Secretary and Matthew McGowan as Na-tional Assistant Secretary. I want to assure National Councillors, representing mem-bers across the Union, that I will continue to work for an inclusive, open and effective union which can make real positive change for the people who work and study in the tertiary education and research sector.

We are all fortunate in the quality and commitments of our elected leadership at all levels, of our delegates – and our union staff. I particular want to thank the retiring National Vice-Presidents, Dr Kelvin Michael (Academic) and Dr Lynda Davies (General) for their support and canny advice over the past two years. •

General Secretary

page 8 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

Over the last twelve months the Union has faced by the full force of the new Coalition Gov-ernment’s economic and social policy. The Christopher Pyne plan to deregulate university fees, subsidise private providers and cut government funding by more than 20% is the most radi-cal change the sector has faced in more than thirty years. Amidst this policy turmoil, Vice-Chancel-lors have failed to develop a col-lective response and it has fallen to the Union to defend public investment in (and the public good role of) our universities.At the same time, NTEU members have confronted more industrially aggressive and litigious university managements with a flood of managing change, restructur-ing and downsizing initiatives, and a long drawn out bargaining process.

Against this back-drop the Union is rela-tively well positioned and has consolidated its position over the last twelve months:

Bargaining

At the time of writing, 34 out of 37 univer-sities had successfully concluded Round 6 Enterprise Agreements providing for annual salary increases of 3.2%, academic workload caps, improved Professional Staff careers, binding Indigenous employment

targets and around 1000 new permanent jobs to replace existing academic casual work. We can confidently anticipate that the Round will be concluded by the end of this year.

Rising membership

Union membership has continued to grow despite downsizing and accelerated retire-ments amongst university staff, with mem-bership up by more than 3,400 since 2011.

Improved membership services

2014 saw the introduction of free universal journey insurance for all NTEU members, and a continued broadening of our member ship services program.

Training and education

The Union’s 2012 decision to re-establish NTEU national Union education moved into higher gear with an extensive new training curriculum and workshops across the full spectrum of Union work including bargaining and employment rights, imple-menting Collective Agreements, social me-dia and campaigning, a major Organisers’ residential conference and the commence-ment of our expert seminar series.

Strong financial position

The Union now has total assets of around $26 million (which includes a 2014 WA Division property purchase of $1.9 million), annual revenues of around $22 million and no net debt. Although the Union ran a larger than expected operating deficit in the last financial year (- $0.37 million), most of this arose from lower than expected

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 9

membership wages growth. The coming 2014-15 financial year budget and the associ-ated forward estimates anticipate a strong budget surplus in 2016-17.

Campaign against Pyne plan

Ably led by President, Jeannie Rea, the Union’s Policy and Communications staff have run a high profile campaign against university deregulation and privatisation, and the Matt McGowan inspired campaign slogan ‘A degree shouldn’t cost a mortgage’ has resonated with both politicians and the public. We have maintained high visibility in mainstream and social media, and are continuing to vigorously lobby the Senate cross bench in a bid to kill the Govern-ment’s package.

International work

The Union made direct representations to governments in Colombia, Iraq, Mozam-bique, Iran, USA, Egypt, Sudan, Thailand, Ukraine, Russia, Tajikistan, Australia and Ethiopia on breaches of human, trade union and academic freedom rights. I have continued to serve as a member of the Edu-cation International Executive Board.

The challenge in the coming year is to defeat the core of the Government’s higher education program, and to launch work-place based campaigns to fully implement our strong Enterprise Agreement provi-sions. •

National Assistant Secretary

page 10 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

This report outlines the key work and direction, particularly in the campaigning efforts and capacity building of the NTEU. This is supplemented elsewhere in this Annual Report under Communications and Publica-tions, and Organising and Re-cruitment. Significant effort through 2014 has been upon political campaigns focused on the broader community and the role of higher education in society. Firstly in Western Australia with the re-run of the Senate election, and then more broadly in response the 2014 Federal Budget.

The NTEU, along with NUS and CAPA, have been the only consistent sector voices that have articulated a strong policy-based opposition to the Abbott Government’s pro-posed changes to higher education funding. Universitiy leaders are bitterly divided on the wisdom and impact of the Govern-ment’s agenda, leaving the Union to defend the sector and its values. Self-interest and self-promotion seem to have distracted many vice-chancellors from their responsi-bilities to provide leadership in the face of such dramatic cuts to public funding.

2013 Labor Cuts and NTEU response

The 2013 National Council followed shortly after the Federal Election, which saw an Abbott Government form in the wake of the difficult and contentious period of the Gillard/Rudd Labor years. In its death throes, the Labor Government clamored

to respond to the Tony Abbott concocted ‘budget emergency’ by cutting university funding, linking it directly to their ‘Gon-ski’ schools funding program. The NTEU responded swiftly and decisively, devoting $1 million to a campaign opposing the cuts.

This was the first specific electorally driven campaign by the NTEU and directly en-gaged over 500 members in election related activities.

A new threat and a reconciliation

With the change of government also came a change of heart for the ALP. Now in opposition, the ALP has denied Christopher Pyne the cuts they themselves proposed, publicly explained as a response to Pyne’s change of heart about the pre-election Gonski commitments.

As a consequence, with the re-run of the senate election in WA, NTEU campaigned to directly support both the Greens and ALP against a hostile Federal Coalition Govern-ment.

WA Senate election re-run

The WA Senate election re-run gave the NTEU another opportunity to test our abil-ity to engage members and the community in an electoral campaign. Much of the work on the ground was performed by the WA Division with support from National Office.

Drawing on our experience of the 2013 election, the WA Division ran a tight and effective campaign that included activities such as:

1. Emailing all members announcing the campaign and calling for volunteers.

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 11

2. Phoning all members and previous cam-paign volunteers.

3. A social media campaign including boosting our Facebook page, re-casting the Vote Smart signs and other materials from the last campaign.

4. Reviving the Vote Smart website, and the production and distribution of campaign materials for use on campuses.

5. A strong presence at 13 polling booths.

The Federal Budget – NTEU’s Campaign

With the announcement of the Govern-ment’s new agenda for the sector through the 2014 Federal Budget, the NTEU was able to respond quickly and effectively.

A strong policy driven response supported by high quality campaign materials has allowed the NTEU to take a leading role in opposition to the proposals, and to allow early interventions with politicians who were most likely to determine the future of the proposals.

Our short term campaign objectives are to mitigate damage to higher education through campaigning for the proposed measures to be blocked in the Senate and minimising the impact of the implementa-tion of any changes that may get through the Parliament.

Our medium term campaign objectives are to:

• Achieve a change of government at the next federal election, with an alternate government having adopted better policies.

• Change the political framework and discourse around publicly funded educa-tion.

• Build the Union’s campaigning capacity to be effective on the ground in an elec-tion campaign.

Campaign themes and materials are tar-geted at tapping into community concerns about the changes. This has included providing a comprehensive and effective analysis of the Government’s policies, and influencing political parties and Independ-ents to oppose the changes in the Senate.

Independent community polling commis-sioned by the NTEU has demonstrated strong community opposition to the Abbott Government’s proposals with 70% of those polled opposed to increases in student fees, and 65% opposed to funding cuts.

Even declared Coalition voters were split down the middle with regard to student fee increases. In a follow-up poll conducted mostly in marginal Coalition seats, signifi-cant swings in voting intentions were shown in all 23 seats polled. In the 17 Coalition seats polled, every one showed a swing that would see the incumbent removed from their seat, including Christopher Pyne whose seat showed a swing of 15% against him.

The ALP has since declared its intention to make higher education policy a key plat-form for the next federal election.

Additional campaign efforts have included:

• A strong social media presence has con-tributed to establishing our position as a credible and reliable commentator who can argue the case.

• Campus-based activities to discuss the changes with members and non-mem-bers.

• Members have been contacted asking them to write to their local MP express-ing their concerns in their own words about the policy settings, with around 90 members sending copies of their letters into the Union office.

• NUS sponsored rallies have also been a strong focal point for opposition and the NTEU has supported and assisted these activities.

• Town Hall Forums on education conduct-ed in conjunction with the Australian Ed-ucation Union, and United Voice and held in Townsville, Penrith, and Launceston

• Joint activities under development with NUS, CAPA and other unions including the Nurses and the ACTU.

In the Senate, a combination of the Greens, the ALP and at least three crossbench sen-ators are required to block the legislation. While it is impossible to be certain what will happen when the Bills are finally voted on in the Senate, we have seen statements of support for our campaign from many crossbenchers. The ALP and Greens are adamant in their opposition to the legisla-

tion and are campaigning very strongly for its total defeat in the Senate.

Medium term campaign objectives

The shape of our campaign in 2015 will necessarily need to be determined by the outcome of the Senate vote on the cur-rent legislation. The primary focus of our campaigning to date has been on seeking to convince the politicians that the public do not want the changes put forward by Christopher Pyne, and to secure votes in the Senate against the proposals.

Combined with our 2013 efforts, this work has also contributed to our medium term goals. The quality of the campaign materi-als has been high, our online campaigning skills have improved, and we have demon-strated to the community (and ourselves) that we can deliver a focused campaign that can activate many more people, in-cluding members, than we had previously believed possible.

An online database for use by our Branches and Divisions is under development and due to be tested before National Council. In social media, we have built our followers in both Twitter and Facebook, with Facebook numbers growing from about 5,000 to 9,000 since January this year.

When it is clear what shape our campaign will take next year, we will be building on the support shown in our campaign to date. Working with Branches and Divisions, the National Office will be seeking to take ad-vantage of community connections made this year to build a campaign in the lead up to a federal election expected in 2016.

The lessons learned in the heat and rush of the 2013 Federal Election campaign will now be applied to a longer campaign using the time available to plan and implement it over the next 2 years.

Our longer term objective is to make sure that politicians can never again feel able to treat the sector with contempt. To make sure they know that university funding and access is important to the community, and they can ignore it only at their peril.

Further information and campaign materi-als are available on the campaign website, www.nteu.org.au/degreemortgage.•

Indigenous Policy Committee

page 12 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

The Indigenous Policy Commit-tee (IPC) comprises one repre-sentative from each Division. The IPC chair also sits on Nation-al Executive. IPC meets regularly to provide advice to the National Officers and Executive as well as having oversight of the work of the National Indigenous Unit.

Round 6 Bargaining

As Round 6 bargaining draws to an end, the IPC and National Indigenous Unit (NIU) have assisted and supported Divisions and Branches to implement the mandatory settlement point pertaining to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment claim.

As the focus for many institutions now turns to implementation, the need to ensure the maintenance (at minimum) of ongoing staff positions is imperative. While the goal of the claim is to seek additional full-time/ongoing positions for Indigenous peoples, it has be-come apparent that many institutions have sought to increase the number (head count) of Indigenous staff, whilst concurrently offering much less secure employment opportunities at reduced time fractions.

Indigenous employment

In the SectorThe release of 2013 Indigenous staffing statistics has shown a progressive year-on-year rise in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment across the sector. The effect of the previous three rounds has

seen a doubling of Indigenous academic and professional/general staff employed.

Universities must be acknowledged for their efforts to increase employment oppor-tunities. It is, however, important to note that an additional 104 (78 FTE) Indigenous staff have been appointed in the period of 2012 to 2013. While these appointments are welcomed, the employment trend mirrors the sentiment of bargaining: universities will employ Indigenous staff, but mainly at reduced time fractions.

Of particular concern is the potential effect the Federal Budget cuts and the efficiency dividend will have on current and future employment opportunities in the sec-tor. Additionally, how will these cuts be implemented while many institutions are engaging in mainstreaming activities of Indigenous services and knowledges?

In the UnionIn line with our objectives to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander em-ployment in the higher education sector, the NTEU is in the process of developing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy.

The overarching goal of the NTEU Em-ployment Strategy is to create additional employment opportunities in identified and non-identified roles across all levels of the Union. Currently, 3% of all NTEU positions are identified, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff employed in those positions.

The creation of new identified positions will work to grow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander union membership nation-ally, assist to service academic and general/

Key activities:

• Collective bargaining

• Indigenous employment

• Federal Budget impacts

• Mainstreaming

• Cultural Competency training

• Social media

• Constitutional Recognition

The National Indigenous Unit (National Indigenous Coordinator, Adam Frogley and National Indigenous Organiser, Celsete Liddle) work in conjunction with all National Office Units and provide advice and support to Divisions and Branches. www.nteu.org.au/indigenousBelow: Celeste Liddle and Adam Frogley. Below right: Terry Mason, IPC Chair.

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 13

professional members at institutions across the country and work to implement the NTEU Cultural Competency Training Framework. For more information, refer to NTEU Indigenous Member Survey: ‘Whole-of-University’ Approach to Indige-nous Student Support (Nov 2013).

2014-15 Federal Budget

As the main funding allocation for Indig-enous employment and student support, the current Federal Budget has retained the Indigenous Support Program (ISP) funding allocation for the current year and forward estimates. As a result of touted efficiency dividends and cost cutting, the ISP funding has seen an overall funding decrease from Budget 2012-13 to Budget 2014-15 of approx-imately $2,412,000, from a total Budget allocation of $39,373,000 in 2014-15. Across the forward estimates this equates to a 5.8% reduction in funding.

The quantifiable effect of the efficiency dividend upon current and future identi-fied Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander positions is as yet unknown. It can be expected that institutions will either seek to cut existing staffing numbers, hold the employment of additional Indigenous staff and/or mainstream Indigenous student support, under the guise of a ‘whole-of-uni-versity’ approach to Indigenous education.

Mainstreaming

Since the release of the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Abo-riginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in 2012, there have been moves toward implementing a mainstreaming agenda. At some institutions the mainstreaming agenda has specifically targeted Indigenous student support programs and as a result, has directly affected Indigenous staff.

The Review’s Recommendation 10 calls upon all Australian universities to imple-ment a ‘whole-of-university’ approach to Indigenous education. If implemented as intended, a ‘whole-of-university’ ap-proach to Indigenous education would see universities working to strengthen the involvement of Faculties, Departments and Schools to implement strategies to increase the enrolment and success of Indigenous students. When viewed through the lens of

budget cuts and efficiency dividends, it has become apparent that some universities view a ‘whole-of-university’ approach as the opportunity to dismantle Indigenous sup-port centres and re-direct specific funding to mainstream student support services. To date, a number of institutions have em-barked upon implementing their interpreta-tions of a ‘whole-of-university’ approach.

Membership

NTEU Indigenous membership continues to grow and has reached a high point of 457 in August 2014. This equates to a national member density of approximately 40% of all Indigenous university staff, and approxi-mately 60% of all Indigenous academic staff.

Cultural Competency training

To help the NTEU work in a culturally appropriate way with Indigenous members, the Union Education team and the NIU have begun the rollout of the Cultural Com-petency Training Framework at one Branch and two Divisions. It is expected that outcomes from the Framework will see all levels of the Union building and fostering relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with a long-term vision to achieve cultural competence through direct interaction.

Due to the cultural differences that exist between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, a one-size-fits-all ap-proach will not be employed to develop and implement competency training packages.

Social media & communications

To keep our membership informed, the NIU produces a monthly online newsletter e-Yarn, and maintains an active presence on Facebook and Twitter. While social media and eYarn play a fundamental role in informing our membership, annual face-to-face meetings of our members (National & Division Forums) provide a vital avenue to discuss issues of importance in a culturally safe environment.

WIPC:E

In May, staff from the NIU and Terry Ma-son, IPC Chair, attended the World Indig-enous People’s Conference on Education

(WIPC:E) in Hawai’i, delivering a paper on racism, discrimination and lateral violence [see Advocate, vol.21 no.2, p.14].

Constitutional Recognition

The issue of Constitutional Recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Recognise campaign) has raised concern within the wider community and the Indigenous membership of the Union.

Constitutional Recognition in and of itself is important, but it is merely one avenue to be explored when it comes to the official recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Questions have been raised with regards to the impact that being recognised within the constitution prior to the negotiation of a treaty would have on the concepts of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. The need to explore and debate a range of options outside of the possibility of being recognised in the con-stitution is vital. Constitutional Recognition will only ratify the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people existed prior to colonisation. It will do little to advantage Indigenous people and create real chance in the long term

The Recognise campaign is well organised and funded, yet issues of Treaty, Land Rights, Sovereignty and Self Determination are absent from the debate. The IPC and National Indigenous Unit are working with a range of groups to ensure that issues of Treaty and Land Rights, which are estab-lished as potentially having greater impact on the daily lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, are contested. •

Chair Terry Mason*Deputy Chair Catherine Taylor*

Division Indigenous CouncillorsJohn Graham* QldKathryn Gilbey NTMaggie Walter TasBen Atkinson VicSharlene Leroy-Dyer NSW Frank Gafa ACT

* = National Indigenous Councillors

IPC 2013-14

Women’s Action Committee

page 14 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

With delegates from all NTEU Divisions, the Women’s Action Committee (WAC) acts as a na-tional representation of women members identifying, develop-ing and responding to matters affecting women. WAC met twice in 2014 and provided advice to the National Executive following scrutiny of issues and concerns through the gender lens.

Participation of women

In the sector The gender distribution of NTEU members mirrors that of the sector. The latest De-partment of Education data indicates that in 2013, 56.2% of university staff were wom-en. The NTEU membership data includes all members, not only those in universities. Over the last 12 years there has been a slow increase in the number of women members (from 51 per cent in 2004 to 57 per cent in 2014). This aligns with the rise in the propor-tion of women higher education staff over the last decade.

The university data reveals that 34.9% of women in the sector are general and professional staff, and at 53.3% these are a majority of university employees. While there are proportionally more women general staff (65%), there are still more male academics (58%). There are more women in teaching-only positions (55%) and numbers are about equal in research-only positions.

These figures have changed little since the previous year. More significant is the trend data over the last ten years which shows that the proportion of general staff has increased as has the proportion of teaching-only and research-only staff. Teaching-only staff are over 80% casually employed and 80% of research-only staff are on fixed term contracts.

In the UnionThe NTEU also closely mirrors sector trends in terms of the distribution of women in elected positions, as while there is a higher degree of variation, much of this can attributed to small populations in these categories.

Overall, in the latest round of NTEU elections, the relatively equal distribution of gender in elected and representative positions has continued. However, the WAC considers that it is still too easy for gender equity to slip without vigilant attention to ensuring gender balance. WAC also intends to explore whether there are gender differences in the expectations of women or men in particular roles. Read full report here.

Workplace Gender Equality Act

The Workplace Gender Equality Act (WGEA) was introduced in 2012 by the then Labor Government following the review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace legislation. In 2013, the WGE Agency required employers with more than 100 staff to provide a staff profile, by headcount thus revealing actual extent of casualisation. Returns from individual uni-versities were revealing and demonstrated that both lower level and insecure positions

Key activities:

• Monitoring gender equity legislation and progress in the sector and in the NTEU.

• Participating in trade union women’s activities.

• Contributing feminist critique to Indigenous, industrial and higher education policy and research analysis, materials and campaigns.

• Overseeing Bluestocking Week.

• Producing Agenda.

The membership of the WAC comprises one academic and one general staff representative from each Division, as well as a representative nominated by the Indigenous Policy Committee. WAC is chaired by the National President.www.nteu.org.au/womenBelow: WAC members, July 2014

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 15

were feminised. The NTEU will continue to monitor university reports and support strategies to improve gender equity and opportunity.

Additional reporting requirements address-ing Gender Equality Indicators were meant to commence from 1 April 2014. However, the Coalition Government has delayed the introduction until late 2015 following an-other round of consultation. Trade unions and women’s organisations continue to ad-vocate for an effective WGE Agency in the face of growing business resistance, while the gender pay gap has risen to 18.2%.

Women and trade unions

With women joining unions at a faster rate than men, the typical Australian trade unionist today is a woman with a university degree not a man in a hard hat. However, male domination of unions and union cul-ture remains in Australia and elsewhere.

The National President participated in the second international women’s conference of Education International (EI) in April and found that even amongst the predominant-ly female education unions, women are often excluded from significant leadership roles and there are not even women’s com-mittees amongst many EI affiliates. The conference provided an excellent opportu-nity for sharing experiences and creating active networks.

ACTU Women’s Committee

The NTEU is an active participant in the ACTU Women’s Committee. The commit-tee provides opportunities for affiliates to focus the gender lens upon key industrial and political policies of Federal and State governments and provides advice to the ACTU Executive, as well as coordinating campaigns.

The NTEU has taken a key role in the campaign to encourage affiliates to nego-tiate for EBA clauses supporting workers dealing with domestic or family violence. The NTEU’s success in the current round of university bargaining is providing model clauses and campaign materials and tactics for others to adapt to their industries.

2014-15 Federal Budget

The cuts in the Federal Budget fall dis-proportionally upon women. The higher education changes were indicative of the disregard and meanness towards the disadvantaged, but went even further in at-tacking the university aspirations of middle Australia.

The adverse impact on women of the privatisation and deregulation agenda was exposed early on as the NTEU analysis revealed that a woman graduate who had children would find herself still paying back her HELP debt as those children wanted to go to university.

Bluestocking Week

The theme for Bluestocking Week 2014 was ‘Crossing the Line’, a particularly pertinent theme as WAC considered the Coalition Government had crossed the line.

This was the third year of the return of Bluestocking Week with more events being held across campuses across Australia. The objective continues to be making space and time to recognise upon both the achieve-ments of women in higher education and to highlight ongoing issues within and outside universities.

This year focussed on recognising the diversity of women staff and students. A popular activity was the Women of the University project which invited women to tell their stories as students, general and academic staff, graduates and other women associated with universities. These stories have been posted on the WAC website, face book and also in university specific story collections.

The many faces of university women was an important counterpoint to the Abbott Government’s attempts to portray univer-sity women as an homogenous elite on one hand and then to sponsor policies that would wipe out the numbers and diversity of women in universities as jobs go and women give up their dreams of universi-ty education in the face of high fees and course closures.

Agenda

All of these issues and more are further explored in focus in Agenda, the NTEU’s annual women’s magazine, distributed to all women members in September. •

Chair Jeannie Rea IPC NomineeSharon Dennis UTAS

ACTGS: Katie Wilson UCAS: Sara Beavis ANU

NSWGS: vacant (Karen Ford UoW, to 3/6/14)AS: Cathy Rytmeister Macquarie

NTGS: Janet Sincock CDUAS: Penny Wurm CDU

QLDGS: Carolyn Cope QUTAS: Donna Weeks USC

SAGS: Shelley Pezy AdelaideAS: Jennifer Fane Flinders

TASGS: Nell Rundle UTas AS: vacant

VICGS: vacant (Alyson Waterson La Trobe, to 22/6/14)AS: Virginia Mansel Lees La Trobe

WAGS: Kate Makowiecka MurdochAS: Katie Attwell Murdoch

WAC 2013-14

Industrial

page 16 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

The Union’s industrial work in 2014 has focussed on conclud-ing Round 6 higher education bargaining and achieving real improvements in employment conditions for members. Mean-while, the legal and industrial environment has become ever more complex and challenging, with hostile employers adopting a legalistic approach to disputa-tion that increasingly does not recognise the validity of Union membership or activity.

Current Trends

The legalistic approach of employers in the tertiary sector reached its zenith in 2013-14. For the first time we have seen employers outsourcing bargaining to solicitors, and there are now very few, if any, occasions where an employer appears in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) without legal counsel. Lawyers’ involvement has coincid-ed with a more pugilistic and technocratic approach by the employers. An unfortunate casualty has been the mature industrial resolution of disputes between the parties. More than ever before, we are required to take matters to FWC or the courts simply to give effect to existing entitlements. Meanwhile, the legal profession is laughing all the way to the bank.

Employers in our sector are also increas-ingly using global restructures as a way of imposing redundancies on the staff they

do not want, and crafting an atmosphere of fear and insecurity which inhibits union membership and activity. In the last year we have seen mass redundancy proposals at Curtin, Newcastle, Swinburne, La Trobe, VU, Melbourne and others, while at the same time the overall size of the university work-force has been steadily increasing. Many other universities continue to implement a steady flow of smaller restructures, with much the same effect. NTEU’s role in both ensuring Agreement provisions around change management are carefully worded, and insisting that prescribed procedures are followed, has never been more important.

This year has also seen the increased teaching of Commonwealth Supported Place-funded higher education programs in non-university tertiary education institu-tions, mostly TAFE. This raises a number of issues for NTEU, especially as staff teaching in these programs are often on inferior pay and conditions to staff employed in universities. Industrial and coverage issues are currently discussed with AEU and IEU (in the case of private providers) on a case-by-case basis, but the growing convergence of VET and higher education needs a long-term strategic union approach.

Finally, the Abbott Government has com-menced its attack on unions with its Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption which appears focussed on providing justification for the Govern-ment’s anti-union legislative wish list.

Bargaining

A major focus in 2013-14 has been the finalisation of Round 6 higher education bargaining. At the time of writing, Agree-

The National Industrial Unit is headed by Unit Coordinator Sarah Roberts (replaced during maternity leave in 2014 by Linda Gale) with Industrial Officers Wayne Cupido, Susan Kenna, Elizabeth McGrath and Margaret Maloney; Administrative Officer Renee Veal (replaced during leave by Ashok Mathew); and Research Officer Andrea Brown. The Unit is under the direction of the General Secretary.www.nteu.org.au/rightsBelow (L–R): Sarah Roberts, Ashok Mathew, Wayne Cupido, Linda Gale, Elizabeth McGrath, Andrea Brown

Key activities:

• Collective bargaining

• Industrial disputes

• Award Review

• Legislative changes

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 17

ments had been concluded at all but three institutions. Our Agreements now include a minimum salary increase of 3% per annum, enforceable Indigenous employ-ment targets, better career opportunities for long-term academic casuals via our new Scholarly Teaching Fellow (STF) provisions, improved general staff classifications and career development, better regulation of workloads and a host of other improve-ments for members. A further four Branch-es also achieved combined academic/gener-al staff Agreements for the first time, lifting conditions for general staff.

Finally, our wages outcomes continue to lead the economy, as do our achievements on parental leave, leave for domestic violence purposes and Indigenous employ-ment. As the end of Round 6 approaches, focus is shifting to the enforcement of entitlements, ensuring the Union is actively enforcing the provisions won in bargaining.

Industrial ActionRound 6 has seen an unprecedented level of industrial action, with stoppages or results bans undertaken at 19 institutions. Indus-trial action was necessary due to the intran-sigence of the employers, who strenuously resisted the Union’s claims for enforceable numerical targets in our Agreements (Indigenous employment; STFs), and in many cases sought to undermine existing job security provisions and to water down protections around redundancy, termina-tion and discipline by removing them to (unenforceable) policy.

A feature of the industrial landscape during this round of bargaining is the even more complicated choreography now required to undertake bans on the transmission of assessment results. Results bans at Monash and Swinburne resulted in the suspen-sion of all our industrial action by FWC because the bans were found to ‘endan-ger the health or welfare of a part of the population’, despite both Branches having established comprehensive exemptions processes.

At RMIT, on the other hand, where the Branch banned the transmission of only offshore students’ results, our industrial action was not suspended – because it could not endanger the health or welfare of a part of the Australian population.

Bargaining in other sectorsBargaining outside the university sector has been busy too, with a number of sites taking industrial action. Members at the Florey Institute took strike action for the first time in the institute’s history in response to a lack of progress on key claims including pay, the length and scope of the agreement. At the CAE, members took three weeks of strike action with massive student and community support in re-sponse to the State government’s retraction of in-principle agreement on new pay and conditions. The State government ultimate-ly backed down – after our membership had increased from 70 to 89.

Other new Agreements were also reached in 2013-14, including for student unions, training institutes, research institutes, TAFE and Adult Education, ELICOS centres, Navi-tas sub-Branches and the College of Law.

Key Disputes

RedundanciesThe Union has run a record number of im-portant disputes in the last twelve months. We successfully procured a settlement in relation to proposed mass redundancies at Curtin, after significant legal pressure was exerted. The settlement went some way to mitigating the harshness of the restructure. The Union has also prosecuted La Trobe in the Federal Court, arguing that its proposed redundancies are in breach of their Agree-ment’s consultation provisions.

NTEU pursued UWS for failing to rede-ploy three academic staff who were made redundant. Two of the three members were reinstated, while the FWC Full Bench ulti-mately found that UWS’ obligation to find alternative work for the Professorial mem-ber extended only to work of an equivalent quality – not work that was previously done by casual academics. This is a bad decision which has the bizarre result that it will be easier for UWS to retrench a Professor than a lower level academic.

Swinburne disputesThe Swinburne Branch has been very busy, with wins on a number of fronts. NTEU was successful in obtaining penalties in the Federal Court against Swinburne for failing to consult around the closure of their

Lilydale and Prahran campuses, which led to major job losses. The final settlement saw Swinburne make a full public apology to staff, give donations of $20,000 to neighbour-hood houses and centres providing support services for victims of domestic violence, pay NTEU’s legal costs and agree to time release and accommodation for the Swinburne NTEU Branch for the next 3 years.

NTEU also pursued Swinburne for its failure to comply with provisions in the 2009 Agreement restricting casual employ-ment. After extensive FWC conciliation, in settlement management agreed to create 50 ongoing and fixed-term positions for ses-sional staff who had worked at Swinburne for more than 4 years.

NTEU is currently in dispute with Swin-burne in the Federal Court over the approv-al of its new Agreement, which it put out to members without Union support. The Branch ran a strong ‘Vote No’ campaign, but the Agreement was approved by a small margin. Because Swinburne had included all casual staff who had been employed over the last 12 months (not just those cur-rently employed) in the ballot, and offered a $250 bonus if it was successful, NTEU is challenging the validity of the Agreement.

Award Review

While the vast majority of NTEU members work under Agreements which override any relevant Award provisions, the mainte-nance of relevant Award standards remains important. The Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) requires Agreements to at least meet the standards set by Awards, and Award standards still carry great persuasive power at the bargaining table and among members. We have been completing the review of our Awards under the 2012 FWC Award Review, and also working on propos-als for the 2014 FWC Award Review.

Legislative Changes

From 1 January 2014, FWC has had jurisdic-tion to hear complaints about workplace bullying. The first bullying case NTEU is running under this new provision is against UNE on behalf of a member who reports over two years of aggression, isolation and harassment. •

Policy & Research

page 18 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

NTEU’s policy and research work since the 2013 National Council Meeting has largely been de-termined by the election of the Abbott Coalition Government in 2013, with the most significant changes to higher education funding policy since the intro-duction of the unified national system by John Dawkins in 1989 being announced as part of 2014–15 Federal Budget.

Pyne as Minister for Education

As anticipated Christopher Pyne was appointed as the Minister for Education on 18 September. His portfolio responsibilities included higher education teaching and learning as well as research. Senator Kim Carr is Shadow Minister. Pyne’s early (mis)adventures into higher education policy, including considering re-imposing caps on the number of government supported places and abolishing the student services and amenities fee, were quickly rebuked by Prime Minister Abbott [see ‘Pyne pays homage to Vanstone’, Advocate, vol.20 no.3, p.22]. However, these early misjudgements clearly signalled that Mr Pyne was intent on pursuing a radical reform agenda contrary to Abbott’s own proclamation that the sector could expect a period of ‘masterly inactivity’.

NCA and Kemp-Norton Review

The two reviews commissioned by the new Coalition government which have had the

greatest influence on higher education pol-icy were the National Commission of Audit (NCA) and a review of the Demand Driven Funding System (DDFS). The NTEU’s sub-missions can be found on the Legislation and Submissions pages.

The NCA was commissioned to consider the efficiency and sustainability of higher education expenditure (along with all other government spending) as well as being asked to specifically consider the possibility of privatising Higher Education Loans Pro-gram (HELP) debts. The recommendations in the final report (released 2 May 2014) in relation to higher education included cutting government funding per student by 25% and undertaking further investigation into the possibility of price deregulation and opening access of public subsidies to all providers, and charging students a market rate of interest on outstanding loans. It recommended against the privatisation of HELP debt. The Federal Budget pages have more detailed analysis.

The final report of the Kemp-Norton Review of the Demand Driven Funding Sys-tem (released 13 April 2014) concluded that ‘there is no persuasive case for returning to the ‘capped’ system, and that the demand driven system should be retained, expanded and improved’.

The Review’s 17 specific recommenda-tions took up where the NCA left off and included allowing all approved higher education providers and courses to have access to Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) and that CSPs should be extended to sub-bachelor higher education courses. While the Review did not make any recom-mendations in relation to the deregulation of fees (because that was seen as being

The officers National Policy and Research Unit are Paul Kniest (Coordinator), Dr Terri MacDonald and Dr Jen T Kwok. The unit works under the direction of the National President.www.nteu.org.au/policyBelow (L–R): Jen T Kwok, Terri MacDonald, Paul Kniest

Key activities:

• Focus on Coalition Government policies

• Demand-Driven Model

• 2014-15 Federal Budget

• Research policy

• Intellectual freedom

• Insecure work

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 19

outside the scope the Review), the authors made it clear that they would be in favour of lifting the price cap on HECS fees. A more detailed analysis can be found in the Higher Education Funding pages.

2014-15 Federal Budget

The Government’s response to the recom-mendations of both the NCA and DDFS reports was contained in the 2014-15 Budget delivered by Treasurer, Joe Hockey, on Tuesday 13 May 2014. As we now know the Government adopted most of the key recommendations of the NCA and DDFS reports (and in some cases, such as 10% cut, to RTS funding even going further). If they are successful in being passed in the Senate this will represent the most radical changes to the regulation and funding of higher education in a generation.

The Union is conducting a high profile campaign – called A University Degree Shouldn’t Cost a Mortgage – against the whole deregulation and privatisation pack-age with focusing on shaping the public debate through mass and social media and lobbying politicians, backed by on campus activities and participation in trade union and student protest actions.

The campaign includes an extensive analysis of the Budget’s higher education measures including an analysis of its likely impacts on students and universities. This analysis is available on NTEU’s website and includes numerous fact sheets, posters, memes, PowerPoint slides, media releases and resources for lobbying politicians.

Research

Preceding the Federal election, the Coali-tion announced its intention to cut over $100m from ‘wasteful’ research. The Budget eventually redirected $117m in ARC funding to specific initiatives in diabetes, tropical health, dementia research and on the Antarctic Gateway. The Budget also includ-ed cuts of about $880m in total to major science and research agencies, including the ARC ($74.9m) and CSIRO ($111.4m).

In late 2013, the ARC released a commis-sioned report called ERA Benefits Reali-sation Review, which made the case that the ERA was not too costly and not a blunt

measure of quality. The Review however revealed that the ERA was being used by administrators to defund research areas and shape academic promotion. Articles in a special edition of Nature Outlook in July 2014 reinforced these kinds of staffing effects of various research assessment exercises around the world.

Other developments & submissions

While the proposed changes to the regula-tion and funding outlined above have dom-inated the higher education policy agenda, the Policy and Research Unit has also provided National Executive with regular updates in relation to other policy matters, including the Defence Trade Controls, the Trans Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade negotiations, the further streamlining of higher education visa applications, sector wide proposed changes to TEQSA and the release of Australian Law Reform Commis-sion Report on Copyright and the Digital Economy. Other submissions covered:

• 2014-15 Budget.• Proposed changes to TEQSA legislation.• Review of Teacher Education.• 2015 ERA Collection.• Higher Education Standards Panel.• House of Reps Inquiry into TAFE. • Senate Inquiry into Commission of Audit

Report.Copies of all submissions can be download-ed from the Submissions page.

While the Coalition Government has dismantled a number of sector related com-mittees and boards, the National President continues to serve on the strategic advisory committee of the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT). The NTEU is also has a voice on the Government’s Education Visa Consultative Committee (EVCC) as the nominee of the ACTU.

Attacks on intellectual freedom

The subject of Jeannie Rea’s Advocate editorial in March 2014, ‘Freedom is not just another word’, chronicles the unwarrant-ed attacks on intellectual freedom. The Union’s monitoring of intellectual freedom in our universities has been ramped up in view of the track record of some Coalition

politicians in opposing university staff exercising their rights and obligations to ed-ucate and research for the public good.

ALP reverses stance on uni cuts

The ALP is opposing all of the Govern-ment’s proposed policy changes, including the implementation of the ALP’s efficiency dividend announced in April 2013, on the basis that those cuts were seen as being necessary by Labor at the time to help fund additional Gonski schools funding, which the Coalition has reneged upon.

ACTU ‘Public Sector/Insecure Jobs’

Following the secondment of Terri Mac-donald in the middle of 2013 to help develop the policy and campaigning framework for the ACTU’s Public Sector/Insecure Jobs campaign, the Union has continued to work with the ACTU and other unions around these issues.

Stakeholder engagement

The Unit continues to actively engage with other stakeholders including participating in sector conferences and forums as well as co-sponsoring Science Meets Parliament, the annual CHASS conference and ATEM award.

NTEU continues work closely with both the National Union of Students (NUS) and Council of Australian Postgraduate Associ-ations (CAPA) on issues of shared concern and matters that directly affect students, including threats to student unionism, income support, increased fees and changes to scholarships. We also seek student input when making submissions on legislation.

Implementation of 2013 Council Motions

The Unit has completed or assisted in the completion of a number of projects and campaigns set by the 2013 National Council. Work is ongoing on four projects set by last year’s Council – the external grand funded research project, the ‘franchising’ of univer-sity programs, the impact of information and communications technologies on high-er education and the white paper on quality teaching in higher education. •

Union Education

page 20 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

NTEU Union Education was re-established in 2012 to meet the union education and training needs of members, elected of-ficers and staff. The program revives the 2007 national edu-cation and training framework by integrat-ing knowledge-based and technique-based education and developing materials which can be offered face-to-face and online to members, officers and staff to participate together in workshops, lectures and other training.

Branch & delegate development education

Based on discussions with key people in the union, the results of a learning needs survey sent to staff and officers and an audit of existing resources, the largest com-ponent of the education program focuses on developing the capacity of the Branch – committee, staff and delegates – to work together to organise the union’s work and facilitate delegate networks.

The pilot series of facilitated workshops with selected Branches (UTas, Monash, Melb, Adelaide, UNSW, Curtin, Griffith, ANU, CDU) is complete [see ‘Branch & Delegate development’, Advocate, vol.20 no.2, p.54]. A review will determine how the program continues.

The education program also develops the capacity of officers and staff as union educators so that they can run education and information sessions for members. The first ‘train the trainer’ program on General Staff Classification was run in 2013 with

participants from Victoria, SA and Queens-land. They observed a session being taught; attended a one day session to develop their capacity as Union Educators for that ses-sion; and then ran that session themselves, observed and evaluated by an experienced educator.

A third element is to pilot workshops to develop Indigenous Cultural Competency Training. This helps staff and Branches to work with Indigenous union members and with local Indigenous communities as well as provide opportunities for those commu-nities to connect with the Union and the University [see ‘Indigenous cultural compe-tency training’, Advocate, vol.20 no.3, p.54].

Financial governance

From January to June 2014, Union Edu-cation conducted 23 sessions in financial governance for 181 participants. Training was necessitated by new legislative require-ments passed in 2013 that require the Union to train all officers whose duties include ‘financial management’.

Other programs

Union Education & Training also runs workshops as required by Branches and Divisions. Workshops conducted in the past year include:

• Most Branch Enterprise Bargaining train-ing was conducted in 2013 with the final four workshops in February (UNSW, Mac-quarie and Wollongong) and April 2014 (Batchelor) just prior to those Branches commencing bargaining.

• Two General Staff Classification work-shops were conducted, one at Sunraysia

Key activities:

• Branch & Delegate development

• Financial governance

• Education materials

• Induction programs

• Online programs

• Events

• Scholarships

The National Education Officers, Ken McAlpine and Helena Spyrou work with assistance from National, Division and Branch staff and officers and the program is overseen by the National President and General Secretary.www.nteu.org.au/myunion/education_trainingBelow: Ken McAlpine & Helena Spyrou

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 21

TAFE for HR staff and NTEU represent-atives, and the second at Federation University for relevant members.

• At the 2013 National Council, Union Education coordinated a series of short workshops (see report in Advocate, Nov 2013, p.50) on MOOCs, social media and campaigning, university stats, negotiation tactics.

• Workshops on industrial issues were con-ducted for Queensland and SA Division staff and officers, including Statutory Interpretation – Interpreting your Agree-ment in Disputes and Bargaining and Sources of Employment Rights.

• Workshops were also run in Implement-ing and Monitoring Agreements – De-veloping an Implementation Plan at the Indigenous Forum and for Victorian Organisers.

Education materials development

The national education and training framework is based on three broad areas of knowledge:

• The NTEU: Union history; the NTEU in higher education; organising the union’s work; communicating effectively with members; recruiting members to the union; developing and implementing a union agenda; leading organising and campaigning; expanding communication and campaign activities.

• The higher education system: History and structure, politics and economics and current policy issues of Australian higher education; advancing an NTEU policy agenda; assisting members profession-ally and leading on professional issues; researching the higher education sector; and producing effective information for members and staff.

• Employment rights in higher education: Distinctive features of employment regu-lation in higher education; the Union and the law; assisting members industrially; union representation skills; advancing union rights; advocacy skills.

Materials are developed as the program progresses, and have been developed for: ac-ademic freedom; general staff classification; anti-bullying strategies; developing a strong and active branch; delegate development education; talking union; implementing

agreements; domestic violence; administra-tive guide to NTEU finance systems; elected officers information guide; introduction to the NTEU; get involved get active get elect-ed; grievance handling toolkit; how to apply for grants; sources of employment rights; statutory interpretation; and enterprise bargaining.

Inducting new union staff

As well as local induction, most new staff spend two days in the National Office receiving a general induction where they meet with relevant national staff in order to better understand the work of the Union.

Online programs

Web-ex was adopted as the platform for web conferencing and webinars in early 2014. A how-to guide has been developed for hosting and participating in web-confer-ences and webinars, and a large number of meetings and webinars have been success-fully run via Web-ex. Moodle is now being investigated for online learning.

Events

Providing the education and training components of national conferences and seminars is a key role of Union Education. Union Education also provides input to conference planning, structure, content and review.

General Staff ConferenceAt the National General Staff Conference in November 2013, Union Education conduct-ed a workshop aimed at reviewing staff HEW descriptors.

The Union Education staff played a key role in designing the themes and content of the conference.

NTEU Branch Organisers’ ResidentialHeld in March 2014, the conference involved significant resources and planning, and con-tributions from senior Division Organisers. It was overseen by the National President.

The Conference focused on how to develop the capacity of NTEU organisers by identi-fying impediments to organising work and how Branch Organisers could contribute to overcoming these. Participants discussed

campaigning and organising, developing and sustaining delegate networks, and managing workloads and relationships at all levels of the Union. Participants reflected upon the Union’s organising work and their own practice and identified areas where skills development is required and how to best achieve this.

NTEU Expert Seminar SeriesThis series of filmed seminars offers an op-portunity to learn more about and discuss issues relevant to higher education. The aim is to host 3 to 4 each year. Each seminar is posted on the NTEU website and can be used as an education resource.

The first seminar, on 3 July 2014, was Casualisation - global and Australian trends. Robyn May talked with Jeannie Rea about the state of academic casualisation in Australia and how this is contributing to a de-professionalisation of the profession. Around 30 people attended the seminar and the discussion via Twitter.

NTEU 2014 Scholarship Program

The 2013 National Council established a consolidated scholarship program. The four scholarships are:

• The Carolyn Allport Scholarship for post-graduate feminist research – $5000 for three years.

• The Joan Hardy Scholarship for post-graduate nursing research – $5000.

• The NTEU Morning Star Scholarship, for Indigenous students in a Certificate IV or Diploma course at CDU in Community Services or a related area – $3000.

• The NTEU CSU Branch Indigenous Education Scholarship for an Indigenous Australian in an under- graduate teaching degree at CSU, who demonstrates a commitment to commu-nity issues – $4,000.

Union Education oversees the Carolyn Allport and Joan Hardy scholarships. This year, 17 people applied for the Carolyn Allport Scholarship and 10 for the Joan Har-dy Scholarship. The successful recipients were Julija Knezevic and Katrina Recoche, respectively. •

Organising & Recruitment

page 22 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

NTEU views recruitment and organising as core ‘all-of-union’ activities that provide the frame-work for the rest of the work that the Union undertakes.NTEU relies on collective strength for our success, so it is vital that members, dele-gates, activists, officers and staff prioritise membership growth strategies as an inte-gral part of all of the Union’s activities.

As NTEU seeks to empower members in the workplace, our organising strategies include recruiting new members to the Union, identifying and developing activists, and providing the necessary leadership and direction to enable members to have the confidence to manage their own issues.

The National Office plays a number of roles in supporting Divisions, Branches, staff, delegates and activists around recruitment and organising. These include:

• Developing recruitment materials and resources.

• Providing various types of support for recruitment, organising and campaign initiatives.

• Conducting former member surveys about their experiences of the NTEU.

• Providing a range of services that en-hance ongoing NTEU membership.

• Managing and maintaining our member-ship records.

Recruitment

After considerable debate, the 2011 Nation-al Council agreed to a new initiative of employing full time recruitment staff, in

addition to the day-to-day recruitment by officers, delegates, activists and staff. This was initially done by engaging external providers. Following the (unrelated) demise of the external providers, the National Executive established an internal national growth team.

The efforts of the national growth team, comprising three full time organisers operating from the National Office and six part time growth organisers working out of the Divisions, has continued to achieve increased recruitment to ensure positive growth during 2014.

Growth team members are deployed to Branches on a co-ordinated basis to do one-on-one recruitment as their sole activity. The team participated in a two day work-shop in January 2014 to review the team’s performances during 2013 and plan for 2014. The workshop’s agenda covered:

• Integration with Divisions and Branches.• Right of Entry and access issues.• Obstacles to Growth Team work.Whilst considerable focus and resources have been allocated to this dedicated re-cruitment project, NTEU elected represent-atives, staff, delegates and activists contin-ue to take advantage of opportunities to recruit and actively involve new members.

High levels of union activity, whether over enterprise bargaining, endless staff restructures and redundancies, or other campaigns all provide such opportunities and are times of membership growth and engagement. Many other ongoing activities also attract new members including Blue-stocking Week and Go Home on Time Day as well as conferences and forums on and

Key activities:

• Recruitment and Growth Team

• National Organising

• Member services

NTEU’s work nationally on organising is undertaken by the National Organiser, Michael Evans, with support from the Administrative Officer (Membership & Campaigns) Julie Ann Veal, and overseen by the National Assistant Secretary. Campaign support is provided by the National Publications Coordinator, Paul Clifton and National Media Officer, Courtney Sloane. The National Membership Officer is Melinda Valsorda.The National Growth Team comprising Gaurav Nanda, Priya Nathan and Rifai Abdul reports directly to the National Assistant Secretary.Below: National Growth Team Organisers

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 23

off campuses. Not surprisingly, recruitment is most likely where the Union is visible and actively supporting members.

Branches also continue to produce and distribute pay rise leaflets, with National Office and Division support. These are sent to all staff who are not union members each time there is a pay rise associated with the most recent Agreement.

Organising

Day-to-day organising priorities are determined by Divisions and Branches. In 2014, the National Organising Group was established, comprising the National Or-ganiser, National Indigenous Organiser, and Senior State Organiser or State Organiser in the WA, Queensland, NSW and Victorian Divisions.

The Group’s role is to enhance the NTEU’s organising capabilities by:

• Strategic planning about implementing overall organising priorities and activities, as well as specific campaigns.

• Regular communication with Organisers about national issues, decisions, etc. as well as processes, tools, resources.

• Providing feedback to the national leadership about issues affecting on-the-ground Organisers and their day-to-day activities.

• Continuing to provide a resource and support by assisting Organisers with day-to-day issues.

Following the Organisers National Confer-ence in March 2014, the National Organising Group is working with Union Education staff to ensure that Organisers’ training and development needs are met through structured programs.

The National Organiser is also responsible for managing various relationships with external organisations and working with the ACTU, other unions and community organisations on broader organising initi-atives and activities. Over the last twelve months this has included:

• Working with the ACTU and other un-ions on the Insecure Work campaign and climate change issues.

• Representing the NTEU in the Australi-an Education for Sustainability Alliance

(AESA).• Linking NTEU to the Go Home On Time

Day initiative developed by the Australia Institute.

Members Services

There has been a focus over the last twelve months on membership retention and improved services for existing members.

An improved and greatly expanded Mem-ber Benefits program was launched in March 2013. Partnered with Member Advan-tage, a leading provider of member benefits programs, the program is online-based and can be accessed with an NTEU membership number at www.nteu.org.au/benefits.

Members were sent a new membership card in May/June 2013, which is directly linked to the benefits program, and will be updated during 2015.

Other initiatives include an automatic email to members after their first twelve months of membership, thanking them for their continued membership and outlining the latest union activities.

Travel to Work insuranceNTEU believes our members should not be put at risk of financial hardship as a result of simply travelling to and from work. To protect members, in early 2014 NTEU launched our Travel to Work Insurance.

NTEU has purchased a journey to work/outside working hours/workcover top-up insurance for all financial members. It pro-

vides cover in the case of an accident that occurs when travelling to and from work, at lunch times, and where members are otherwise not covered by existing workers’ compensation legislation.

Coverage is for 85% of weekly salary, up to a maximum of $1,500 gross per week. The insurance covers members up to age of 75 (with some restrictions for members aged over 70).

NTEU Travel To Work Insurance covers any difference which may exist between the compensation payable under motor acci-dent legislation and the benefits specified under the policy.

Shop and merchandise

A new NTEU online shop interface was launched in mid-June 2014, with a Word-press site utilising the WooCommerce sys-tem for payment by credit card or Paypal.

Professional photos of existing merchan-dise were commissioned, as was a range of exciting new products, including iPhone covers, “NTEU/Proud Union Member” t-shirts, baseball caps, woven sun hats, beanies, hoodies, pens, mugs, pop-up um-brellas, pendants, earrings and sunscreen.

In its first three months of operation, the new shop experienced over $5,000 in sales.

The site has also been used to sell tickets to events and distribute campaign materials (free except for the nominal cost of post-age). A donations option is also available.•

23,930

24,354 24,279 24,318

26,111

27,458 27,529

23,000July 2008 July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2012 July 2013 July 2014

24,000

25,000

26,000

27,000

28,000

NTEU Membership growth

Communications & Publications

page 24 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

With over 28,000 members, the NTEU is one of the largest demo-cratic organisations in Australia advocating for higher education. Our communications and publi-cations are integral to informing our members about their rights at work and what’s happening across the sector, and our cam-paigns are crucial to defending public higher education. The last year has seen a number of campaigns as well as a strategic focus on growing our reach and recognition.

Media

Over the past twelve months, the NTEU developed a range of media materials to support its campaigns. These have included several videos to support the Vote Smart and A Degree Shouldn’t Cost A Mortgage campaigns, as well as infographics and memes for use on Facebook and Twitter. These materials have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, allowing the NTEU to broaden the higher education conversation.

Our campaigns have been covered widely in both Australian and international media, across radio, television, online and print platforms. As such, the NTEU has been an important part of shaping the national conversation around higher education, par-ticularly opposition to the Abbott Govern-ment’s proposed higher education changes.

Social media

The NTEU has also grown its presence across various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Since 30 June 2013, the national Facebook account has grown from 1,599 likes to over 8,000. The national Twitter account has also grown to over 2,000 followers.

This growth has enabled a broader reach for NTEU’s campaigns such as Dumb Cuts, Vote Smart and A Degree Shouldn’t Cost a Mortgage, as well as highlighting the work we do day to day supporting our members’ rights and interests. The NTEU has also developed its first social media policy to address the changing nature of new com-munications.

edXpress

edXpress, the Union’s monthly e-news publication, gathers content from around Australia to keep our members, organisers and supporters informed about what’s happening on campuses across each state and territory.

It is published monthly (with a hiatus from October 2013 to March 2014). and sent via MailChimp to just over 2,000 subscribers with a 34% open rate. With up to 20 stories each issue, the email received by subscrib-ers contains the heading, introductory para-graph and image for each story, linking to the full version blogpost.

Magazines & journals

The National Publications Coordinator pro-duces all national magazines in association with each title’s editor and relevant staff at all levels of the Union.

Key activities:

• Media work

• Social media

• Magazines & journal production

• Website development

• Campaign & event support

Communications and publications are conducted by the National Publications Coordinator, Paul Clifton and the National Media Officer, Courtney Sloane, assisted by Elected Officers, staff and external contractors overseen by the National President and National Assistant Secretary.www.nteu.org.au/mediawww.nteu.org.au/libraryBelow (L–R): Paul Clifton, Courtney Sloane and Michael Evans, National Organiser

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 25

Advocate (editor Jeannie Rea) was pub-lished Nov 2013 (vol. 20, no. 3), March 2014 (vol. 21, no. 1) and June 2014 (vol. 21, no. 2). Each print run is approximately 28,000, plus 2,000 soft delivery subscriptions (email no-tification with links to PDF on our website and e-mag on our issuu site, with a 32% open rate). From 2014 the bulk of Advocate articles are reproduced as blogposts and shared on social networks where relevant.

Australian Universities’ Review (AUR), edited by Ian Dobson and overseen by the AUR Editorial Board was published in February 2014 (vol. 56, no. 1) and September 2014 (vol. 56, no. 2, in production). Each print run is approximately 5,500, plus over 5,000 soft delivery subscriptions (PDF and e-mag, with a 31% open rate).

Connect (editor Jeannie Rea, co-published by NTEU and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations) was published in March 2014 and July 2014. Each print run is approximately 3,700 (PDFs and e-mag also available). Selected articles are reproduced as blogposts and shared on social networks where relevant.

Agenda (editor Jeannie Rea, produced in conjunction with the Women’s Action Com-mittee), NTEU’s annual women’s journal, is in production in August (vol. 22). Each print run is approximately 16,000 (PDF and e-mag available). Selected articles are reproduced as blogposts.

Other publications

‘Whole-of-University’ Approach to Indige-nous Student Support (A4, 30pp.), produced by the National Indigenous Unit, was pub-lished in early October 2013 (digital only).

A Degree Shouldn’t Cost a Mortgage: NTEU Analysis of Higher Education Changes in the 2014 Federal Budget (A5, 24pp.), a com-prehensive summary of NTEU’s response to the 2014 Federal Budget, was published in July 2014 (digital only).

NTEU Tax Guide 2014 (A4, 10pp.), the annual tax booklet for members, produced in con-junction with Teacher Tax, was published in July (digital only).

Production for a 5th edition of Smart Casuals began in mid-April 2014. As each Branch finalises bargaining, they will be

sent standard text. Customised booklets for each Branch will be published online as they are produced.

From 2014, all certified Agreements pub-lished to our websites will have a distinctive NTEU branded cover page to emphasise our work in bargaining.

For Branches that have finished bargain-ing, poster templates were developed for information and recruitment. A series of customisable communications materials for general use by Branches were produced, including meeting notices, action alerts, sticker sheets, letterhead and delegate nameplates.

An updated version of the national recruit-ment brochure was printed in February 2014, featuring a member standing in front of one of the Union’s protest photo boards. An Indigenous version was also produced.

Online

Public sitesThe new NTEU website was launched on 14 February 2014. The main features are:

• Responsive design (i.e. design responds and reformats when being viewed on mobile devices).

• Featured posts for all blogs (allows impor-tant posts to be highlighted).

• CMS-based control of sidebars (for ad-verts, social networks etc.).

• Completely overhauled Policy Advocacy section (content and design).

• Improvements to National Office content sections.

• Better search functions.• Improved Library interface.

Internal sitesIn December 2013, the NTEU’s internal blog, the Portal was redesigned with a new responsive theme and added functionality. All National Office staff have been encour-aged to post to the Portal when launching activities or events that effect staff in Divi-sions or Branches in order to keep everyone properly informed.

In March 2014, the Union’s web develop-ment, maintenance, content management and hosting services moved from Datalink

to Xceed Pty Ltd, who took over all support and service provision.

In May 2014, the Union adopted a new digital asset management system, ResourceSpace. Originally developed for Oxfam, it allows staff and officers at all levels to share images and documents quickly and efficiently, and gives greater control over the quality and relevance of materials.

In conjunction with the Union Education unit, development began on a national internal wiki.

Campaigns

A Degree Shouldn’t Cost a MortgageAn enormous amount of material was produced for A Degree Shouldn’t Cost a Mortgage, the Union’s Budget 2014 cam-paign, including a website with various ac-tivism widgets, banners for rallies, posters (4 versions in various sizes), videos, brochures, postcards, fact sheets, signs for rallies, slide presentation, various social media assets and t-shirts.

Travel to Work InsuranceFor the Union’s new Travel to Work Insur-ance, branding and material were produced, including a flyer, an A4 poster and a web-page: www.nteu.org.au/traveltowork.

Events

A range of promotional material (logos, website pages, programs, banners etc.) were created for the annual NTEU Lecture in December 2013 (delivered by Prof Marian Baird); the General Staff Conference in Ad-elaide in December 2013; the NTEU Expert Seminars, which began in July 2014; and National Council.

20th AnniversaryFoundation Member badges and per-sonalised certificates were designed and produced for 4,000 NTEU Foundation members in late 2013.•

Infrastructure & Governance

page 26 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

One of the key strategic priori-ties over the last 12 months has been to improve the Union’s systems and infrastructure. Much of this work has focussed on identifying and implementing digital and/or automated pro-cesses wherever it is sensible and possible to do so.

Modernised infrastructure

Considerable effort has been made to reduce our reliance on ‘hard copy’ (paper and postal) production, distribution and sharing of information. For the last year, the National Executive has been using iPads to access meeting documents and for the conduct of meetings. This has consider-ably reduced the consumption of paper and has eliminated the costs and time associ-ated with bulky mail outs of agendas and meeting papers.

This year, for the first time, the agenda and papers for National Council will be distributed electronically. National Council will also be primarily conducted using a variety of digital platforms such as iPads, other tablets and laptops. A survey found that a majority of National Councillors are comfortable to work this way and to bring their own device to Council. Therefore, this is a year for trialling the new approach and it is intended to improve and refine our presentation of the electronic papers in the light of the experience at Council.

Another initiative taken in the last year has resulted in our historical and current

paper-based membership forms being converted to an indexed digital format and integrated into our membership database. As a result, searching for records is now much easier and importantly, the member records for the NTEU since its creation are now stored in a more durable format.

Substantial work has been undertaken to source and purchase a new Union database which will replace the existing membership database and integrate under one ‘roof’ a number of other existing discrete databas-es. This project is necessary as NTEU relies on several database systems developed quite some time ago that require extensive ongoing maintenance to ensure that they are able to continue to communicate with each other.

Since these older systems were developed and deployed, innovations in IT have result-ed in improvements in the way information can be presented on-line in a personalised real-time format to members and the capacity also now exists to make available a suite of tools to enable different levels of the Union to communicate and record interactions with members and to collect and store information about prospective members.

This is a major project as the membership database and its integration with our financial management systems is arguably the most important element of our physical infrastructure and is vital to the contin-ued successful operation of the Union. It is anticipated that the first phase of this project will be completed by mid-2015 with full implementation expected by the end of that year.

The Management & Administration Unit is coordinated by Executive Manager, Peter Summers with staff ICT Network Engineer, Tam Vuong, Database Programmer/Data Analyst, Ray Hoo, Payroll Officer, Jo Riley, Executive Officer (National Officers) Anastasia Kotaidis, Executive Officer (Meetings & Events) Tracey Coster, Administrative Officers Julie Ann Veal and Renee Veal, and Receptionist, Leanne Foote.www.nteu.org.au/myunion

Key activities:

• Infrastructure modernisation

• Policy development

• Administration & governance

Key activities:

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 27

National Office refit

A refit of the National Office was undertak-en in 2013-14 which resulted in modernised meeting infrastructure for the National Executive and other Union committees, the creation of a unified and integrated recep-tion and telephony service point for the Victorian Division and National Office, the upgrading of our projector and information presentation systems, the colocation in the National Office of staff working in core activist and policy-oriented areas of the Union’s work, and the provision of more of-fice space to accommodate staff who were previously required to work in an open plan environment.

Archives

For the first time in over twenty years, the Union has reviewed its extensive collection of historical files, documents and other records. As a result of this activity our most important historical records have been identified, catalogued and placed in secure storage in the National Archives in Canberra.

Policy development

The National Office has been working to establish a new consolidated Policies and Procedures Guide covering financial, personnel and administrative practices. This work takes place against the backdrop of a Federal Coalition Government that is deeply hostile to collective bargaining gen-erally and the existence of effective trade unions in particular – as exemplified by the stampede to establish the Royal Commis-sion into Trade Union Corruption. The Government’s attacks have unfortunately been aided by the media hysteria fanned by

the indefensible conduct of a small number of prominent trade union officials.

Over the last year the Union has adopted new and/or revised policies dealing with:

• Tendering & Procurement• Conflict of Interest• Use of Credit Cards• Privacy• Use of Social Media• Use of the NTEU Database and Related

Resources.These policies inform operational practice guides on a range of related matters (such as requiring strong IT passwords, and a Data Breach Response Plan).

NTEU continues to maintain high stand-ards of probity, transparency and ethical behaviour. The Union is not affiliated to any political party, does not maintain slush funds or off budget accounts, and has nev-er made donations to any party or political candidate.

Furthermore, the Union has consistently received unqualified audits of its accounts since the inception of the NTEU in 1993.

General administration and governance

The Union is rightly proud of its rigorous and transparent financial and general administration and oversight practices including:

• Rules requiring disclosure by Officers and staff of any direct or material con-flict of interest.

• Oversight of all budgets and accounts by the National Staffing and Finance

Committee which considers comprehen-sive and detailed reports for Operating Income and Expenditure (for all levels of the Union), the National Defence Fund, the National Leave Fund, and the Nation-al Property Fund.

• Centralisation of financial record keep-ing for all Branches, Divisions and the National Office to ensure financial policy consistency and day to day accountabil-ity.

• A Credit Card and Expenditure Policy under which NTEU Officers and staff must account and provide receipts for all expenditures and identify the Budget line item and/or activity against which such expenditure is to be charged, based on three levels of internal review. Financial probity and control is reinforced through strict credit card limits of between $1,000 and $10,000 p.a., and no capacity for cash withdrawals.

• Periodic competitive tendering for impor-tant and/or moderately high cost external services or work including property redevelopment and investment advice and periodic testing of service providers (e.g. printing and website hosting) against contemporary market prices. •

Finance Report

page 28 • NTEU Annual Report 2014

The NTEU budget cycle is a complex process which must take account of total assets of $26 million, annual revenues of $20 million and the employment of 120 staff. The National Finance Unit oversees this process through the central-ised collection and distribution of members’ fee income, budget setting and the preparation of income and expenditure statements for all levels of the Union.

Financial probity and the responsible management of members’ funds is central to the Unit’s work, with each level of the Union being required to account directly for each expenditure transactions with three separate levels of authorisation and review.

Key highlights for the last financial year are set out in the chart and table below, and include:

• An operating deficit of $370,000 (or around 1.7%).

• Income lower than expected by $450,000.• Expenditure under by $110,000. NTEU will publish Audited Financial State-ments later in calendar year 2014 in line with Fair Work Australia regulations. •

Key activities:

• National financial management

• Operating results

The Finance Unit is coordinated by Finance Manager, Glenn Osmand with Senior Finance Officer, Gracia Ho and Finance Officers Alex Ghvaladze, Tamara Labadze, Lee Powell and Daphne Zhang. The Unit reports directly to the General Secretary.

Key activities:

Federal ElectionCampaign 3%

DefenceAllocation

Fund 3%

LeaveProvision

3%

Discretionary10%

Operating12%

Salaries 69%

Expense Allocation 2013-2014

Summary of 2013-2014 Income and Expenditure - Actual vs Budget

Budget 2013/14 $m

Actual 2013/14 $m

INCOME

Membership Fees 18.34 17.79

Other 0.07 0.12

Growth Team Income 2.08 2.14

20.49 20.05

EXPENDITURE

Salaries 14.46 14.17

Growth Team Salaries 0.57 0.68

Operating 2.22 2.33

Discretionary 2.20 2.15

Defence Fund Allocation 0.61 0.59

Growth Team Expenditure 0.16 0.17

Federal Election Campaign 0.50 0.52

20.72 20.61

SURPLUS/DEFICIT -0.23 -0.56

Balance Bought Forward 0.19 0.19

Total Operating Surplus/Deficit -0.04 -0.37

NTEU Annual Report 2014 • page 29

NOTES

www.nteu.org.au/annualreport