Industrial Action at Murdoch University
Industrial Action Postal Ballot
On 13 August 2009, the general staff unions at Murdoch University – the CPSU and the LHMU – obtained an order from Commissioner Williams of Fair Work Australia to conduct a protected industrial action ballot. The ballot will be conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission and will conclude by 10 am on Friday, 4 September 2009. General staff members of the CPSU and LHMU will take part in the ballot.
Yes or No?
The members will be asked to vote “Yes” or “No” to the following questions:
Do you, for the purpose of advancing claims in the negotiation of an Enterprise Agreement for general staff with Murdoch University authorise industrial action in the form of:
| 1. | Bans on the use of telephones? |
| 2. | Bans on responding to emails and correspondence? |
| 3. | A ban on the recording and transmission to the University of student assessment and exam results? |
| 4. | One (1) hour stoppages of work, either separately or consecutively? |
| 5. | Twenty-four (24) hour stoppages of work, either separately or consecutively? |
The other union at Murdoch, the NTEU, has approached Fair Work Australia for a separate protected action ballot order.
Murdoch claims to be short of money and are worried about the lifting of enrolment caps because they might lose students from the “cash cow” areas, such as Business.
Murdoch needs to pay more
They admit that they will have to increase salaries, if they want to be placed between ECU and Curtin University.
But this will be difficult to achieve given ECU is offering slightly above 4% per annum, and Curtin's offer is 3.2% over 16 months. They have exacerbated their so-called funding problem by extensively using fixed term contracts during the HEWRRs period and therefore are resisting a return to the pre-HEWRRS situation because of costs. This will be difficult for them because the pre-HEWRRs restrictions on the use of fixed-term contracts are now part of the Modern Awards for general staff and academics that will come into effect on 1 January 2010 and will be the basis for assessing the agreements to see whether they pass the Better Off Overall Test.
Murdoch, so far, has offered no money. They want to be able to offer what they call "contemporary" contracts on a voluntary basis, so that they can offer a reduced redundancy entitlement in return for a 2% increase in salary and an ability to divert 8% of the present employer 17% superannuation contribution into salary. This would enable them to seemingly offer a good salary increase but really denude the employee’s superannuation and cost the University very little, a mere 2%.
Higher Membership = Better pay, better Conditions
The more General Staff at Murdoch who are members of the union, the better the bargaining postion of the General Staff is.
If you are not already a member, you can join online here.
If you are a member: talk to a colleague about joining your union.
General Staff: Stronger Together