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Sydney, UNE face stop-work action
Industrial unrest is spreading in NSW with staff at two universities set to vote this month on industrial action over enterprise bargaining, following successful applications to Fair Work Australia by the National Tertiary Education Union.
The NTEU is planning action against the University of Sydney and the University of New England following the failure to come to an agreement over enterprise bargaining.
Neither university contested the union’ s applications for protected industrial action ballots.
Michael Thomson, president of the University of Sydney NTEU branch, said the ballot would most likely be held early this month with members voting on different forms of industrial action: onehour stoppages, 24-hour stoppages, and indefinite stoppages.
In a letter to members, Thomson, said the union notified the university management of their plans for industrial action because they failed to“ properly” engage in enterprise bargaining.
Following meetings over five months in 2012, management tabled their proposed agreement and circulated a link to it to all staff. The union said the university’ s proposed agreement is“ a serious insult to staff”.
“ For the second Christmas in a row University of Sydney staff will go to the break knowing the management has no commitment to staff. Last year it was job cuts, this year it is a substandard enterprise agreement,” Thomson said in the letter sent to members late last year.
He said management proposed an annual salary increase of 2 per cent, which is less than half of what Central Queensland University and Curtin University have agreed to for the next four years.
A spokesman for the University of Sydney said the NTEU’ s claim for a 7 per cent pay increase is“ totally unrealistic” and shows a“ complete lack of understanding of both the university’ s financial situation and of community expectations”.
He said university staff is currently the highest paid in the tertiary sector and even without any increase will remain so for some time. Increases in salaries and
Good looks pay off for men
It seems that physical attractiveness does matter for men in the workplace, with research revealing that males with above-average looks earned about $ 32,000 more a year than those with below-average looks.
The Australian-first study, which examined salary and attractiveness, found that handsome men typically commanded salaries of about $ 81,750 compared with their unlucky counterparts who earned considerably less at $ 49,600.
The authors of the study, economist Jeff Borland from Melbourne University and former Australian National University economist Andrew Leigh, who is now a federal MP, found that the“ plainness penalty” was more important than the“ beauty premium”.
In door-to-door interviews, it was found that men whose looks were rated as below-average by the interviewers
were earning about 26 per cent less than average.
On the other hand good-looking men earned 22 per cent more than average.
The study was conducted with researchers rating interviewees on a six-point scale from“ very much more attractive than average” to“ well below average”. The interviewers also viewed photos of other interviewees.
“ It turns out beauty isn’ t in the eye of the beholder,” Dr Leigh said.“ There is strong literature showing views about beauty are shared.”
Men rated as having below-average looks had lower chances of being employed, at 15 per cent, and when they were employed typically had lower wages of 9 per cent. These men were also less likely to be married and had lower chances of being married to a woman with a high income. ■ benefits in the NSW public sector are capped at 2.5 per cent, he added.
The spokesman said the university was keen to reach a“ realistic” agreement as soon as possible but said the unions are not willing to make any concessions in their claims in return for salary increases.
Thomson said under the university management proposal there would be less job security, a reduction in sick leave entitlements and an undermining of superannuation provisions. He said there also wouldn’ t be a limit on academic casuals, and that there would be fewer provisions for fixed-term staff to convert to ongoing positions.
Thomson said this year the NTEU will campaign for and“ get a good enterprise agreement”.
At UNE, negotiations on the academic enterprise agreement have stalled, after eight months of negotiations.
Dr Tim Battin, NTEU president at UNE, said that agreements on any of the matters have not been achieved.
“ Our main focus in this round is with the extent of arbitrary decision making on the part of management and the abuse of power, but despite the great patience of the NTEU team in presenting its claims with reason and evidence, no movement from the management is forthcoming,” Battin said. ■
10 | February 2013