NSW: Sydney Uni staff to hold mass meeting about AWAs today

AAP General News (Australia)
08-23-2006
NSW: Sydney Uni staff to hold mass meeting about AWAs today

SYDNEY, Aug 23 AAP - Staff at the University of Sydney will hold a mass meeting today
to call for an end to attempts by management to push staff onto Australian Workplace Agreements
(AWAs).

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said more than 150 people were expected
to attend the meeting at the university this afternoon.

NTEU state secretary Chris Game said staff were angry about government interference
in the university sector and pressure from the university to sign AWAs.

"We will get a significant number of our members at Sydney University turning up to
that meeting because the majority of them are fairly angry about the position taken by
the university, to be so aggressive in terms of marketing these AWAs," Mr Game said.

The NTEU said the university planned to develop 14 versions of non-negotiable AWAs
for different categories of staff, and would engage consultants from other industries
to manage and promote the AWA rollout.

Mr Game said the university also had indicated it wanted to streamline disciplinary
and dismissal procedures.

"(The want to) remove the ability of members to be represented when they're under disciplinary
procedures and also to remove any rights of appeal," he said.

"Also, the university has indicated they want to streamline the capacity of the university
to be able to dismiss staff."

Mr Game said the aim of the meeting was to inform staff about their rights and options
when asked to sign an AWA.

"We're hoping to achieve an increased awareness amongst the members and the overall
staff of the university that AWAs are a bad thing, they undermine the terms and conditions
of employment that have been secured for staff, and they should not sign an AWA," he said.

"Basically, what the university is offering is a contract that will see staff who take
up an AWA losing all of the protections they currently have under the enterprise agreement."

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