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Spent my lunch break thinking about some major problems with the NTEU’s National Jobs Protection Framework (NJPF) https://issuu.com/nteu/docs/national_jobs_protection_framework/1?ff (1/13)
Important note: I am a staunch NTEU member and am on the UoM branch committee. The Union is only as strong as its members BUT members are very different from Union leadership (the members are workers in the sector, the leadership are employed by the Union) (2/13)
The framework reveals some typical flaws the Union leadership have had for some time: 1) They don’t know how to represent casual adequately; 2) they think *any* secure job is better than insecure, even if that means accepting terrible pay/conditions (3/13)
Union leadership admits to negotiating secretly with Vice Chancellors – undermining branch discussions. E.g. on May 1 the UoM branch membership (biggest in the country) voted to condemn cuts or job losses, yet the NJPF has been negotiated contra to this and above our heads (4/13)
The diagram on page 17 shows just how top-down the planning of the NJPF has been, without member consultation, and where the “democratic” process is relegated to the very final approval stage (5/13)
The NJPF says up to 12,000 jobs can be saved but doesn’t account for the thousands of jobs have already been lost and will still be lost. Projections are at least 30,000 total FTE, so the promise to “save” 12,000 is also a statement that 18,000 can go with no fight back (6/13)
The NJPF pits ongoing workers against casual workers (page 5). Currently universities are trying to double or triple the workload of ongoing staff in order to cut out casuals, and the NJPF tacitly endorses this despite its contradictory statement on page 10 (7/13)
Unis are already trying to squeeze their ongoing workforce to increase workloads (PLUS online teaching means higher workloads in planning and execution despite less students) and the NJPF is endorsing pay cuts ON TOP of this. Double or triple the work for 85% of the pay… (8/13)
The NJPF states that the plan is “time-limited” but jobs cut and pay lost can never be recovered. It states actions can be reversed if financial circumstance “improve” with no quantification of how this would be determined (9/13)
The NJPF advocates for amending EBAs and pay and conditions that we have spent literally years deliberating and fighting for. This will undermine every strike, every organising meeting we have held as a Union in our history (10/13)
As a union we should be spending our energy advocating for govts to fund the sector and/or for unis to use their cash reserves and draw on lines of credit to pay staff appropriately and in line with our hard fought EBAs (11/13)
As a union we should NOT spending our time working out how best to cut wages, conditions, amend EBAs in a blink, and let 18,000 jobs go. This is what the NJPF represents (12/13)
The NJPF is our Union leadership selling us out. Join the NTEU and members who are fighting back at our branch level - force Union leadership to account for members. Vote no to this flawed framework destined to erode our working rights and conditions #VoteNo #SaveHigherEd (13/13)
