Action taken by casual academics has allowed NTEU to secure $2 million in underpayments for 83 current and former staff at the Academy of Information Technology (AIT). This is a fantastic demonstration of what can be achieved when workers work together, and with their Union, to challenge unfair and unjust employment conditions. More...

NTEU has all but concluded bargaining across the sector in Round 7 bargaining, with only one Agreement outstanding at the University of New England. In what has been a difficult bargaining round, there have been significant gains: annual pay rises between 1.8% and 2.4%, casual conversion clauses, improved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment and leave provisions, and improved superannuation provisions for fixed term staff across the sector. More...

If you are a keen Advocate reader, you probably recently completed the Union’s nationwide survey of university staff – the State of the Uni survey –which is now closed.
This year the Union ran the third such survey, with previous surveys run in 2015 and 2017. With around 21,000 responses, this year’s Survey has been the largest ever. More...

Only two Agreements to go before Round 7 of enterprise bargaining concludes, and preparations for our next round of bargaining commence.  
Since the last update, members at the University of Wollongong, Flinders University, University of the Sunshine Coast, Victoria University, Monash University and University of New England (Professional Staff) have campaigned for and negotiated strong Agreements. More...

In recent weeks the precarious financial and academic state of Charles Darwin University (CDU) has made local and national news. NTEU ran a petition demanding independent assessments of the current change proposals. More...

In early October, news broke that Murdoch University had sued one of its academics, Associate Professor Gerd Schröder-Turk. The University took the action in response to Gerd appearing on the ABC’s premier investigative program, Four Corners. Gerd and his colleagues, not just from Murdoch, revealed certain practices spread throughout many Australian universities relating to the recruitment of international students. More...

Publishing a scholarly journal is something that many learned societies and other organisations do. NTEU is the publisher of the Australian Universities’ Review (AUR), now into its sixty-first year as a higher education journal. More...

The momentum and need for a change in direction in tertiary education is felt every day in our community providers, polytechnics, universities, and wananga.
We feel it when we struggle to find a counsellor to help a suicidal student. More...

Yes, it is that time of the year again, but given the new mood of limiting needless carbon emissions, with Extinction Rebellion blocking the streets and demanding action, I used Skype for my annual chat with the irrepressible Cal D’Aria. As regular readers will know, Cal has only taken a decade to transform the former Tamworth Hairdressing College into the dynamic and internationally regarded Tam U. More...

It’s been an honour and privilege to participate at the 2019 National Council, the supreme decision-making body of the NTEU. It’s not a position I take lightly and I’m grateful to the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) members for giving me, through their votes, the opportunity to be part of a Council that meets to set the national policy direction of our Union. More...