22 March 2023
Our Protected Action Ballot opens 9am Wednesday!
Your vote is very important. 50 per cent of all members working at the University must vote and more than 50 per cent must approve an action for members to have the right to take it. Members are asked to vote in the ballot, and to Vote Yes to all eight questions.
What is a Protected Action Ballot?
In the ballot, you will be asked whether you authorise NTEU members at the University to have the right to take eight forms of industrial action in support of reaching a new Enterprise Agreement.
Before union members at any workplace in Australia can legally take industrial action, they must first approve it through a Protected Action Ballot. This is not a vote to take industrial action, but simply to give NTEU members at the University the right to take it down the track.
The questions on the ballot are:
Stoppages of work of between 5 minutes and 24 hours in duration? Yes [ ] No [ ]
Indefinite stoppages of work? Yes [ ] No [ ]
A ban on use of the University of Melbourne’s online systems? Yes [ ] No [ ]
Making statements while working explaining why members of the union are taking industrial action? Yes [ ] No [ ]
A ban on performing duties outside of those explicitly mentioned in your position description? Yes [ ] No [ ]
A ban on responding to phone calls or emails outside 9am-5pm weekdays? Yes [ ] No [ ]
A ban on conducting student assessments? Yes [ ] No [ ]
A ban on applying penalties for late submission of student work? Yes [ ] No [ ]
All members are entitled to vote on a question regardless of whether it applies to their work.
The ballot closes 4pm Friday 31 March 2023.
Why now?
Members have been negotiating a new enterprise agreement with University management for almost seven months. So far, management is saying no to the big ticket items, 80 per cent permanent work at the University, protections against restructures, improved workloads, the right to work from home for professional staff, on pay they are saying, let’s talk about that later.
Management is still seeking the power to direct academics to work from campus. They are also proposing to change the Agreement so that they would no longer have to pay casual academics for all hours worked, seeking instead to only have to pay casuals for hours they have been scheduled to work, even if the work actually takes longer.
What happens next?
You should get an email from TrueVote , the agent appointed by the Fair Work Commission to conduct the ballot, on the morning of 22 March with details about the ballot.
The ballot will open at 9am on Wednesday. You will get an email from TrueVote with a voting link and voting instructions.
When you have voted, please let the Branch Office know by completing this form
If you have any questions, please contact the Branch at unimelb@nteu.org.au
