22 May 2023
Chancellor’s Installation Ceremony Cancelled Due to Union Pressure
As you may know, the National Tertiary Education Union recently planned industrial action on May 24th (now cancelled) to coincide with the installation ceremony for the new Chancellor, Jane Hansen.
Over the weekend, NTEU learned that the Chancellor’s ceremony had been cancelled. The University communicated that this was because of a “staff and student protest.”
What was planned, however, was a strike and picket. Strike action is not something NTEU members take lightly or routinely. It is a last resort.
Far from “working cooperatively with the NTEU”, University management has been slow to move, disorganised, and recalcitrant. When management won’t cooperate at the table, it is legitimate and right for NTEU members to withdraw their cooperation with the workplace. Then management learns where power lies: with staff.
It is inappropriate for University senior management to continue with lavish ceremonies, and hosting dignitaries, while the University’s core mission — public education for our society — has been lost to mismanagement.
The same tutors who taught Chancellor Hansen in the history program in 2019 were being systematically underpaid, as the University breached its own Enterprise Agreement.
Yet, the University has failed to agree to a secure work target in the next Enterprise Agreement. Nor has it agreed to meaningful changes for University staff suffering under the constant threat of restructures and unhealthy, unsustainable workload pressures.
The Chancellor embodies the values and educational purpose of the University. As Chair of the University Council, the Chancellor is expected to uphold exemplary standards of ethical governance and integrity. Given this, it is NTEU’s hope that Chancellor Hansen will aid the NTEU in rescuing the University’s mission and purpose from a senior management who has corrupted it.
To that end, this morning I wrote to Chancellor Hansen seeking a meeting on behalf of NTEU members to discuss the above matters and to make direct representation to the Vice-Chancellor, Duncan Maskell, regarding practical, necessary changes: a secure employment target, workload relief, and limits on constant restructures.
In solidarity,
Chloe Mackenzie
Acting Branch President
NTEU University of Melbourne Branch