• Swinburne's $2.85 million wage theft reignites calls for action 

  The National Tertiary Education Union has called for major changes to university governance after Swinburne admitted $2.85 million in wage theft from staff.

• Bargaining Update 

  As of 25 March 2024, the draft agreement put forward by Swinburne's executive omits several key claims by the branch. Here you can see what has been achieved and what still needs to be done. A members' meeting has been called for 8 April. Check your

• Stopping the SWiNdle: Billy the Billboard hits the road to spread the word 

  Billy the Billboard is cruising round Swinburne campuses, spreading the word that staff will not be SWiNdled. Check out the photos and video from the launch.

• Dancing for a new deal - strike and rally builds the pressure 

  NTEU members were dancing for a new deal at the latest strike day rally at Swinburne. Check out the photos and video to see what went down.

• Swinburne strikes again - rally and march for new enterprise deal 

  Swinburne are back on strike today, escalating the pressure on management for a new deal. Check out photos and videos from today's rally and march.

• NTEU Victoria Strike Week: join the rallies and get involved! 

  It's NTEU Victoria strike week! NTEU members at three universities are taking industrial action this week and we'd love you to come and jin us at the rallies.

• Half Day strike called for Wednesday, 30 August 

  Recent members’ meetings overwhelmingly endorsed a half-day strike for Wednesday, 30 August. All Swinburne Higher Education NTEU members will walk off the job from 12.30 pm. Don’t get SWiNDLED – join us at 12.30 pm on the corner of John Street and Wa

• Universities Accord 

  We have an opportunity to help save our sector by signing this petition to demand better governance of our public universities and better conditions for staff and students.

• Bargaining Update #18: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Last week, we also saw how the executive has upped the ante by requiring managers to note which staff members uphold industrial bans. This strategy, which is inherently intimidatory, is unsurprising in the current context; if any member is concerned,

• Bargaining Update #17: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Last week, we also saw how the executive has upped the ante by requiring managers to note which staff members uphold industrial bans. This strategy, which is inherently intimidatory, is unsurprising in the current context; if any member is concerned,

• Bargaining Update #16: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  In addition to our continued discussion on leave arrangements, this week's bargaining focussed on the executive's proposals to reduce redundancy entitlements.

• Bargaining Updates # 13-15: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Bargaining continues, but we are no closer to agreeing on the direction and substance of a new Higher Education Enterprise Agreement. Over the past ten days, we have met with the executive's representatives three times to discuss leave arrangemen

• Higher Ed Review Pledge 

  Pledge your support for NTEU's submission to the Universities Accord process and let government know the real issues that matter in Australian higher education.

• Vale Peter Love: Teacher, University Historian, Scholar, Colleague & Friend 

  Our dear friend and colleague Peter Love has died. For a week following his death, the flag at Trades Hall flew at half-mast in recognition of his long-standing service to the labour movement and the wider community. It is fitting that a celebration

• The VC's Latest Folly 

  News spread pretty quickly that work was being done in the SPS building. We got a few calls to tell us to get down there quick. When we arrived we looked for the development sign. Sure enough what was a rumour crystallised into fact. Our Vice Chancel

• Bargaining Update # 12: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Bargaining resumed this week with discussions on probation and dispute resolution. We are making some headway on these issues, but we need to wait to see the new drafts of these clauses. Next week we return to academic workloads, a key issue for acad

• Bargaining Update # 11: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  This week we met with management representatives for our 11th bargaining meeting. Adam Frogley, the NTEU's National Director of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Unit, was at the table with us. He gave an excellent presentation on Aboriginal an

• Protected Action Ballot 

  In March and April, members' meetings across Swinburne University endorsed the branch to apply for a Protected Industrial Action Ballot. This application has been approved by the Fair Work Commission, and the ballot will open on Tuesday, 9th May at 9

• Statewide Rally 

  Swinburne members joined with thousands of colleagues from all Victorian Universities to rally for changes to the Higher Education sector. Trades Hall was turned into a sea of purple as NTEU members crammed into every available space. Several impa

• Politics & the English Language 

  Nigel Waugh's latest communication (17 April 2023) told us that the new 'Human Capital Management (HCM) System Optimisation Program' had been successfully rolled out with improvements, including that 'estimates of annual leave accruals will now be vi

• NTEU state-wide meeting 

  On 3 May, professional and academic staff across all universities in Victoria will join in a state-wide lunchtime meeting at 12 pm in Solidarity Hall, Victorian Trades Hall Council, Lygon Street, Carlton. This meeting is part of the NTEU's Nation

• FOI Application Outcome 

  Last year we submitted a Freedom of Information request to have details of the Vice Chancellor's pay, relocation, ordinary expenses, and KPI and bonus arrangements released. Barring the ordinary expenses, the other FOI requests were rejected because

• Bargaining Update # 10: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  It's all about job security this week. Management has proposed several new types of employment, each looking innocuous but resulting in increased opportunities to hire people on fixed-term, annualised, and part-year contracts. One of the union's key

• Bargaining Update # 8: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  In this week's discussion on Academic Workloads, we presented NTEU claims to increase service and teaching-related allocations, safeguard unallocated time, and ensure that the nexus between research and/or scholarship and teaching is not broken. Th

• Bargaining Update # 7: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Page by page, clause by clause, management has put forward claims that would remove protections, remove due process, remove appeal rights, remove requirements for genuine consultation before decisions are made, and downgrade conditions. Regardless of

• Bargaining Update # 6: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  Management is yet to provide its promised amendments to clauses relating to professional staff reclassification, probation, and our requests for allowances for staff required to be on-call after hours. Instead, our discussions centred on management's

• Bargaining Update # 5: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  This week, we shared our professional staff workload clauses with management representatives. Our primary aim is to ensure that management takes its occupational health and safety responsibilities seriously and stops turning a blind eye to work inten

• Bargaining Update # 4: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  We remain concerned that management's proposals for a simplified Agreement will lead to a reduction in protections and an increase in managerial prerogative. This week, we underscored our objections and re-emphasised that an Agreement that stepped ba

• Bargaining Update # 3: Our Swinburne – An Agreement that Works for You 

  We are increasingly concerned by the desire to simplify the agreement. Current clauses could and should be clarified, but the heavy emphasis on 'an agreement that is easy to understand' is management doublespeak for fewer employment protections.

• The Chancellor and the CV: Questions Remain 

  The Australian Financial Review's Joe Aston has written a scathing follow-up piece pointing out that Swinburne Chancellor, John Pollaers, still needs to answer questions relating to alleged inflated claims he has made about his CV.