Dear colleagues, 

As many of you may know, NTEU notified VU management earlier this week that union members would be engaging in a two-week ban on important systems Student One and RightNow, as well as a one-week ban on the delivery of teaching from Monday 2 September. 

In response to these bans, VU management yesterday began notifying staff that VU will refuse to accept ANY work from NTEU members who participate in the bans. In practice, management is essentially locking out NTEU members who have chosen to take part in the protected industrial action. 

VU management has stated that their priority is to achieve a new Agreement and to reduce potential impacts on students and non-participating staff. Of course, VU staff do not want to disrupt students’ education. But let’s be clear – this disruption is a deliberate choice made by Shoemaker’s management. 

If Shoemaker really cared about staff and students, he’d act to make working life more bearable at Victoria University, not punish those who are standing up for a better university for all. Instead, he leaves NTEU members with no choice but to take serious industrial action to remind him who keeps this place running. 

How are staff supposed to support students to “finish brilliantly” when they themselves are sick and burnt out? 

The final straw was VU’s bargaining team admitting last Friday that, despite the uniquely exploitative workloads at Victoria University under the Block model, VU’s latest workload “proposal” would leave staff worse off.

Let’s be clear about what worse off means: more ill-health for staff, more burn-out, racking up a higher WorkCover compensation bill. This sickness is happening on Adam Shoemaker’s watch. Something must be done, and union members are doing it. 

Working from home and flexible work are identified as key actions to address the gender pay gap. VU claims it is committed to gender equality – so why does Shoemaker refuse to incorporate these measures into our Enterprise Agreement?

This refusal to accept work from NTEU members is both an extraordinary step for our sector, and for a university that banks on its image as a progressive institution guided by principles of equity and inclusion. Staff and students at VU deserve better. 

For more information and updates on the progress of enterprise negotiations, visit www.nteu.au/bargaining/vu 

In strength and solidarity, 

NTEU VU branch 

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