QTU TAFE EB10 Bulletin no. 10 | 16 July 2019 | View as PDF
TAFE member stop-work action
deferred to Tuesday, 30 July
QTU TAFE Division members’ statewide industrial action planned for Thursday 18 July has been deferred to Tuesday 30 July.
A special meeting of QTU TAFE Executive convened this morning to consider the employer’s initial offer in response to the QTU’s EB10 log of claims. The QTU is committed to principles of good faith bargaining and postponed the stop-work meeting that had been planned for this week until the initial offer had been considered.
QTU TAFE Executive formally rejected the employer’s initial offer and endorsed Tuesday 30 July as a replacement date for industrial action.
In making its decision, QTU TAFE Executive considered the four threshold triggers for industrial action that TAFE Division members voted on in June. QTU TAFE Executive noted that the employer’s initial offer does begin to address programming matters to mitigate workload and does include a new salary classification structure for education team leaders and higher education. However, the initial offer was ultimately rejected because it fails to adequately address matters of pay and processes to address gender employment equity.
QTU TAFE Executive also noted that the employer’s offer does not adequately address parts of the QTU’s log of claims because TAFE Queensland believes that such claims are not consistent with whole-of-government policy.
The QTU believes that the elements of our EB10 log of claims pertaining to permanent employment should be reconsidered by the employer, because they do reflect whole-of-government policy. The QTU further believes that the gender employment equity elements of our EB10 log of claims should be whole-of-government policy. Moreover, the QTU believes government policy, which sees 100 per cent of vocational education funding as contestable, is contributing to chronic underfunding of TAFE, and that such policy needs to be changed as a matter of urgency.
The QTU will provide further advice to members regarding the new stop-work meeting in a subsequent TAFE Bulletin as soon as venues have been confirmed.
For more on TAFE Queensland’s initial offer in response to the QTU’s EB10 log of claims, visit www.qtu.asn.au/eb10 later this week.
Graham Moloney General Secretary |
Craig Wood Research Officer - Industrial Advocate |