Mary Bluett branch president

THE TAFE4All campaign continues to gain momentum in 2010, to return TAFE education to the hands of all Victorian students — not just those who can

afford increased fees and abolished concessions.With TAFE now the new responsibility of Minister for

Education (and now Skills Minister) Bronwyn Pike, and with a review of the Victorian Government’s TAFE changes fast approaching, the TAFE4All campaign is gearing up for an even bigger, louder and stronger year than the last.

Campaigners subscribed to the TAFE4All website — www.tafe4all.org.au — now number several thousand, and the number is rising.

This is a fantastic show of strength, proving how many people refuse to sit back and allow the Victorian Government to dump the cost of education onto students and undermine their TAFE system.

However, we need to increase this number during a critical year for the future

of TAFE in Victoria. I urge all TAFE members to visit the website, add it to your favourites for regular updates and encourage others to do likewise.

There are now also nearly 1,500 TAFE4All campaigners in the TAFE4All Facebook group (go to tiny.cc/RsEog). Congratulations to all of you who have

continued to raise your voice and type in your opinion regularly — you are helping to create awareness and inspire action. Keep it up! And continue to invite others to join in.

This is a state election year (as well as a federal one). Gov-ernments are always a bit more sensitive in an election year and this also underlines the need to further build our campaign.

Have you got a story about how the TAFE changes have af-fected you or your course?

Visit the Take Action page on the TAFE4All website for infor-mation on more campaign actions, and use the comment function accompanying each blog post, and on the Facebook page. We’re

on Twitter too — www.twitter.com/tafe4all.Together our fight to turn around the government’s TAFE changes will work —

let’s take action to keep TAFE an education opportunity for all. ◆

Jo Fogarty vice president, TAFE and adult provision

THIS year is a shaping up to be a busy and tumultuous time in TAFE. It’s going to be the year for campaigns

and getting to know your agreement.The TAFE4All campaign is continuing and it is important that we keep the pres-

sure on the State Government. We must continue to voice our concerns over the Skills Reforms, drawing attention to the higher fees, abolished concessions and the potential for growing debt as students face the choice of taking out loans so they can enrol.

In the next few weeks we will be visiting sub-branches and meeting institute CEOs as part of the campaign. Look out for the AEU barbeque trailer as well, as

we haul it around the state tempting TAFE students with sausages and informing them of the fee hikes.

We will continue to deliver Know your Agreement sessions at sub-branches around the state. The allocation of excess hours appears to be a significant problem in some workplaces (see No carte blanche for long hours on page 3). Keep your AEU Implementation Guide and TAFE A-Z close by and don’t forget to consult your sub-branch executive or consultative committee representatives if you need clarification of any matters.

It is important to know what your working conditions are as they can be threatened by lack of knowledge and understanding and are regularly challenged by some employers.

continued on page 2 >

Time to make our voices heard

Change is in the airOur campaign against the fee hikes in TAFE had a real impact last year. Now, with a state election in the wings, it’s time to step up a gear.

TAFE is under attack, both in Victoria and across the nation. We need to stand together to defend and improve high quality public provision.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE AEU NEWS • MArcH 2010

A E U h e a d o f f i c e 112 Tr e n e r r y C r e s c e n t , A b b o t s f o r d 3 0 6 7 Te l : 0 3 9 417 2 8 2 2 Fa x : 13 0 0 6 5 8 0 7 8 We b : w w w. a e u v i c . a s n . a u

TAFENEWSLETTEr

Alan Cooper, Geoff Allen & Staff

Level 3/432 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004

Visit us at www.retirevic.com.au

Retirement Victoria is the AEU’s preferred provider of financial and retirement planning services to members.

Retirement Victoria Pty Ltd is an authorised representative of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd AFSL 244252.

AEU PREFERRED PROVIDERS

APPOINTMENTS (03) 9820 8088

Alan Cooper, Geoff Allen & Staff

Level 3/432 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004

Visit us at www.retirevic.com.au

AEU PREFERRED PROVIDERS

APPOINTMENTS (03) 9820 8088Retirement Victoria is the AEU’s preferred provider of financial and retirement planning services to members.

Retirement Victoria Pty Ltd is an authorised representative of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Lts AFSL 244252

SEMINARS FOR TERM 1RV will hold the following seminars at the AEU Building (112 Trenerry Cres, Abbotsford) on the following dates: Retirement Seminar: Tuesday 30 March 2010 at 10am Aged Care Seminar: Saturday 20 March 2010 at 10am* Bookings: Call Rhonda Webley on (03) 9418 4844*RV is assisting an increasing number of members with financial strategies for parents, relatives and friends who have entered or are about to enter an aged care facility. The issues are complex but we can provide help. This seminar will be devoted to aged care planning including social security/DVA issues, family home matters, taxation, accommodation bonds, daily care fees, etc.

Trouble over the bordersOur interstate colleagues are having a testing time too. Thousands of New South Wales TAFE teachers took unprotected strike action recently to protest against an IRC ruling which gave them a 12% wage increase over three years but hit them with a productivity trade-off of an additional 36 hours of annual work. This matter has been referred back to the IRC.

South Australian TAFE teachers have been dealt a blow with the Commission deciding in favour of a separate award for TAFE employees. Historically, South Australian TAFE teachers shared

an agreement with public sector educators which linked their salaries to

schools and preschools.

This decision could make maintaining pay parity with public sector teachers very difficult. Victorian TAFE teachers are well aware of the pay discrep-ancy that used to exist between TAFE and schools.

Time to invest in qualityWe are still witnessing the falling over of private registered training organisations in the interna-tional student market. These closures bear witness to what can happen to domestic providers in a demand-driven system that is inadequately funded and makes profit the motive.

Clearly these collapses are evidence that an adequately funded public TAFE system is essential.

With TAFE facing difficulties across the country it is timely that the Federal AEU is running its national

Invest in Quality, Invest in TAFE campaign. It’s backed by the series of great posters seen here that really highlight the work TAFE teachers do — you’ll be seeing copies in your workplace soon.

As part of the campaign the federal office has sent its national State of our TAFEs survey out to members — you should have received an email inviting you to take part.

I urge you to complete this online survey if you have not already done so — it closes on March 1. Your responses will provide the union with valuable information about the TAFE teaching workforce and the state of TAFEs across the country. ◆

Authorised by AEU federal TA

FE secre

tary Pat Fo

rward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Visit www.aeu

federal.o

rg.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

Authorised by AEU federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

Authorised by AEU federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

Authorised by AEU federal TA

FE secre

tary Pat Fo

rward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Visit www.aeu

federal.o

rg.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

Visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

Authorised by AEU federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Authorised by AEU federal TAFE secretary Pat Forward 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006

Visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Join the campaign for more TAFE funding today

< continued from page 1

2 TAFE newsletter | march 2010

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No carte blanche for long hoursManagers are always under pressure to wring more hours out of teachers. Knowing your agreement can help keep a lid on escalating workloads, David Colley writes.

Mark Hyde deputy vice president, TAP

WE HAVE been receiving a number of inquiries from members recently about weekly attend-

ance patterns. It appears that some institutes are reverting to rigid attendance patterns for some staff.

This doesn’t need to be the case. Here are some examples from members of how they achieve their weekly attendance. They show how arrangements can be flexible to suit both staff and students.1. Peter works in the trades area at a regional TAFE.He teaches 21 hours per week:

Monday: 8am–4.45pm (8 hours excluding lunch)Tuesday: 5pm–9pm (4 hrs)Wednesday: 8am–1pm (5 hrs)Thursday: 5pm–9pm (4 hrs)

He attends the institute for 30 hours per week:Monday: 7.30am–5pm (9.5 hrs plus lunch)Tuesday: 3.30pm–9.30pm (5.5 hrs plus tea)Wednesday: 7.30am–4pm (8 hrs plus lunch)

Thursday: 2pm–9.30 pm (7 hrs plus tea)Note that lunch is not included in attendance time.

For the remaining eight hours of his 38-hour week, Peter works away from the institute, preparing classes, attending industry meetings and keeping up to date with technical and industry developments through journals or online (all unscheduled duties).2. Paul also works in a trade area but at a metropolitan TAFE.He teaches 21 hours per week:

Monday: 8am–1pm (5 hrs)Tuesday–Friday: 8am–12pm (4 hrs per day)

He attends the college for 30 hours per week:Monday to Friday: 7.30am–1.30pm (6 hrs per day)

Like Peter, Paul elects to work away from the institute completing his eight hours per week of unscheduled duties. ◆

CHANGES to the allocation of hours and new pro-visions around excess teaching duty hours were

key features of last year’s TAFE Agreement. But these changes did not give carte blanche to manag-ers to impose extended hours on TAFE teachers.

If TAFE teachers are to maintain some degree of control over their already excessive workload, it is important that they know these provisions and are supported against over-zealous institute managers who could turn the agreement’s “flexibilities” into a runaway train wreck of teaching conditions.

The agreement can be found at www.aeuvic.asn.au/industrial/tafe.html. The key provisions are at clause 16.3 (Allocation of Hours) and clause 19.6 (Excess Teaching Duty Hours).

Allocation of hoursClause 16 continues the formulation of previous agreements and awards. If a manager wants to allocate more than 21 teaching hours or 26 hours of scheduled duties (both terms defined in clause 7) per week, they must consult with and get the agree-ment of the teacher concerned.

Even with agreement, the average of 21/26 hours per week over a semester cannot be exceeded.

The key change in the 2009 agreement is this new proviso: “… providing that a teacher shall not unreasonably refuse the Employer’s request …”

So there has to be: (1) a request, (2) consulta-tion and (3) agreement from the teacher concerned. This means there cannot be a command, directive or instruction from the manager that the teacher will work more than the 21/26 per week.

Consultation itself is defined at clause 7(4) to refer to providing the opportunity and information in sufficient time and in a form to enable teachers a bona fide opportunity to influence the institute before it makes a decision.

Excess teaching duty hoursAgain, this clause maintains the requirement to re-quest, consult and win agreement from the teacher, with the same “not unreasonably refuse” proviso as the Allocation of Hours clause.

It also adds criteria to help determine whether both the employer’s request and any refusal are reasonable or unreasonable.

These criteria include: the notice provided, pay-ment, risks to health and safety, personal circum-stances, needs of the workplace, usual work patterns, and the role and responsibilities of the teacher.

In summary The new provisions are no licence for institute managers to exercise employer prerogative and unilaterally direct the workload of teaching staff. The enterprise agreement requires that there be requests, consultation, agreement and considera-tion of a wide range of criteria.

Failure to ensure compliance with these require-ments will place the institute at risk of breaching the agreement. ◆For more information, download the TAFE Agreement and TAFE A–Z at www.aeuvic.asn.au/industrial/tafe.html

Weekly attendance patternsFlexibility is the key to making attendance hours work.

www.aeuvic.asn.au 3

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