Fight for job security at WA Uni.

Date: 15 August 2000

Members of all major unions at Western Australia's Edith Cowan University (ECU) will be taking industrial action from tomorrow as the fight to protect jobs and University resourcing intensifies.

Unions say that ECU management appears unable to deal constructively with the issues confronting both general and academic staff.

The Community and Public Sector Union and Miscellaneous Worker Union have called an initial 24-hour strike of general staff. Academic members of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union will stop work for 48 hours.

Union representatives said the stop work has been provoked by management's refusal to deliver a competitive pay increase and negotiate a fair and reasonable enterprise bargaining agreement with some commitment to job security.

Management has refused to reassure workers there will be no further job cuts, while spending thousands of dollars filling in the current staffing gaps with outside consultants.

"General Staff workers at Edith Cowan University have been subjected to heavy job losses over a two year period and the latest notification of redundancies is of grave concern to workers and students alike," the General Staff spokesperson said.

"The cuts reflect the Federal Government's attitude that the delivery of quality education is a privilege of the wealthy."

The General Staff spokesperson said morale has been plummeting among staff because of the manner in which the down-sizing has occurred. Many have left, leading to a serious loss of skills and expertise.

An Academic spokesperson said: "Twenty-one Australian universities have already reached agreement with the NTEU on pay increases and protection of award provisions. ECU is out of step with the rest of the country. It is not in the best interest of our students for ECU staff to be offered inferior pay and conditions."

Students have been notified of the disruption and many have pledged support for the protest through the Student Guild.

On Wednesday, the industrial action will centre on the Churchlands campus, where union members from other ECU campuses across Perth will gather for a range of protest activities. The campus at Bunbury, south of Perth, will also join the strike.

For further information

Contact:	WA TLC
Union:	Western Australian Unions
Email:	mw@cpsucsa.asn.au

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