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Episode 23: 2023, the year that was.
110 Plays11 months ago
In this episode, Kate & Tony bring together one last episode for the year. They talk to Branch President Ben Eltham about where we are at with bargaining now that it has finished up for the year, as well as looking back over the year and what the Branch has accomplished, and looking forward towards what might be in store next year with our new Vice Chancellor.
We then pass the mic over to Adam who has a chat with Marjorie Jerard about Sandra Cockfield, in whose name the recently awarded Activist of the Year award is named.
If you have questions you'd like answered, or any topics you would like to hear covered on the podcast, drop us an email at [email protected]
You can also stay up to date with everything happening with bargaining at our new bargaining website, and with the branch on Facebook and Twitter. All of which can be found here - https://linktr.ee/myunionwroteaneba
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Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgments
00:00:18
Speaker
G'day, everyone, and welcome to My Union Wrote an EBA. This is a podcast to chronicle the progress towards a new enterprise bargaining agreement at Monash University and is brought to you by members of the Monash branch of the NTEU. We're here to take the old agreement and hashtag change it. And unlike our namesake, my dad wrote a porno to everything we can to avoid being fucked in the process.
00:00:41
Speaker
Those involved with the podcast would like to acknowledge that it is being recorded on the unceded lands of the Kulin nations, on whose lands we live, teach and work. We would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional custodians and elders, past and present, and to the continuation of the cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
Union Leadership and Events
00:01:07
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:01:08
Speaker
Welcome back to the podcast and to our last episode of the year. Today, we are going to have a chat to Ben Eltham, the president of the union, who is going to give us an update about where we stand up with bargaining now that we've had the last meeting for the year, what is left to be thrashed out in bargaining next year, and what might be needed to get us over the line once it resumes in mid-January. He'll also give us a bit of an introduction to our new vice chancellor, Sharon Pickering, for those amongst us who are unfamiliar with her.
00:01:35
Speaker
But before we get to it, we want to give a very quick wrap up to the NTU's end of year barbecue. After being forced to postpone it by a week due to terribly shithouse weather, we reconvened on December 6 for a lovely barbecue on the lemon scented lawn. It was a good sun, some decent tunes, and a good feed with comrades from around the university. It was really good to see everybody who came out on the day. And yeah, thank you to all of you who did.
00:02:01
Speaker
As always at the Barbecue, the NTU presented the Sandra Cockfield Award for Activists of the Year. This year, there were joint winners. The first was Scott Robinson, who you may know from the podcast. Scott has worked tirelessly in the bargaining room, writing clauses and advocating for better working conditions for us all, while also being the casuals representative and an active member of the branch committee.
00:02:24
Speaker
Scott has been an amazing union member and is an incredibly deserving winner. Well done, Scott. Well done, Scottie. And our second winner, yes, well done. Hope you're listening, Scott. Our second winner is none other than my podcast co-host, Tony Williams. Congratulations, Tony. So Tony not only does the lion's share of the work in getting this podcast out to you, but he's also a member of the branch committee and been a part of the committee that organizes industrial action.
00:02:51
Speaker
In addition to all that, you can always count on Tony, not only to be there in support of union events and actions, but to take an active role in whatever's going on. He's gone to Fair Work Commission's hearings, organized workplace meetings in his local area, advocated for casuals at the bargaining table, and made speeches and industrial action events, as some of you might have heard. Amazing work, Tony. It couldn't have gone to anyone more deserving, both you and Scott. So congratulations to you both.
00:03:18
Speaker
Thanks Kate. That's very nice of you to say and makes me thoroughly uncomfortable.
Union Achievements and Challenges
00:03:26
Speaker
All right. So we have with us today, Ben, the president of the branch. Welcome back. Returning a friend of the pod, I guess, Ben Elphin. It's good to be back.
00:03:40
Speaker
We thought we'd get better on just as a given that this is the last episode of the year to sort of give people a sense for all the stuff that's happening and to sort of get paint a picture for us of where we're at with bargaining now that those meetings have wrapped up for the year. So I guess to start off,
00:03:58
Speaker
It's been a big year for the branch. I'm sure most people listening have probably been aware of that and seen and been involved in a lot of that as well. Maybe what were some of the highlights or significant events for the branch for you as the person who sort of sits atop it and sees everything that goes on? Yeah, thanks Tony. Well, I mean, first thing to say is that I don't feel like I sit atop of anything. I'm just a comrade working to try and help other colleagues at work.
00:04:28
Speaker
I don't really buy into that kind of hierarchy kind of stuff. But look, it's been a massive year for the branch and I'm so proud to have been involved in some of the activities and the activism that we've been involved with this year. Obviously, I think the number one thing was the strike, the three-day strike that we held in October.
00:04:49
Speaker
It was a massive effort from everyone at the branch. There was hundreds of members involved. And to see the kind of solidarity and the camaraderie that developed during that strike, I think was so heartwarming to me. We had members that I'd never met before that I got to meet, people painting banners out the front of the Chancellery building. You know, we had a teach-in.
00:05:14
Speaker
at Clayton campus, which was fascinating. We had some really, really interesting sessions there. We had Comrade step up and get involved in organizing things and really show kind of dedication and so much spirit. So yeah, it was just a really great three days and one of the most sort of satisfying things I've been involved with as a unionist actually.
00:05:39
Speaker
Of course, you know, we don't do these things for fun. We do them to try and affect the university's management to try and get a better outcome for members. So it's been a long hard slog in the bargaining room this year. There's been a lot of to and fro and legal letters and arguing over I's and T's and, you know, this clause and the other clause. But I think, you know, looking back on the year,
00:06:06
Speaker
I think we've worked really hard to represent members interests at this university and we fought really hard for a better university. So I'm really proud of everyone at the branch for all the work that we've done. Yeah, absolutely. So thinking about, you know, what's been happening in the bargaining room and that sort of stuff, you guys recently just had your final bargaining meeting for the year. Can you tell us a bit more about how negotiations have gone this year and kind of the tenor of
00:06:35
Speaker
negotiations in the tenor of the room? I mean, just incredibly slowly. I mean, it's just been like a slow grind on everything really. Monash HR have a way that they like to do bargaining. They can't really be, you know, they won't be moved in the way that they do things. They want to take a very slow and deliberative approach.
00:07:01
Speaker
You know, they'll give us a clause that they consider is how they think should things should be. They'll ask for a written response from us and then they will go through that written response. Literally word for word. I mean, a lot of what we do in bargaining is actually reading out texts of the enterprise agreement to each other in the meeting across the table. It's very tedious. I mean, I'm not a details guy, really not. I'm more of a big picture kind of person.
00:07:30
Speaker
So I find it pretty close to torture. But of course, these are the rights of members and their entitlements. So the wording is important because one day that wording could appear in a Fair Work Commission hearing. So we do have to take it really seriously and we do take it really seriously. I think for a lot of the year, the university wasn't
00:07:56
Speaker
actually looking to try and get an agreement. You know, they were very happy to kick the can down the road, to spin negotiations out, to take a couple of weeks between meetings, every meeting. It's only after we had the three day strike in October that we noticed a change in sentiment and they started to actually move a bit quicker. There was actually seemingly finally a desire from the university's negotiators to actually get some agreements on some things.
00:08:23
Speaker
So we have been moving a little bit quicker towards the end of the year and that's been happening. Yeah, that's great to hear. Like I was in some of the bargaining meetings earlier in the year and you know, maybe this is sort of my academic background coming out, but I was so shocked about, you know, you put forward an argument and you go, here's what we think and here's why we think it's important. And then the response is, okay, we will,
00:08:49
Speaker
think and we will get back to you and I was yeah so surprised how little discussion or sort of argument or back and forth there was in the room so yeah I mean you guys have done a great job this year.
00:09:02
Speaker
I mean, there's an argument back and forth, but it's of a very technical and kind of limited kind of nature. So these are not kind of big picture discussions about the future of the university or the nature of the university's workforce or the way in which people teach and research at this university. You know, they're very limited, very technical, very kind of black letter discussions.
00:09:28
Speaker
And I think the other thing is, you know, USC will say, OK, we'll get back to you. And then maybe two months later, they'll come back to us and they'll say, we've had to think about it. And the answer is no, we're not attracted to your position. Our position is a different position and we don't agree with you. You know, so probably in most cases, they could actually just say that to us on the day. And I think that's one reason why these negotiations take so long.
00:09:57
Speaker
Yeah, I like my experience similar to Kate's being in there when they did their big presentation about how they want to shift people into secure work and then asking me for my opinion and me being like, well, fixed term isn't secure work. And all you're doing is you're claiming that it is, but it's not. And their response was just kind of like, thank you for your input. Okay. Why am I here? You're always that I give a shit what we have to say.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's right. I mean, their position all the way through has been that a fixed-term contract somehow equals security, even when it's quite clear that many of these fixed-term contracts aren't secure. Many of them are very short-term, and there's been a conflation of a fixed-term position that, yes, has some entitlements, like some access to sick leave and so on and so forth.
00:10:47
Speaker
You know, the bigger picture here which is that many of these jobs are low quality jobs and they're not the kind of work that a university needs to be offering if it's going to look after its staff. And that's the very frustrating thing about these negotiations is you've got
00:11:03
Speaker
You know, they're not good faith conversations in the kind of bigger picture sense of it. I mean, there's a legal definition of what a good faith bargain is, and the university works pretty fine line on that, in my opinion.
00:11:18
Speaker
But in the kind of bigger picture, understanding of what a humanity scholar might consider to be a good faith discussion where both sides are taking on listening to what each other's got to say and actually trying to understand each other's positions so that we can reach a constructive compromise. There has been a lot of that. Well, it's good to know that hopefully the
00:11:46
Speaker
the tide is changing and the attitudes on the other side of the table are shifting to a more productive attitude towards what's going on.
New Leadership at Monash
00:11:54
Speaker
Do you think that any of that has to do with maybe the recent appointment of Sharon Pickering as the new vice chancellor? And I guess as an extension on that for people that aren't familiar with her, can you maybe give them a bit of an intro to who she is, given that you've got some history with her? Yeah, so we have a new vice chancellor in January, Professor Sharon Pickering,
00:12:15
Speaker
She's the former Dean of Arts at Monash University. She then rose through the ranks, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and then Provost. So it's been a meteoric rise for her. She's pretty young as Vice-Chancellor's go. She's very energetic. She's someone who's pretty forthright. Have you ever met Sharon? Like you won't be in too much. You won't be wondering what she thinks. She will definitely let you know
00:12:46
Speaker
where she stands on positions. We think that she's going to be a breath of fresh air. She's certainly going to be a dynamic, new kind of voice, I think, for the university. She's someone who's got a lot of history at Monash University. She's risen through the ranks here. So she certainly knows the university well.
00:13:13
Speaker
We've already met with her and that was a reasonably cordial and positive meeting. She was talking about how she feels that management and the union have similar goals. She said, we want the same things, which is for staff to be happy. So I thought that was a positive remark. She certainly got a big agenda and big ambitions for Monash University and not just in Australia, but globally. But she's also got very big challenges.
00:13:41
Speaker
So as we've tried to articulate to the university over the times, this university faces real challenges in the workplace. There's a federal court case for wage theft next year. There's the enterprise negotiations which still haven't wrapped up. There's a lot of staff who are very unhappy and they're working in conditions.
00:14:08
Speaker
there's a cost of living crisis. So it's one thing to have very rosy sentiments and to be talking a big game about the future of the university, but she won't be able to achieve that if she doesn't have the support of her staff. So we're hoping for a more constructive relationship with the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Pickering.
00:14:31
Speaker
And we've seen a few little straws in the wind that suggest that perhaps there will be a more conciliatory approach from the university in 2024. And we welcome that if that's the case. That'd be great. I'm all for that. Yeah, that's great to hear that, yeah, that we might be sort of moving along a little bit in bargaining and that the UVC
00:14:54
Speaker
realizes the importance of moving on bargaining, supporting workers, wanting workers to be happy. That's great. And yeah, perhaps on that note, thank you so much, Ben, for coming and giving us a little wrap-up of the year. And thanks for all the work that you and the bargaining team are doing in that bargaining room. It's tough work and it's much appreciated by all the members. So thanks very much.
00:15:20
Speaker
Well, thanks, Tony and Kate. I mean, thanks for the podcast. It's been great. It's been good listening for me as I toddled down the V line on my way to work. So very much enjoying it.
00:15:31
Speaker
I'm looking forward to hearing some new episodes in the new year. Yeah, thanks very much. Awesome. Thanks, Ben. To wrap up our last podcast of the year, we're handing the reins over to Adam, who interviewed Marjorie Girard about her close friend and long-term Monash Union activist, Sandra Cockfield.
Tribute to Sandra Cockfield
00:15:47
Speaker
I am Adam Fernandez, your National Counsellor at the Monash branch of the NTU.
00:15:52
Speaker
A warm welcome to all of you as we record a special episode acknowledging one of our comrades, Sandra Cockfield. For those of you relatively new to the Monash branch of the NTU, Sandra was our former vice president of academic staff and a representative at the bargaining table for more than 12 years. But she was a person far more than the titles she held with us. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Marjorie Girard, a colleague of Sandra Cockfield, to shed some light
00:16:21
Speaker
on the person that she was and the lessons we can learn from her character. Welcome, Dr Marjorie. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself? Thank you, Adam. I've worked at Monash for over 25 years now. And for a considerable chunk of that time, I worked closely with my friend and colleague, Sandra Cockfield, and also another friend and colleague, Donna Buttigieg. And we worked together on many trade union projects.
00:16:51
Speaker
Other than that, I teach industrial relations and employee relations at Monash, both undergraduate and postgraduate. And they're subjects that are very similar to the subject Sandra taught. I teach at Corfield. Sandra taught at Peninsula and Clayton. She also taught at Corfield. And she also had a brief stint at Berwick as well. Wow. How did you first meet Sandra?
00:17:20
Speaker
Um, I first met Sandra before she actually started work. She, I was in Brisbane and Sandra lived in Brisbane and she had just been hired by professor Jerry Griffin, um, who was the head of department at Monash and he offered the job to Sandra. Sandra accepted it and she, Jerry gave her my contact details. So she phoned me expecting me to be in Melbourne, but I was actually in Brisbane.
00:17:49
Speaker
So we met in person late in June in 1999, I think. And we got on very well. And the friend I was actually staying with thought that we'd known each other for years. Well, there you go. So how did Sandra get first involved with the NTU? Sandra was a
00:18:16
Speaker
casual academic while doing her PhD and then subsequently after she completed her PhD and was beginning to publish and she had the interesting experience of having as her chief examiner our former vice-chancellor professor Margaret Gardner and Margaret and Sandra ran a big
00:18:39
Speaker
first year unit, the equivalent to introduction to management. And Margaret was very keen to encourage her casual staff members, if they wished to pursue an academic career, to have a chance at lecturing. And so she gave Sandra her first chance at lecturing. The only problem was it wasn't in industrial relations. So
00:19:07
Speaker
That obviously was a while ago. Now, as a union member, how did Sandra help strengthen the NTU's presence at Monash, even? Sandra was somebody who with her passion for trade unions, the NTU in particular, was able to reach out to other staff members, both professional and academic staff members. And she, in her department and in our faculty,
00:19:35
Speaker
business and economics and management as the department. She was able to get a significant number of members at the various, particularly during enterprise bargaining, at the various rounds of bargaining. And at one stage, the Department of Management had an incredibly high union density across professional staff and also across academic staff. And because Sandra worked on all the different campuses,
00:20:03
Speaker
she had opportunities to reach out to people on those campuses, particularly the smaller campuses where staff within different disciplines actually got to know each other. And so you'd meet people from across other departments and faculties. So Sandra made the most of that opportunity to get to know people and to explain what the NTEU did. That's incredible. So what was she like as an academic?
00:20:32
Speaker
Oh, Sandra was a very good academic. She loved delivering seminars and workshops and anything interactive where she could get to know the students as individuals. And she really enjoyed that part of teaching. She was less keen on delivering lectures, particularly in subjects like introduction to management, which she had to teach down at the Peninsula campus. And that was one of the first subjects she taught when she was at Griffith University.
00:21:02
Speaker
And Sandra was a great one for being prepared. And those of you who worked with her in the Monash branch of the NTEU would know how well prepared she was for bargaining meetings, anything like that, any union campaigns. Sandra prepared incredibly well, and she did that with her lecturing also.
00:21:25
Speaker
That certainly seems to be in line with my memories of Sandra. I was fortunate enough to know Sandra as the branch secretary at the time while she was bargaining and Sandra was part of the bargaining team and they always spent a day in advance of bargaining, preparing their notes and preparing their arguments. So her over preparedness definitely came through in the NTU.
00:21:50
Speaker
How did Sandra leverage her expertise in industrial relations in her work with the NTU branch? Well, given that Sandra researched with trade unions, and I just like to point out the choice of the word with, a lot of my academic colleagues do research on trade unions. And I once had a union secretary here in Victoria tell me that
00:22:19
Speaker
they weren't butterflies to be pinned out on a board. So you don't do research on trade unions, you do research with trade unions. And Sandra and Donna Buttigieg and I spent many years doing research projects with different unions and learning about what their strategies were around campaigning and the like. And she brought that back to the NTEU and it didn't
00:22:48
Speaker
She didn't try and force a viewpoint, but she would have set out what might be a possible strategy to try and explain how she came up with that, invite others within the union and the executive and the negotiating team to consider what she had discovered during her research with various unions.
00:23:18
Speaker
That's incredible. I can certainly agree. Sandra was very much a person who liked to speak to others as equals rather than observe from afar. She was very much a person of the people. And I love that about her. We had a connection with the construction union through our community and unions project.
00:23:43
Speaker
And this was in the days when Martin Kingham was the secretary before we ended up with John Seca, who we also did some interviews with on various topics, I might add. But because of that close sort of relationship with the union, when they were building H block on Corfield campus, the the construction union have a very
00:24:12
Speaker
a long list of conditions that they can and can't work under. So if it drizzled and you were working above a certain height on site, you were unable to continue work. So they downed tools. And in those days, we had a bar at Corfield campus called the Griff Inn. And we, there were a group of us from the Department of Management, Sandra included, and we were sitting around a largish table.
00:24:42
Speaker
And we went to get some more drinks. This was after four and on a Friday. So the construction workers were supposed to be working through until six. They were in the griff at four. Anyway, we struck up a bit of a conversation with them about enterprise bargaining. And they offered to fly the NTU flag on their crane.
00:25:09
Speaker
asked about the actual negotiations around the table with management. And Sandra sort of explained to them how this proceeded. And the one guy who was covered with CFMEU stickers and regalia, he said, oh, so what, your members don't go to the bargaining table? We said, no.
00:25:36
Speaker
No. And Sandra said, but it's a good idea, but I don't know if it would help. And the construction worker said, what do you mean? And Sandra looked at her friends from the Department of Management and she looked at the construction workers and she said, do you see a significant difference between the workers that our unions are representing? And the construction worker looked at us and he said, I guess you guys wouldn't be very scary, would you?
00:26:06
Speaker
and Sandra said exactly. So that was one idea that was not going to win at Monash. I don't know. Our HR counterparts are pretty thin-skinned these days. I'm sure they would be intimidated by a group of academic, professional, and particularly casually staff showing up to bargaining. I think they would find it very intimidating. But yes, you're 100% correct.
00:26:36
Speaker
There is a big difference between the membership of the CFMEU and how they present and I wouldn't certainly not want to withhold conditions from their membership. Now Sandra unfortunately passed away in 2018 after a long battle with cancer, but we were fortunate as the branch to award her life membership with the NTU and to pass a special motion to create an award in her name, the Sandra Cockfield Activist of the Year Award.
00:27:04
Speaker
The award is given each year to a member of the Monash branch who has volunteered their time to improve the working lives of staff here at Monash branch. And this year we awarded not one, but two recipients, Tony Williams and Scott Robinson. Dr. Marjorie, what could you tell us about the lessons that we could learn from Sandra's time and Sandra's life that we as unionists could learn and hopefully uphold?
00:27:32
Speaker
Look after everyone. And Sandra would focus on the members, obviously, but she was a great believer in unions can have a place in society whereby they can better everyone's lives through fighting and achieving improved working conditions and wages for everyone.
00:28:00
Speaker
She was not keen on free riders, as one would expect, but she said that a union can make a significant difference for everyone. And she firmly believed that. And she firmly believed in protecting people who were in casual work, such as our teaching associates and research assistants and those who are on
00:28:28
Speaker
one, two, three year type contracts. I suspect that she would be quite horrified with this idea of offering PhD students so-called contracts while they are doing their PhD at Monash. And from my department, we have a PhD student who I was involved with early on in his PhD
00:29:00
Speaker
career and he's just been offered a 0.2 contract to take tutorials etc which is about six thousand dollars or something I don't really know how that's going to enable him to live and complete his PhD and complete all the marking etc he will have to do usually around the time when there'll be PhD milestones and so on
00:29:29
Speaker
So I think that idea may have looked great on paper when it was first broached, but it's not a particularly good idea. And I think Sandra would have had quite a lot to say and do about that. I 100% agree with you, particularly when she came from a time where, you know, the powers that be enabled her to develop as a lecturer and as an academic and here we're seeing
00:29:58
Speaker
almost a reverse, a way to actually getaways the next generation of academics by offering them conditions that keep them in a space that do not develop their skills, but just further, I guess, trap them in, you know, terrible conditions and potentially unpaid work as well. Sandra and I, when we have teaching associates, we
00:30:27
Speaker
tell them do not do unpaid consultation. You are not paid for consultation. It's not actually factored in to the remuneration levels for teaching associates. So we always end up doing all of that consultation for our subjects because we are full-time staff members. And so we believe that that's what we were there for. It wasn't our teaching associates responsibilities to be doing unpaid work for the university.
00:30:55
Speaker
And that's certainly a message that rings true today amongst our sessional staff that all hours worked should be all hours paid. Thank you so much for your time today, Dr. Girard. I really appreciate it. And especially taking the time out to celebrate and acknowledge Sandra's contribution to our branch. No doubt, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from how she conducted herself.
00:31:21
Speaker
that we can put in practice today as activists and delegates and just Monash branch members. So I really appreciate it and thank you so much for your time.
00:31:32
Speaker
Thank you very much Adam for asking me to speak about Sandra. Thanks to Adam and Marjorie for that chat and for giving us a bit of insight into who Sandra Cockfield is and why we have this award named after her. We just wanted to take this opportunity given that it's the holiday season and that kind of thing to just sort of give a shout out to some people
00:31:57
Speaker
that we are thankful for and people who deserve some recognition for the part that they play in everything that we do. So I will handball over to Kate for the first of those. So first of all, thanks to all of our listeners. We do this as a way to kind of keep everyone informed about negotiations and what's happening with the union. And it's very shocking and surprising to us that, you know, some listeners keep coming back and keep listening. So thank you all for keeping this going.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yes, it's a continual source of amazement for me that the numbers of listeners keep growing and that occasionally people will engage us in public and be like, oh, we listened to the podcast. It's always lovely to hear.
00:32:44
Speaker
Also, I'd like to thank all of the members that showed up to any of our meetings throughout the year and also for all the people that took part in different industrial actions through the year. The union doesn't function without you. And so particularly during that long strike, seeing all of the people, all of the new faces and the old faces getting involved with things like the Teach Out, with things like the Banner Painting, with things like the people showing up to rallies and all of that kind of thing.
00:33:14
Speaker
All of our successes come down to you all showing up for those things and being willing to take part in those things and being willing to sort of step up and maybe step outside your comfort zone a little bit to do some of those things. So thank you all for that. And also a big thanks to the branch committee and the industrial action committee and everyone on them for all their planning, time and effort throughout the year. Again, none of this would get done without them. And if you're interested in getting more involved as well, particularly on the industrial action committee,
00:33:43
Speaker
Josh, shoot us an email and we'll get you in touch with the right people. Also, thank you to Ben and to Scott and to Michelle and to Alice and to Bill the IO for all of their work on the bargaining team. There is truly an enormous amount of work that goes into making bargaining work from our side and having it function. Almost all of that work is completely invisible and thankless.
00:34:13
Speaker
Thank you for that. Particularly like when there's been times, which has been almost all of this year, where the university's representatives have been stonewalling or foot dragging or just generally dithering about while we were trying to get stuff done. Your perseverance through all of that is really amazing. So thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And the time release just does not reflect even a fraction of the work that our bargaining committee does.
00:34:42
Speaker
So yeah, thank you all. Thank you all for that. And to the people who put in submissions in the casual consultations wage theft case, we're hearing more about that in the new year and we'll keep you updated on that. But without all of you speaking up for what you're owed, the case wouldn't have got anywhere near as far as it was. You know, we, we heard from the, from Siobhan that
00:35:07
Speaker
know however many hundreds of people put in submissions on the union side and no one put in submissions on the university side and that was a big part of the case so yeah thank you all for doing that it's greatly appreciated and it's you know helped all of your colleagues as well. And particularly thank you for the people that did put in those submissions being casuals like I know it's as a casual myself like
00:35:30
Speaker
It's very easy to feel like you're sort of putting a target on your own back by doing that kind of thing. And there is this sort of institutionalized disincentive to speaking up and to trying to fight for what you are owed because you feel like you're so sort of vulnerable and precarious in that position that you're in. So yeah, literally the hundreds of you that put those in, really massive pat on the back and thank you for that.
00:35:56
Speaker
all the more reason to hope for a good outcome in that case, which we have every reason to expect and to be to hope for. Thank you also to Adam for the constant supply of sassy stats and the intros in the episodes this year. And also to my podcast co-host Kate for taking on this work amidst all the other work that she has going on. I know that juggling all of what you do isn't easy, but without
00:36:22
Speaker
you and without you being a part of this it wouldn't work. No one wants to listen to just me. Thanks so much Tony and I mean right back at you like this podcast wouldn't wouldn't happen without Tony you know I'm in the last little stretch of my PhD and also doing some other work as well and there are times where you know I show up to the podcast and go oh Tony what are we talking
Year-End Reflections
00:36:48
Speaker
about today and he's got it all under control and he does the editing and he
00:36:52
Speaker
does all that kind of stuff. So, you know, you literally wouldn't be hearing us if it wasn't for Tony. So thanks very much, Tony. And finally, and an enormous thank you as well to our pod daddy, Sophie O for all her work on making this podcast listenable and to both her and Trevor for all of their work as branch organizers. Without you, none of this stuff happens. And I hope that the powers that be recognize that and in the new year, you get the gift of fair working conditions enshrined in your new EBA as well.
00:37:22
Speaker
So that's it from us. I hope everybody has some time off to enjoy the holiday break. And as always, if you have any questions, just send us an email at myunionrodenebaatgmail.com and you'll hear from us in the new year. Thanks, everyone. Bye. All right, folks, that's it for this episode. Thanks to Kate, Danny, Adam, Bernard and Poddaddy Sofio for all the work they've put into this and we'll catch you next time.
00:38:15
Speaker
I have turned the storm of this beautiful land