For those of you who aren't at Uni in Australia, here's a bit of background. At the moment, membership of a student union or guild is compulsory at all public universities in Australia. Actually, that's not quite true - you are free to leave the union at any time, or not join at all, but you still have to pay what is effectively a student union fee. At UWA, it's called the Amenities and Services Fee, and is in the region of $130 per year.
Anyway, the Federal Government's Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, announced a few months ago his intention to move from this compulsory unionism to a voluntary system. We've had this in WA before: some of the older students of Medicine probably remember it. Under this system, students choose whether they join the student union or not, and pay a (rather large) fee if they wish to. The UWA Guild of Undergraduates, the National Union of Students, and just about every other student body in Australia are unimpressed. The Federal Government have announced this in the name of freedom and choice - the student unions have condemned it. Given the current parliamentary control from the Government, this legislation could be in place as soon as June 1, 2005.
(The students can tune back in now.)
The UWA Guild, along with all the other student unions in WA, today staged a demonstration of 'what life will be like under VSU'. They closed down all guild-provided services, including all food outlets on campus, clubrooms for organisations like UCC and counselling services. There was a lot of complaining, and plenty of people have said that it won't prove anything.
The whole point of today's demonstration was to show everyone that organisations like the UWA Guild of Undergraduates is not my father's student guild.
You see, my Dad thinks that compulsory student unionism is disgusting. That's the word he used. That's not because he's an evil fascist right-wing pig (I don't think, anyway), but because he seems to misunderstand the nature of the Guild.
Student unions in Australia are no longer solely political lobbying organisations. At UWA, the Guild runs all the food outlets, it provides financial and psychological support services, funds a whole host of student activities, and organises a lot of the cool things that happen on campus. It also provides vital advocacy services (that I will hopefully never have to access), and supports all sorts of disadvantaged groups. At other universities, student unions also provide sporting services (these were spun off from the UWA Guild under the last lot of VSU in WA).
In other words - the student unions provide a whole heap of services that make University good. They provide a somewhat independent source of support and advocacy, and - as today's demonstration proved - life at University would be more difficult without them.
"But wait! Surely these services will still be around if everyone pays their Guild fees!" seems to be a popular comment. It's what the Federal Government would like you to believe. "By introducing VSU, we'll cut out all the rot and inefficiency and be left with a lean, mean, Guilding machine."
Unfortunately, no. The UWA Guild, and other student unions, can not and will not provide the same level of service under a voluntary student unionism system.
This is mainly because plenty of people will not pay. There are too many freeloaders, and too many people who are already under significant financial pressure. I predict that Guild fees under VSU will be in the region of $300/year, if not more. Services will have to disappear, because the number of people who access them will be greatly in excess of those who pay to support them. Is the University going to pick them up? Of course not. They're not getting extra funding for it. Private enterprise might pick up the catering side of things, but emergency loans, student advocacy and funding for student clubs will disappear or be greatly curtailed. (UCC members: this won't affect you. We will survive, although probably without as many swank events during the year.)
A lot of people seem to think that user-pays is a good idea. "Let's start restricting services to only those who are Guild members!" Again, no. What about staff and visitors to the campus? What about those who are already struggling to pay the costs of University?
Other people agree with me (well, I agree with them). Roger Dean, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, wrote a short column about a month ago. There was an exchange in the New South Wales parliament in 1999, where Mr Stewart MP (Bankstown) made a rather persuasive speech about the impact of student unions and VSU.
Those in support of VSU, and those who believe the Guild is overreacting, need to realise that this is not an effort on the part of the Federal Government to improve equity, to streamline student union service provision, or to provide freedom and choice on campus. It's a political exercise, designed to badly cripple student unionism. The Federal Government is not a big fan of student unions, and they're not a big fan of the Federal Government. I'm not going to go into the reasons why here, although if you would like me to please leave a comment to that effect.
It's true that the Guild doesn't always do the right thing by its constituents. The WA Medical Students' Society was recently asked to consider whether to issue a statement supporting or criticising the VSU proposal. Medical students at UWA pay somewhere in the region of $100 000 per year in what is effectively Guild fees - we receive a direct contribution of $2000 back, and the Guild provides precious little to those students in paraclinical and clinical years, where students spend most time away from the main campus. The WAMSS Committee abstained from making such a statement, basically because we couldn't rule out the advantages provided by services which most of us hope we never need to access.
Even if you fully intend to pay your Guild fees (which almost everyone in support of VSU says they will), you will be advantaged both financially and socially by the continued existence of compulsory student unionism.
VSU will cripple the UWA Student Guild. It will greatly reduce the services available to all students at the University of Western Australia. Student unions across the state and across the country will face the same fate. The Guild isn't perfect, but students should enjoy it while it lasts.
(I am a member of the UWA Student Guild.)
2 comments
Ainsley Brett :: Thursday, May 12th
Well said mate.
I think that if VSU becomes a reality (as it surely will) I shall propose a system of VT (voluntary taxation). There is many services that I don't use that are paid for through people's tax dollars. For example I don't plan on patronising any detention centers in the near future (unless I become German and change my name to Rau). Ditto with the Australian Army, although a tank for a day or two would be good fun (Unashamedly plagurised from the ABC's 'The Glasshouse'). Therefore we should fight the Biehls (His MSN nickname has been 'A flourishing tav under VSU') on the beaches.
AB
a fellow medical student :: Wednesday, May 18th
One of the biggest problems with VSU is getting students to continue to pay their Guild fees. A massive number of students join the Guild in their first year of university, but the numbers of students who re-join in their second year drops off alarmingly. The reason is obvious. After twelve months of being a good little Guild member, it becomes fairly obvious that the ladies in the cafeteria haven't asked to see your Guild sticker, or that the tavern staff hardly ever check your ID, let alone your membership. Now, I personally support CSU, but in the event that the VSU legislation is passed, I ask everyone to remember to keep joining the Guild, year after year, and not just thinking that joining it in your first year is "good enough".
