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Log of Claims

Posted 8 August 2012 by Beth Cole (Murdoch University)

NTEU Collective Bargaining Log of Claims 

“Without Prejudice”

NTEU seeks a Collective Agreement, to be known as the Murdoch University and NTEU Collective Agreement 2012-2016 (“the Agreement”), and serves this Log of Claims in order to initiate collective bargaining.

 NTEU seeks:

SALARY INCREASES, COVERAGE, RE-NEGOTIATION AND EXPIRY DATE

That the Agreement will

1. Apply to all employees of the University and its subsidiary and related bodies;
2. Operate from 7 days following the date of its approval and have a nominal expiry date of 30 June 2016;
3. Include a commitment to resume negotiations with the NTEU no later than three months before its nominal expiry date;
4. Provide for salary increases of 7% per annum (flat) for all NTEU members employed by the University.

 INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT

That the Agreement will

1. Incorporate new binding numeric targets for Indigenous employment.
2. Provide for the appointment of an Indigenous Employment Coordinator as an identified Indigenous position.
3. Require the University to complete and publish an Indigenous Employment Strategy.
4. Establish the position of Deputy or Pro Vice Chancellor (Indigenous).

 FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKPLACE

 Parental Leave

1. That the Agreement provide for 36 weeks paid parental leave with no qualifying period; and that access to the full entitlement of paid parental leave be granted in the case of late term miscarriage, stillbirth or perinatal death.

 Personal Leave

1. That the definition of family for the purposes of personal leave be extended.

 Codification of flexible working hours for general staff

1. That the Agreement include provisions for entitlement to, and procedures for accessing, flexible working hours for general staff.

 Span of hours for general staff

1. That the Agreement specify that the ordinary hours of duty for general staff be between 8.00am to 6.00pm Monday – Friday.

 Domestic Violence

1. That the Agreement will
2. Include an agreed statement of principle about domestic violence, and provide for the joint development of policies and protocols to address circumstances where an employee is dealing with matters arising from or as a result of domestic violence; which shall include appropriate referral arrangements to relevant agencies, and the promulgation of the policies to staff and especially supervisors.
3. Provide that no employee will be disadvantaged in his/her employment because of the consequences of dealing with matters arising from or as a result of domestic violence; and
4. Provide for the granting of sufficient special leave for an employee to deal with matters arising from or as a result of domestic violence, including but not limited to:

                                                                                i.            Seeking safe housing

                                                                              ii.            Attending medical/counselling appointments

                                                                            iii.            Attending court hearings and accessing legal advice

                                                                             iv.            Organising alternate care or education arrangements for children

                                                                               v.            Rebuilding support networks with children, family or others.

GENERAL STAFF CAREERS

Classifications

That the Agreement will ensure that

1. Each employee, including casual employees, continues to have a clear entitlement to be classified at whichever classification corresponds to the work performed by the employee for the University, and that the classification will be in accordance with the descriptors incorporated within the Agreement.
2. The job of each employee, including casual employees, will be classified in accordance with the following procedures and criteria:
3. All staff will have an agreed position description that matches the job they do, and position descriptions must be jointly reviewed at least once every five years or more frequent as part of annual review discussions. Position descriptions will be linked to relevant descriptors and position classification standards relevant to the work being done.
4. All staff will have regular access to an independent assessment or review of their classification. In order to seek an assessment, a staff member will not need advance approval by their supervisor. The independent assessment will be carried out by a committee the members of which have been trained in objective classification methods against the work value descriptors incorporated within the Agreement for each salary level. Such a committee will comprise an equal number of members nominated by NTEU and the University management with a Chair agreed by the parties.
5. All re-classification applications must be dealt with in a timely manner with successful applications back-dated at least to the date the employee first applied, with appeal to a joint union and university committee if an application is denied.
6. No classification decision will be influenced by budgetary considerations.
7. Research positions must be classified on the duties required, not on the basis of the grant funds applied for or received.

Staff Development

1. That the Agreement will provide that, in addition to existing staff development activities and programs, the University will establish a centrally administered Staff Development Fund (equal to 1% of total general staff salaries) to provide real opportunities for staff development. Employees will be given assistance for development for their current job or for a planned career with the University. Such a Fund will provide:
2. An ability for employees to regularly apply for funded staff development and training programs and activities against agreed criteria.
3. Assistance to pay tuition fees or study costs, including HECS relief, or to reimburse a work area for an employee’s absence on an approved study program or activity provided that the Fund will not be used for management-initiated day-to-day work training.
4. For a transparent and fair distribution of approved staff development opportunities across all classifications and job streams – technical, professional, clerical, etc

Some of the Staff Development Fund should be reserved for employees who have not previously had development opportunities and for those who have been in the same job for a long time.

 Mobility

 That the Agreement require that

1. The University establish a staff mobility program to give staff the opportunity to have short-term developmental secondments, job exchanges and/or periods of fixed-term appointments, and competitive access to vacant permanent jobs. The principal purpose of such a program is to widen the skills and experience of employees and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the University through reduced staff turnover, lower staff appointment transaction costs and a more experienced and highly skilled workforce.

For this purpose, the University will maintain a secondment register to advertise secondment opportunities and to keep a register of secondment positions and interested staff.

1. General staff will have the right to apply for fixed term positions on merit either through an agreed secondment arrangement or by assuming a fixed term appointment without giving up permanent employment with the University.
2. All vacancies of up to 12 months, and all leave replacements, will be advertised as internal secondment opportunities in the first instance, and preference will be given to internal applicants for such opportunities.
3. A fixed term staff member will have the right to apply for any permanent job.
4. Positions must be advertised internally in the first instance, and positions at Levels 1-5 will always be given to internal applicants who meet the selection criteria.

Workloads

1. That the Agreement provide that the University will take all reasonable steps to ensure that general staff employees are not working hours in excess of the ordinary hours of work prescribed by the Agreement, except in circumstances where the employee is receiving the appropriate overtime as prescribed. TOIL will accumulate and such accumulations will only be reduced by time taken or by being paid out.

ACADEMIC CAREERS

Workloads

That the Agreement will

1. Include an overall workload model for all academic staff that will include the specification that the ratio of work allocation for all teaching/research academic staff except Research staff will normally be 40% Teaching, 40% Research, 20% other; and for Research staff will be 80% Research and 20% other.
2. Ensure that the workload model includes an effective and quantifiable periodic cap on the hours to be worked in teaching and related duties for each academic employee. The cap shall be based on a fair average assessment of the time associated with teaching responsibilities and include provision for appropriate adjustments for leave, significant other allocated duties, and excess carry-over arrangements.
3. Include a limit or limits on the period during which an employee can be required to perform teaching related duties, including unit co-ordination.
4. Provide for all academic staff to be given fair and reasonable notice of their allocated teaching related and other duties, but no later than 20 working days prior to the commencement of each teaching period in which these duties are to be undertaken.

Promotions

1. That the Agreement will ensure that all elements of academic work are recognised as grounds for promotion, and that staff who have been employed to, or chosen to concentrate on certain aspects of Academic work at a particular time of their career path are recognised for this and provided with the opportunity for promotion. The procedures for promotion will be incorporated into this Agreement.

Probation

That the Agreement will

1. Ensure that no employee converted from fixed term to on-going employment be required to undertake an additional period of probationary employment if they have already been confirmed in the fixed term appointment or in prior periods of fixed term employment.
2. Provide that where an employee has been promoted during the course of probation the probationary period will immediately cease and their appointment be confirmed.
3. Incorporate procedures in relation to probation for academic staff.

SECURE WORK AND BETTER CONDITIONS FOR CASUAL STAFF

That the Agreement will provide for

1. The creation of positions equal to 20% of the EFT for casual academics engaged in teaching at the University (according to the higher of the current “estimated casual” numbers and the previous “actual casual” numbers reported to DEEWR). These will be new continuing positions created over the period of the next agreement, to permanently replace and reduce casual academic teaching employment, and to be classified as Scholarly Teaching Fellows with an incremental range of 5 steps in the existing structure, commencing at the PhD point.

 It is understood that these Scholarly Teaching Fellows will usually be teaching focused positions, with a maximum teaching load of up to 70%, with remaining time being available for other activities (including an entitlement of 20% for scholarship and/or research). The functions of these positions will be properly defined in the Agreement, and there will be a capacity for possible access to the full Level B range following a career review in the first 3 years’ of appointment.

 That the teaching duties of these positions be made up of no less than 80% of the work previously done by casual employees, and be continuing appointments, either full or part time. The duties of an employee who has been made redundant (voluntary or otherwise) must not be allocated to these new positions within 3 years of the redundancy.

 That these positions should be available on an open and competitive basis to any person who has had at least one year’s academic employment experience in an Australian university (but not including a previous or current continuing academic appointment). The above outcomes will require negotiation of the distribution of the various academic functions within the entry level academic workforce. It will also require a comprehensive workload framework which:

i)     Protects and strengthens limits on teaching and teaching related duties, particularly for the large number of academic staff with teaching and research responsibilities;

ii)   Provides job security protection for current and future academic staff who wish to focus on scholarly teaching; and

iii) Prohibits the advertising of other new positions, or existing or vacant teaching and research positions, as teaching focused positions.

Working conditions for casual staff

1. That the Agreement will provide for improved entitlements and conditions for casual employees including;
1. providing for intellectual property protection for casual academics
2. codification and payment for necessary non-teaching duties including attendance at school or unit meetings including travel between campuses for the purposes of attending meetings
3. provision for payment for all marking that is not conducted during a teaching session
4. access to professional development and appropriate facilities

Conversion of fixed term staff

1. That the Agreement will provide improved procedures for conversion of fixed term staff to on-going employment, including for research staff, and will include appropriate merit selection processes. 

Commitment to job security

1. The Agreement will commit the University to reducing its use of casual and fixed term staff as a proportion of all staff over the life of the Agreement

SUPERANNUATION

That the Agreement will

1. Provide for University superannuation contributions of 17% over the life of the Agreement for all employees.
2. Incorporate, or provide for the incorporation of, the outcomes of the deliberations of the Uni Super Working Party involving the Board of UniSuper, Universities Australia and the NTEU (insofar as these pertain to the employment relationship or the relationship between the University and the Unions.
3. Provide that from 1 July 2013 all University superannuation contributions for employees will not be subject to an age-related ceiling.

WORKPLACE RELATIONS MATTERS

Presidential Time Release

1. The Agreement will provide for time release for the NTEU Branch President equivalent to 50% of a Level C Academic, Step 6, plus on-costs.

Existing Conditions of Employment and Organisational Rights

1. That the Agreement protect all existing conditions of employment and rights of employees, whether individual, collective or organisational (union rights), whether included in current Agreements or not, whether currently legal rights or custom and practice.

Dispute Resolution

1. That the Agreement will provide:

i)          Fair, effective and timely arbitration of disputes regarding any industrial matter at the request of either party to the Agreement, and Union involvement in all dispute settlement leading to and including arbitration.

ii)      The status quo as it stood prior to the matter in dispute arising stand until the dispute is resolved;

iii)    Transitional provisions to ensure the fair and appropriate carry-over of disputes and proceedings from the previous Agreement.

Management of Grievances

1. That the Agreement will include fair, equitable, and transparent procedures for the resolution of grievances.  These procedures will include a capacity to take unresolved grievances to Fair Work Australia for determination.

Change Management

1. That the Agreement will provide improved change management processes including improved consultation and staff ability to meaningfully participate and influence the outcome.

Indexation of Allowances 

1. The Agreement will provide for the indexation of all allowances by either CPI, the annual wage increase or in line with the Public Sector Award 1992, whichever is higher.

Consultation on Policies

1. That the Agreement will provide for meaningful consultation with NTEU prior to the promulgation and implementation of any new university policies.

Trade Union Training Leave

1. That the Agreement will include increased provision for Trade Union Training Leave for NTEU elected delegates, committee members and elected officers.

Access to electronic communication

1. That the Agreement specify that NTEU can have access to All-Staff email addresses for the purposes of communicating with the staff of the University and that the University give an undertaking that it will not engage in any activity that will block access to NTEU operated web addresses from university computers.

OTHER  

NTEU also seeks to :

• Update the Agreement to better reflect current industrial legislation, understanding and practice.
• Redraft provisions where necessary for clarification
• Remove or update terms that are no longer relevant or are out of date
• Correct mistakes in the current Agreements.

The Union also reserves the right to add additional claims where the need for these becomes apparent during negotiations.

2 August 2012