NTEU AGREEMENT WITH ANU REBUFF’S GOVERNMENT’S WORKPLACE RELATIONS REQUIREMENTS
October 16 2003
The Australian National University and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) will today sign a three-year enterprise bargaining agreement that contains none of the hardline industrial requirements proposed by the Government as conditions for universities accessing $404 million in additional funding.
The agreement will be signed at a meeting of ANU staff organised by the NTEU and the University management, which will take place at Llewellyn Hall, ANU campus, at 1.15pm. The meeting is open to the media.
“This agreement is a victory for patient, cooperative negotiation between unions and management over the bullying, interventionist tactics being championed by the Federal Government,” said Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary.
“It is a rejection by both ANU management and the NTEU, of the Government’s unwarranted and highly prescriptive interference in the internal affairs of universities and the Government’s attempts to substitute its own industrial policies for those of universities.”
“ANU is recognised as a leading institution in terms of educational and industrial outcomes and this agreement will hopefully lay the foundation for management at other universities to adopt a similar cooperative approach to bargaining.”
“The NTEU congratulates ANU Vice Chancellor Ian Chubb on signing this agreement, which will deliver outcomes that will benefit both staff and the university.”
The agreement that will be signed today repudiates the main points of the Government’s proposed workplace relations requirements for universities, including:
- No provision for AWAs.
- Limitations on casual and fixed term employment.
- 26.4 weeks paid parental leave and a 17.5% salary increase.
- A strong recognition of the constructive role played by the NTEU in the life of the institution and union rights more generally.
The Agreement also contains an explicit endorsement of the independence of the University.
“Forcing universities to place staff on AWAs, weakening consultative arrangements and encouraging casual employment, will deliver lower pay and conditions and industrial confrontation,” said McCulloch.
Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary, will be available to talk to the media after today’s meeting at ANU.
For information and comment:
Phone: (03) 9254 1910
Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary
Dr Carolyn Allport, NTEU President
Ken McAlpine, NTEU Senior Industrial Advisor