FIRST UNIVERSITY SIGNS UP TO NTEU’S NEW BARGAINING STRATEGY
18 November 2004
Wollongong University appears set to become the first university to sign up to the National Tertiary Education Union’s (NTEU) strategy of ensuring all agreements negotiated in the current higher education enterprise bargaining round are binding until 2008.
This follows a meeting on Thursday at which staff at the university voted unanimously to accept management’s offer of a collective agreement expiring in March 2008.
“This outcome and similar agreements that are nearing completion at a number of other universities represent clear evidence that Vice Chancellors would rather negotiate collective agreements with the NTEU that benefit both sides rather than get bogged down in deliberating the contents of literally thousands of individual staff agreements,” said NTEU General Secretary, Grahame McCulloch.
“The NTEU is keen to extend the expiry dates of all enterprise bargaining agreements negotiated in the current higher education enterprise bargaining round for as long as possible.”
“The objective is to lock in the positive bargaining outcomes the Union has achieved and ensure the strongest possible legal protection of members’ employment conditions in the face of what appears to be a renewed bout of Government interference in the workplace arrangements of the sector.”
“Just as importantly, agreements such as the one struck today at Wollongong University enhance the quality of the teaching and research undertaken at our universities.”
“They also offer stability and certainty for our multi-billion dollar higher education industry in a challenging domestic and international environment.”
Positive features in the Wollongong agreement include:
- A competitive salary increase of 24% until March 2008
- Ground breaking parental leave provisions that will help staff to better management work-life balance and allow the university to retain qualified female staff
“While some outstanding issues remain between the Union and Wollongong management, I do not see any reason why the two sides cannot reach agreement on all of these and finalise the agreement by Christmas,” said McCulloch.
“Similar negotiations are also underway at more than a dozen universities, and the NTEU is confident of reaching agreements with most Universities in the sector by mid-2005.”
Information and Comment:
Grahame McCulloch, NTEU General Secretary: 03 9254 1910
Ken McAlpine, NTEU Senior Industrial Officer: 03 9254 1910