Momentum
Enterprise Bargaining 2009
The University and representatives from the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) commenced negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement on 9 June 2009.
The Enterprise Agreement sets out the minimum conditions of your employment. The current Enterprise Agreement expires on 30 June 2009, however it will remain effective until a new agreement is negotiated and certified.
The University's view is that while some aspects of the current agreement can be improved, on the whole our agreement works well for staff and the University. We have gone through major change in a number of areas across the University, not least of which was the Academic restructure and we have been successful in resolving complex issues within the framework of the current agreement.
We will keep all staff informed on a regular basis on the progress of our discussions.
The current Enterprise Bargaining agreement (2006 - 2009) can be found on the Human Resources
website.
What's happening?
Updates
29 September - Separate Professional and Academic Staff Agreements
Bargaining Recommences
Enterprise Bargaining resumed on Tuesday between the University and both the NTEU and CPSU after the University suspend bargaining with the NTEU while industrial action was pending.
Two Agreements
While still in the relatively early stages, it is becoming clear that bargaining the academic related clauses is going to take a great deal of time. The NTEU has produced a long and complex clause on Academic Workload. They have also flagged that want to revise other academic related issues such as OSP. On the other hand the issues over Professional (General) staff clauses, while still critical, seem less complex.
After discussing the idea of having separate agreements with the CPSU, the University has decided to pursue two separate agreements: A Professional Staff agreement and an Academic Staff agreement.
Our primary reasons for this separation are:
- We believe we can conclude a Professional staff agreement before the end of the year. This will give certainty to Professional staff on both conditions and remuneration much sooner than we thought possible.
- Negotiation of Academic clauses will be more focused – we will negotiate these clauses with the NTEU only and give them the attention they will require.
- There are some areas of significant difference in Professional and Academic staff employment conditions. Mixing different conditions and processes in clauses creates unnecessary complexity. For example Academic staff do not have set hours and we are proposing different methods of leave management for Academic and Professional staff.
- Having a Professional staff agreement makes it easier to focus on the staff development issues that unions have raised and we have also identified in the "Your Say" surveys.
Assurances
Separating into two agreements will not stop bargaining the Academic agreement. We plan to conduct bargaining for both the Professional staff agreement and the Academic staff agreement.
We will negotiate with NTEU and CPSU on the Professional staff agreement. Both unions have professional staff members and have a right to be in bargaining.
To ensure no disadvantage in remuneration for either group of staff the University guarantees:
- The increases in salary rates in the Academic agreement will be no less than those in the new Professional staff agreement.
- If we negotiate any higher salary rate increases in the Academic agreement then we will make up the difference for Professional staff.
We will provide updates on the progress of both agreements as we progress through bargaining.
Tim Sprague
Director, Human Resources.
14 September 2009 - Day of Action note to Staff
Dear Colleagues,
The University has been informed by the NTEU that its members will be participating in the NTEU National Day of Action next Wednesday 16 September 2009. Only members of the NTEU are able to take protected industrial action.
The NTEU has advised it intends to establish a number of picket lines at both the entrance to the University and within the University grounds. It is important to note that picket lines are not a form of protected action and the University is not condoning the establishment of pickets.
Notwithstanding this action, 16 September will be a normal business day for the University. In the event that the union does establish a picket line, the University has compiled the following guide for staff and students. http://www.mq.edu.au/momentum/pdfs/PicketGuidelines.pdf
Under the provisions of the Fair Work Act, it is illegal for an employer to pay an employee who undertakes protected industrial action. The University is asking staff members to confirm that they are taking action so that appropriate deductions of pay can be made. Staff members who participate in action are required to complete a form, which can be found at http://www.mq.edu.au/momentum/pdfs/StrikeActionParticipationForm.pdf and send it to Human Resources by 23 September 2009 so that deduction of salary can be arranged.
Staff who do not participate in industrial action are not required to inform the University and will have no alterations made to their salary.
Other leave arrangements will be subject to the following provisions:
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Approval of applications for annual or long service leave for 16 September will be subject to the needs of the work unit. Staff who have annual or long service leave approved prior to will be entitled to continue with these arrangements.
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All applications for sick leave on 16 September 2009 will need to be supported by a medical certificate.
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All existing arrangements for Flexible work arrangements will continue to apply.
The University anticipates returning to the bargaining following the national day of action, probably on 29 September 2009, the next scheduled bargaining day.
Tim Sprague
Director, Human Resources
18 August 2009 - Suspension of Bargaining with the NTEU
After meeting with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) today Macquarie University is convinced that the NTEU is not engaging seriously in the bargaining process at Macquarie, and is only planning industrial action to pursue its national agenda.
As a result, the University has decided to suspend bargaining with the NTEU until after its day of national action on 16 September.
As we indicated in our last update, the NTEU's resolution to have an agreement by 26 August was surprising, disappointing and unrealistic.
To date:
- The NTEU claim we have been bargaining for a year but all parties agreed to start on the 9 June this year.
- We have had only 4 bargaining meetings.
- The parties have tabled less than a quarter of the clauses.
- We have not finalised any clauses to date.
- The NTEU gave no indication that bargaining at Macquarie seemed slow until we received the resolution.
- In the meeting today the NTEU did not provide a satisfactory rationale for their actions. We had only one meeting scheduled before their self imposed deadline, which made their resolution impossible to meet short of total capitulation by the University. The University is willing to continue to negotiate but we can’t agree if we don’t know the detail of the NTEU’s proposed clauses.
The University can only conclude that the NTEU has already decided on taking industrial action, irrespective of its claims to be bargaining in good faith.
We have left open an offer to the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) to continue bargaining during this period.
Tim Sprague
11 August 2009
Colleagues,
The University has recently received a resolution from the NTEU identifying their intention to commence an industrial campaign in relation to Enterprise Bargaining.
We are surprised and disappointed by this action. Our current Enterprise Agreement nominally ended only six weeks ago on 30 June 2009; staff recently received their 4% salary increase in accordance with this Agreement; and our current round of bargaining commenced in early June this year.
We have had only four bargaining meetings to date. At these meetings some of the discussion has been procedural with initial statements of general positions being proffered. The NTEU indicated a strong preference to negotiate "in the room" and all parties agreed to follow this process. Our discussions of specific clauses are in the early stages and we have been working through them robustly but amicably. For the NTEU to plan industrial action now suggests, to us, a lack of willingness to engage seriously in bargaining.
At the end of the most recent meeting all parties agreed that we would not table any new clauses for consideration at the next meeting as we already had enough clauses to work on. There was no indication of urgency or dissatisfaction with the speed of bargaining from the NTEU and we are perplexed by their strategy to escalate the issue and their request for an "in principle agreement to the NTEU's substantive claims by August 26".
It is natural to have disagreements in bargaining, and we have had a number already, but as yet there is no clause where we have reached the point of either total agreement or total impasse. At this early stage we are still working through areas where all parties can find agreement. This is why we have found the NTEU's actions, pre-emptive and counter to the spirit of the bargaining to date.
We note that other Universities had been in bargaining for almost a year before industrial action was considered and can only conclude that any planned action at Macquarie is to add validity to the NTEU's actions in other Universities. The NTEU has been disingenuous in creating an unrealistic deadline for a previously undisclosed "in principle agreement". It seems that they are determined to take industrial action irrespective of the progress made to date.
Given that Enterprise Bargaining is about our enterprise – Macquarie University - this is a most disappointing action for the NTEU to take.
Tim Sprague
24 June 2009 – Salary increase next month
All staff will receive 4% salary increase on 15 July 2009. In accordance with the Agreement, this increase is effective from the first full pay period on or after 30 June 2009. The increase reflects the University's ongoing commitment to provide increases in line with market and economic changes and to reward staff for their contribution to our success.
Position classification for General Staff
One of the clauses being discussed in bargaining is Position Classification for General staff. A new process for evaluating position descriptions was introduced in the current Agreement. The new, more centralised approach is working well. It provides a much greater degree of consistency, more equitable outcomes and much faster turn around times.
The CPSU and NTEU are suggesting changes to the current process. So far through the bargaining process, the University has not been convinced that there is a need to significantly change the process. Instead, we believe we need to promote the current process more thoroughly and offer more security to staff applying for position classification by introducing new salary maintenance provisions.
Any staff member may apply for re-classification by following the University's policy on Position Classification Review for General Staff if they think their job has grown and may have changed its classification level. Simply go to the website and follow the application process.
We will provide regular updates via MQ Announcements, updates to this page and through staff forums as we work through the issues.
We welcome your feedback, questions and comments.
Contact
Tim Sprague
email: tim.sprague@pers.mq.edu.au