Enterprise Agreement update
You will recall from earlier global emails that enterprise bargaining negotiations about the proposed Monash University Enterprise Agreement (Academic and General Staff) 2005 came to a form of conclusion in June. Since then the university, the NTEU and the elected staff representatives of the academic and general staff on Australian campuses have been engaged in intensive discussions to ensure the compliance of the proposed Agreement with the Commonwealth Government’s Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements (HEWRRs). Compliance is necessary if we are to be eligible for additional Commonwealth funding, calculated to be worth about $8 million in 2006.
A modified version of the proposed Monash University Enterprise Agreement (Academic and General Staff) 2005 has now been produced. It has the endorsement of the university management, the NTEU and the elected staff representatives of academic and general staff. The Department of Education, Science and Training has informed us this week that it will recommend the proposed Agreement to the Minister as being HEWRRs-compliant. The modified version of the Agreement preserves many of the substantive outcomes of the original June document, including:
- An aggregate 24.5 per cent salary increase;
- Enhanced parental leave entitlements;
- The extension and enhancement of fixed-term staff employment and severance entitlements;
- The regulation of academic and general staff workloads;
- The introduction of a conversion process for casual general staff and an increase in the casual loading to 23 per cent; and
- The introduction of formal procedures for the resolution of employment-related grievances.
We now intend to submit the proposed Agreement to a ballot of academic and general staff on Australian campuses. If the Agreement is approved by a majority the university will apply for its certification under section 170LJ of the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
The ballot will be held on or after 2 November 2005. Details of the proposed ballot process will be advised shortly. All full-time, part-time, casual, and sessional academic and general staff covered by the proposed Agreement and employed by the university in Australia during the period of the ballot are eligible to vote.
Prior to the conduct of the ballot, the Workplace Relations Act requires the university to take reasonable steps to ensure that all staff covered by the proposed Agreement either have, or have ready access to, the Agreement in writing, and that the terms of the proposed Agreement are explained to those staff.
You are invited to inspect a copy of the proposed Agreement at http://www.monash.edu.au/entbarg/academic-general-2005/, and download a copy if you wish. In addition, information sessions are planned for each of the university’s Australian campuses to explain the terms of the proposed Agreement in the week commencing 24 October 2005.
Details of the information sessions will be advised shortly and FAQs for posting on the Human Resources Division website are under development. If you require any further information or assistance regarding the proposed Monash University Enterprise Agreement (Academic and General Staff) 2005, contact the staff of the Employee Relations Branch on extn 56996.
The approval and certification of the Agreement is critical, in my view, not only to ensure the university’s eligibility for increased funding but also to promote the university’s standing as an employer of choice and our aim to be one of the best universities in the world. I urge all staff eligible to vote in the forthcoming ballot to consider the proposed Agreement carefully and I recommend it for your approval.
Please note that the negotiation of HEWRRs-compliant replacement agreements for the existing Monash University Enterprise Agreement (Trades and Services Staff – Building and Metal Trades Staff and Grounds and Gardening Staff) 2000 and Monash University Enterprise Agreement (Trades and Services Staff – Catering and Retail, Cleaning and Caretaking, and Miscellaneous Services Staff) 2000 is also under way. I hope that those negotiations will be concluded shortly, at which time the information and approval processes applicable to trades and services staff will be advised separately.