Members' Bargaining Report 23 July 2009

Members' Bargaining Report 23 July 2009

Your bargaining team met with the University on Thursday 23 July.

Environmental Sustainability – Landmark Agreement Reached

We would like to congratulate and thank all General Staff that supported the CPSU campaign for environmental sustainability at the workplace. Your views were clearly expressed at the bargaining table, with the result being that management put forward a revised clause that agrees with substantial portions of the original CPSU claim.  The CPSU believes SCU is now the leading workplace in the nation on enforceable provisions to promote environmental sustainability at work.

General Staff Career Development

For the first time, the SCU Enterprise Agreement will provide for general staff career development that includes:

• A centralised carer development fund to ensure career development is not dependent on how well resourced your work unit is

• Study leave of 2 hours per week per unit per semester for a maximum of 2 units per semester

• A commitment to equitably offering training and development opportunities like secondments and higher duties

This is a significant win that will help develop the careers of general staff, an issue raised in our members’ EB focus groups.

Family Leave

There was in principle agreement on a new family / carers leave clause that includes improvements such as:

• Expanded definition of family to incorporate indigenous family relationships

• Right to request flexible work arrangements to handle carer responsibilities

• Modernised process for notifying and justifying the taking of family leave

Whilst this is not the original CPSU claim, they are a significant gain for a better work and life balance.

Parental Leave

The CPSU tabled a Parental Leave Clause that provides for the following improvements:

• Increase paid parental and adoption leave from 14 weeks to 26 weeks on full pay

• Increase paid partner leave from one week to four weeks paid

• Introduce paid parental leave for casuals with more than 12 months continuous service

• Changed the 9 hours a week leave to assist return to work into a 10 weeks full pay return to work fund that can be used for paid leave, child care fees and/or professional development

• Defined more clearly the grounds management can refuse a request from a parent to extend their period of unpaid parental leave beyond 12 months

Management will provide a response at the next Enterprise Bargaining meeting.

What have we achieved so far?

What has been agreed?	Meet our claim?		What hasn’t been agreed?	Outstanding issue(s)
4 weeks notice to terminate			Parental Leave	Management to respond to CPSU clause
Long Service Leave			Workloads	CPSU to draft revised clause
Joint Consultative Forum			Indigenous Employment	Unions to respond to management clause
4 weeks notice of non-renewal of fixed term contract			Redundancy	Close to agreement
Facilitation of Change and Labour Flexibility			First Aid Allowance	CPSU to draft revised clause – close to agreement
Variable hours			Personal Leave	Unions to respond to management clause
Sick leave			Relationships to Awards and Policies	Close to agreement
Travel			Disputes	Unions to respond to management clause
Annual Leave			Intellectual Freedom	Management to respond
Community Service Leave			Casuals	Management to respond to CPSU clause
Salary Packaging			Superannuation	Still to be negotiated
Fixed Term Employment (between CPSU and SCU)			Unsatisfactory Performance	Still to be negotiated
Classification (between CPSU and SCU)			Misconduct	Still to be negotiated
General Staff Career Development			Probation	Still to be negotiated
Family/Carers Leave			Incremental Progression	Still to be negotiated
Environmental Sustainability			Occupational Health and Safety	Still to be negotiated
			Performance Management Development and Review	Still to be negotiated
			Abandonment of Employment	Still to be negotiated
			Salaries	Still to be negotiated
			Hours of Work	Still to be negotiated

Still Being Negotiated

Negotiations continued on redundancy, first aid allowance, general staff workloads, disputes, and relationships with awards and other agreements.  Agreement is close on both redundancy and relationships.

What’s Next?

The next EB meeting is scheduled for Thursday 6/8/09. The CPSU has committed to draft clauses on Overtime, First Aid Allowance, Union Rights, Hours of Work Principles, and General Staff Workloads.

In Union,

Increase Your Collective Bargaining Power = Better Conditions & Pay Rises
Talk to colleagues & friends at work about our log of claims and get them to join your union
Become a work place contact or join the EB Campaign Team (contact a delegate)

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