Sydney University - where are we at?

Where are things at with the General Staff Agreement

We believe that we are close to getting a final agreement. In discussion with the University yesterday afternoon, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Employee Relations Michael Fry, agreed that "we are very close to getting a General Staff Agreement".

We expect that subject to all parties availability for drafting that we should be able to get a General Staff Agreement out to our members for scrutinizing in the very near future. The CPSU will ensure our availability next week for this to occur.

What are the new Requirements?

• The Enterprise Agreement includes a clause which states that "The University may offer AWAs in accordance with the Workplace Relations Act 1996."

• the University senate representation complies with the National Governance Protocols (at this stage we understand this to mean that there will be no State, Staff or Student representation on the University Senate - this of course is subject to the relevant legislative change by the State Government)

The Minister for Education is satisfied that the University has met both of the above requirements for an increase in the University's basic grant amount to be increased.

The clause now prescribed by the Government is considerably watered down from the requirement that AWAs must be offered to a broad spectrum of employees and the terms must override an Enterprise Agreement.

What effect does the new clause on AWAs have on us?

This means that Australian Workplace Agreements may be offered to new and existing university staff, but the terms of the Enterprise Agreement would override the terms of the AWA to the extent of any inconsistency.

Another implication to consider is where an Enterprise Agreement that does not expressly prohibit AWAs expires, an employer can offer an AWA to an employee and the terms of that AWA will override the terms of the Enterprise Agreement even after a new Enterprise Agreement is certified unless the nominal expiry date of the AWA has passed. This means the Unions must be vigilant in ensuring that we have or are close to having an EBA ready for certification when the old one's nominal expiry date is due in order to protect staff from being offered AWAs which override the Enterprise Agreement.

What about the $1,000 bonus? When will this be paid?

What happens once the parties are happy with the draft?

What is the heads of agreement?

However there were academic matters outstanding for the other union and they were unable to sign off at that time.

Since then the Government requirements were announced which created obstacles for the University signing anything which did not comply with those Requirements. The signing of this heads of agreement is largely irrelevant for General Staff as our agreement is already into its second draft. However we may consider signing it as a matter of symbolism as it demonstrates that the parties no longer see any obstacles in our way of getting an agreement finalised.

If you have any questions or concerns at all about the new proposed clause for AWAs or anything at all about this bulletin please call your branch office on 9351 5176 or Maria Cirillo on 0407 060 960 or 9220 0904, or Glenn Conroy on 9220 0975.

We understand that some work has been done on on the first draft of the academic agreement.

The CPSU is anxious to ensure that obstacles unrelated to General Staff will not be placed in the way of finalizing a General Staff Agreement.