Southern Cross Agreement Reached

The union covering university General Staff, the Community & Public Sector Union (CPSU), has announced the successful completion of enterprise bargaining for a new Agreement covering employment conditions at Southern Cross University.

In negotiating the Agreement, CPSU branch president at Southern Cross University, Toni Ledgerwood said she was delighted the union had been able to deliver a twenty-two per cent pay increase to 2008.

"I'm also pleased that this Agreement ensures the university will be eligible for maximum Commonwealth Government funding under its Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements," Ms Ledgerwood said.

"We will be the first university staff anywhere in New South Wales to meet these requirements, and we have done it while broadly maintaining or improving our conditions and entitlements."

"We have been able to strike a deal which is not just fair and reasonable, it delivers crucial protections for general staff employees," Ms Ledgerwood said.

She listed some of these as including:

• the incorporation of classification descriptors into the body of the Agreement
• the ability of staff to participate in the management of individual disputes
• a sector benchmark for paid and un-paid parental leave provisions
• conversion provisions for casual and fixed-term staff

"I thank all those General Staff members whose input, feedback, and involvement gave the CPSU negotiating team such an edge during the course of enterprise bargaining," Ms Ledgerwood said.

The Agreement will go to a staff ballot for final approval, and certification by the Industrial Relations Commission.

Toni Ledgerwood is a Councillor on Southern Cross University Council, representing General Staff, as well as PSA/CPSU Branch President at SCU.