Staff covered by the university’s industrial agreement will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise as of February while enterprise bargaining continues

I “know that everyone has been feeling the increased pressures by the rise in the cost of living and I hope this increase will alleviate some of the stress being felt,” VC Brian Schmidt tells them.

The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union was quick to claim it as a win, pointing out it had been calling for months for a pay lift.

The union had wanted 5 per cent, perhaps as the first of three equal increases under the new agreement. That management has awarded 3.5 per cent may indicate what it will offer for the next two annual increases.