In a 54 per cent turn-out 58 per cent of JCU staff voting have rejected an enterprise bargain proposed by the university but bitterly opposed by the National Tertiary Education Union. The vote was announced late Friday with JCU VC Tricia Brand calling the result “disappointing” but pointing to the large number of staff who either supported the university or remained “on the fence”. Ms Brand tells CMM the university is considering its options and will not rule anything in or out, including following Murdoch U by asking the Fair Work Commission to cancel wages and conditions set under the old JCU agreement.

“Negotiations to date, after 18 months and 41 meetings, have failed to give proper acknowledgement to the cost of the existing entitlements in the agreement and changes we need to make to be competitive. Unless there is significant movement from the NTEU, it is not likely that we will be able to reach any agreement as we cannot merely offer more, without there being financial consequences for doing so,” Ms Brand said.

To which NTEU Queensland state secretary Michael McNally replied yesterday; “The most important decision management has to make is what to do next.  Do they continue down the path of confrontation and dispute, or do they sit down with the NTEU and negotiate a reasonable settlement?  We really hope that management see sense and come back to the table and negotiate.”

And that will mean more money on the table. As workplace relations consultant Andrew Dempster points out; staff voting knocked back the university’s offer of 1.5%, 1.5%, 1.6% and 2.0% over the next 4 years in the context of a more generous deal at neighbouring CQU.