Union members at the University of Newcastle will vote on taking protected industrial action as part of the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union’s enterprise bargaining campaign. There is, the union says, insufficient progress in talks with management.

But at Southern Cross U peace prevails, which makes a difference from last time, when management put a contract offer to staff without union endorsement – the workforce knocked it back (CMM June 28 2015). Times have changed under new VC Adam Shoemaker; “we have experienced a much more collegial approach, with a ‘roll-over with tweaks’ proposal, to which your bargaining team have agreed,” the union states.