Union members have upped the ante on enterprise bargaining negotiations

The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union is applying to the Fair Work Commission for a protected ballot on taking industrial action.

This follows a broad-offer  by management for the unions (NTEU and CPSU) to reach a Heads of Agreement on big issues and then hammer out details. That proposal included a breakthrough in employment for academic casuals, a commitment to creating 85 continuing jobs (CMM August 19)

However, the NTEU response is nothing doing. ACU branch president Leah Kaufmann points to “a range of issues” where management’s offer, “falls short or is silent,” including various forms of leave and flexible working arrangements, which “will set up inconsistencies between staff whose supervisors are happy with them to work from home, and those staff whose supervisors are not, without any proper justification.”

But the big one is bucks. Dr Kaufmann says management’s most recent pay offer is short of the June quarter CPI which annualises inflation at 6.1 per cent.

Last week Chief Operating Officer Stephen Weller told staff, “ACU management cannot in good conscience agree to provisions which will constrain us from operating effectively and sustainably.”

Observers suggest management will continue to sit tight, calling on the union to continue to negotiate and making it clear no upped offer is imminent.