Union members have backed the proposed accord negotiated by National Tertiary Education Union campus leaders and university management

The variation to the Uni Adelaide enterprise agreement which is at the heart of the deal will now go to all staff for approval.

The proposal includes staff deferring a pay rise due in March until next July and a 3.5 per cent paycut (kicking in at $30 000) from fourth quarter to the start of the next financial year and a 15-day leave-purchase.

Acting Vice Chancellor Mike Brooks commits the university to saving the further $30m it will still need through an early retirement scheme, natural staff turn-over and voluntary redundancies. He ruled out forced redundancies and “significant restructuring,” to reduce the workforce by 200 positions (CMM July 23).

This is a big win for Professor Brooks and local and national NTEU leaders. There was a fear that opposition to the deal was stronger among union members than the university community as a whole (CMM August 4).