UNE Vice Chancellor Brigid Heywood has an academic workload mode ready to go. Problem is the Academic Workload Committee has one it prefers

University management says the VC’s is in-line with the Enterprise Agreement and should be implemented.  The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union says Professor Heywood must accept the model recommended to her by the academic workload committee chair.

The parties accept Fair Work Commission arbitration and yesterday Commissioner Johns set out a timetable to sort it out. All papers are due March 25, with a hearing Monday March 28.

However the Commissioner suggested union and management, “continue to meet and work constructively with each other in good faith.” The commission is prepared to help with a “member assisted conciliation.”

This dispute seems to have started when Professor Heywood proposed to, “re-scope the nature of academic work” with staff “employed to design and deliver education and/or research in an academic or research within an agreed framework” (CMM July 30 2020).

Workload models are long a source of disagreement at UNE. There was a complex dispute related to an academic restructure and enterprise agreement negotiations (CMM October 17 2018, January 18 2019 and January 20 2020).