Aidan Byrne has had enough. The University of Queensland provost sent an all-staff email yesterday understatedly announcing that he has had it with enterprise bargaining going nowhere. While he prefers working with the campus unions, if necessary he will put management’s offer to staff, without their support. “It would certainly be possible for the university to ask staff to vote to endorse a new agreement proposed by the university,” Professor Byrne wrote.

The big outstanding issue is said to be extending the span of hours in which professional staff can work a shift.

There is a unions-management meeting tomorrow, at which the university says it “will make every effort to resolve outstanding matters.” But deal or no deal an enterprise offer is going to a staff vote. “Subject to the outcome of these discussions, I would expect a vote of staff to be held as soon as possible,” Professor Byrne advised.