Enterprise bargaining at the University of Queensland is productive and civil, if only because management is not talking about pay. “We have reached in-principle agreement on important matters such as academic and intellectual freedom, cultural leave, domestic violence leave, and improving the employment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. And we are close to agreement on many other important issues,” Provost Aidan Byrne told staff yesterday.
One of which is not money. “The university is yet to make a formal pay offer,” Professor Byrne said. This, he adds, is the fault of the feds. “We have been mindful of the current state of uncertainty with respect to university funding and the prospect of further cuts given the federal government’s failure to pass its higher education reform package this year.
And if MYEFO next week, includes less a funding cut than an evisceration (say a 10cent federal deposit on drink containers sold on campus) well what choice would UoQ have but to offer a lower pay-rise than it would like to?
But money isn’t the only outstanding issue at UoQ. CMM hears a job security clause in the next enterprise agreement is important for UoQ staff.