Well, meeting 13 came and went. The university presented a new pay offer and we managed to resolve some outstanding issues but there is still more. The NTEU met with university last week to further discussions around matters Academic. Next week all unions meet in Bathurst with the university for meeting 14.
A summary of where we are on the key points.
The university has proposed a four-year agreement. Depending on the outcome of the pay rise discussion, this may or may not be agreed to.
The university has made a renewed pay offer which the Vice Chancellor put out to all staff on WNN. In the opinion of your delegates it is still not quite there and we will continue to bargain for better.
The current offer is:
Year 1 – $500 one off payment and a 1.8 per cent pay increase
Year 2 – 1.5 per cent pay increase
Year 3 – 1.5 per cent pay increase
Year 4 – $500 one off payment and a 1.5 per cent pay increase
The one off payments are actually increases to the base salary and therefore add to the percentage increases on offer. Some have interpreted them as “sign-on” type payments. They have been put to your delegates as increases to the base salaries and that is very important. It naturally will have a bigger impact for those on lower Levels.
What does this mean?
If our calculations are correct and the first payment being backdated to Dec 2017, with this pay quantum, L1/1 would get 8.76 per cent, L5/1 8.02 per cent and L9/1 7.42 per cent over four years.
A separate domestic violence clause in the agreement. It will be a new type of leave for domestic violence which is completely separate to other types of leave. This allows access up to 15 days per year with appropriate documentation. It is not cumulative and is not payable on leaving. An additional five days may be available by application to HR. Staff can still access other forms of leave to credit.
Superannuation (clause 15) – CSU has agreed to pay all fixed term staff the full 17 per cent from commencement instead of after 12 months. This may not happen to later in the agreement.
Flexitime – the hours that can be accrued per four-week period are now +/- 14 (without prior approval) and up to + 35 (with prior approval). Staff with excess of 35 hours can apply to be paid out, if they are not able to take the time off. The change is to align the hours with the normal seven-hour day that applies to staff working under the flexitime system.
Annual Leave Loading – once again CSU wanted to remove the annual leave loading and replacement it with a one off salary increase.
Their reasoning was that it causes a great amount of workload at the end of the year. Based on members’ responses this was rejected by all unions but we have agreed for the payment to made in November rather than December.
Parental Leave – There is a change to clause existing 46.20. This concerns access to further periods of parental leave. Currently when applying for a further period of parental leave the staff member must have returned to work for 24 months to access the full entitlement of 26 weeks. If not they can only access 14 weeks. CSU has now agreed that to access a further period of 26 weeks parental leave, the employee only has to return to work for 12 months.
Casual General professional Staff Salary rates – The Students rate 1 is being increased to 70 per cent of Level 1 and Student Rate 2 is being increased to 80 per cent of Level 1
Exam Supervisors and Assistants – The current 11 categories (based on students supervised) is being simplified to four categories
The University will award one-day concessional leave for the approved closedown period for eligible employees. Those employees that are required to work will receive one additional day leave at a time of their choosing. This is in place of the “bank holiday” day which could be applied unfairly for some Part-time employees.
Offices at Bathurst and Wagga for CPSU Organisers and delegates
Agreement that a revisit of the Job Statement is included in EDRS for Professional Staff
So the three unions are still to resolve managing change, pay, the term of the agreement and the NTEU specifically is still in negotiation with the university over academic workloads, Indigenous employment targets and casual conversion for academics.
As part of managing change and in light of a very average pay offer we were seeking improved redeployment opportunity in the case of those becoming displaced.
Currently the period to seek redeployment is set at two months and we are seeking between four and six months for those electing to seek redeployment rather than immediate redundancy.
We meet again in Bathurst next Tuesday and I very much hope we can reach agreement and deliver a satisfactory outcome for our members.
If you are active on Facebook there is a CPSU NSW group that you may wish to follow that has some good information flowing into it particularly with other University Bargaining teams reporting their progress there. https://www.facebook.com/CPSUNSW/.
I also have available some CPSU T-Shirts in red with a “Stand Up – Fightback” motif. Let me know if you would like one in your size to wear proudly.
Any questions or opinions please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
John Jones
Senior Delegate
Charles Sturt University
