CPSU Members at Charles Sturt University have successfully campaigned to formally approve their Enterprise Agreement in the recent staff ballot. 61% of CSU staff voted to approve the Agreement. Having met all the relevant statutory requirements to be formally approved by the Fair Work Commission, the new Agreement will take effect from Thursday 24th October 2013. Please visit this link for a copy of the Charles Sturt University Enterprise Agreement 2013-2016.
CPSU/PSA delegates worked hard for over 8 months negotiating this Agreement. Prior to negotiations, CPSU/PSA members were consulted widely over what they wanted, what their priorities were and key issues. Throughout the negotiations, members were updated regularly with ongoing consultation over key matters to ensure the negotiations by the Bargaining Team remained in line with their expectations.
The key feature CPSU/PSA members strongly felt was protecting and improving job security and achieving a fair pay increase without adding undue pressure to the University’s budget resulting in downsizing the workforce.
Enterprise Bargaining began on Tuesday 29th January 2013. The key improvements negotiated by the local delegates are:
- Earlier notification of workplace changes to allow greater involvement in consultation
- Priority placement of displaced staff above external applications
- Consideration of possible training as contributing to meeting the essential criteria for displaced staff seeking redeployment
- An additional 8 weeks pay for staff who choose redundancy early, regardless of their length of service
- Salary increase of 11.9% (compounded at 12.46%) over 4 years. This is a compounded average increase of 3.11% per year for 4 years. The 4 year period is the start of 2013 to the end of 2016.
- Paid Parental Leave being extended to the primary carer, regardless of gender or sexuality. This provides for 20 weeks of paid leave, with an additional 6 weeks or paid leave being reserved for the exclusively for the birth mother.
- Extra compassionate leave for the death of a close family member, life threatening illness or accident
- Long Service leave calculated in working days instead of calender days
- Improved casual conversion with casuals eligible to apply for conversion after two years, regardless of their weekly hours
- A new annual allowance for HSR’s, equivalent to a senior first aid officer
- That all hours worked by CPSU/PSA members to be paid for, which now extends to accrued flex time. Where a Professional Staff member leaves the University for any reason, or transfers, any accrued flex time will be paid out rather than lost. Excessive flex time can also be paid out.
- Defence Force leave has been extended from 2 weeks to 12 weeks, using the financial compensation provided by the Federal Government for employers
- Domestic Violence Policy has been developed which is excellent, and is supported by paid leave being available for dealing with domestic violence issues
- Extended carer’s roles for carer’s leave
- Specific reporting guidelines and procedures for bullying complaints
The CPSU is the only union that negotiates exclusively for Professional/General Staff at each individual University, and is only interested in negotiating as per the wishes of members at that University.
