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University of NSW member update

University of NSW member update – May 2018 (PDF version)

There have been two more meetings between the University and Unions in the current Enterprise Bargaining round, one on the 12^th of April, and one last week, on the 26^th.  As always CPSU NSW delegates and officials were in attendance.

The CPSU NSW is pleased to be able to inform members that we had some success in certain of our claims:

• Parental leave: The University has accepted the CPSU NSW’s claim that Maternity leave be replaced with the new concept of Primary Carers leave. This means that as of when the new Agreement comes into force, either parent will be able to take the main period of parental leave upon the birth of a child.   The University has itself taken the task of writing the new clause that will express this and is expected to present it to the Unions at the next bargaining meeting.

This is an important improvement to the Agreement that the CPSU NSW has been seeking for some years now.  We are proud to have finally achieved it, and to have once again played a pivotal role in bringing changing and improving community standards to the employment conditions of University staff.

• Domestic violence: The University has agreed to increase the quantum of leave available to people suffering domestic violence from 10 days to 20. It has also agreed to lower the evidentiary standard required to access this form of leave, by allowing a staff member to present a statutory declaration as evidence of their situation.  Both these improvements had been sought by the CPSU NSW in our log of claims presented to the University last year.
• Disciplinary process: The University has also accepted a submission by the CPSU NSW concerning the disciplinary process. Management will be required to specifically tell a staff member when the provisions of the Agreement that may lead to their dismissal are being applied.  Strange as it might seem that is not actually the case currently.

Additional to these the University has itself proposed some improvements to the Agreement.

• There will be changes to the medical certificate requirements to access carers leave, bringing them into line with the requirements for sick leave.
• Two new forms of leave will be introduced: for surrogacy, and for people undergoing a gender transition process.

In the bargaining session on the 12^th the CPSU NSW made a strong submission for the need for an improved flexi time clause.  We have not yet presented a specific proposal to the University for its consideration, but are currently developing one using feedback from our survey of members last week.

Finally, we are aware of the support among members for our proposal to remove or greatly increase the cap on redundancy payments.  The University is resisting this at the moment, but we intend to keep pushing for it throughout the bargaining process.

As always should you have any feedback to give concerning Enterprise Bargaining, feel free to contact our UNSW CPSU NSW branch president Alister Wareing , bargaining team member Warassamon Kate Brown or CPSU NSW organiser Chris Bird

If you are not yet a member of the CPSU NSW, you can join the CPSU NSW by going to www.cpsunsw.org.au.