News

CPSU NSW BARGAINING UPDATE No.3

UTS EB9 Bargaining Meeting No. 3 was conducted over a two hour Zoom call on Tuesday 17 August 2021.

The University finalised the budget briefing from the Chief Financial Officer. UTS has considered two scenarios for International borders re-opening: Spring 2022 and Autumn 2023. It is clear that, under the current Covid-19 circumstances, unless the Federal Government changes how higher education is funded, the finances of UTS will be hit hard.

The meeting then discussed the Scope of Agreement and coverage. The CPSU NSW clearly stated our preference for separate Professional and Academic Staff agreements. This is primarily because:

• Only Professional staff should be deciding on conditions and remuneration for professional staff.
• Professional staff have unique priorities and interests.
• Bargaining around a single agreement has the potential to cause delays in negotiating and ratifying an agreement.
• A single agreement wipes a clear baseline to our current agreement, effectively forcing a fight to simply include existing conditions which have been stripped through simplification.

It is worth noting UTS drafted the provided Single Agreement prior to receiving the CPSU NSW (and NTEU’s) Log of Claims. It is unlikely that UTS has seriously considered the CPSU NSW Log of Claims. We understand that unilaterally proposing a single agreement that seriously undermines the conditions of professional staff prior to giving adequate and proper consideration of our LOC is troubling. This single agreement will have a long term negative impact on Professional Staff conditions which will be very difficult to reverse in future enterprise bargaining rounds.

The CPSU NSW remains committed to bargaining in good faith with UTS. We will continue to represent the interests of all professional staff during bargaining.

The next UTS EB9 meeting is scheduled for two hours over Zoom on Tuesday 31 August 2021.

CPSU NSW meeting

All Professional Staff are invited to a meeting at 12.30pm on Thursday 26 August .

This is an important meeting for all Professional Staff to attend. Not only can you hear your bargaining reps’ concerns, but they can listen to your feedback.

Please register HERE

The union will be asking you to join in action taken should management take a firm stand.

Now more than ever Professional Staff must be strong and united. We will continue to keep you informed through meetings and other activities in the near future to keep you, the membership, engaging and informed of UTS EB9 negotiations.

If you know someone who not a member, now is the time for them to join the Professional Staff union HERE.

Follow the CPSU NSW on Facebook HERE.

Stand with us today!

Professional Staff: Worth Every Cent!

UTS CPSU NSW Branch Committee

President
Rosa Bow

Vice President
Mark Christopher

Secretary
Greg Hampshire

Assistant Secretary
Andreas Dalman

Membership Registrar
Thomas Dobson

Women’s Officer
Fleur Sargent

WHS Officer
Michael Soo

Branch Delegate
Linda Xiao