Well another week has finished and your enterprise agreement is still not completed. Many of you may be frustrated wondering where your much-needed pay rise is, and to be frank, you deserve to be.
You may recall that University management sought the assistance of the Fair Work Commission back in June to help finalise the last few and relatively minor outstanding points of difference in the agreement. Your Union, having no concerns about the oblique matters being discussed and with CPSU NSW members having already endorsed the agreement, attended these negotiations primarily as an observer but one who was urging all parties to get a move on.
These facilitated discussions at the Commission were a success, with an agreement being made on 9 June 2023. What we have been witness to since has probably benn the slowest progress since the construction of the Great Wall of China (and that took 2000 years).
The academics union has insisted on painstakingly reviewing every line of a document we have been privy to for almost two years, and is yet to seek the endorsement of the agreement from either its national leadership or its members at the University. Meanwhile the University has lacked the courage to advance the agreement without their endorsement.
Whilst a lecturer on a six-figure salary may not be feeling cost of living pressures, we know you are.
Which is why your Union the CPSU NSW is continuing to advocate for the agreement to go to ballot and be approved, so that the deserved pay rise we have negotiated is in your pocket….proto.
Last week the University referred the matter back to the Commission to secure a deadline for approval. The CPSU NSW will be in attendance and arguing that all parties have had enough time to negotiate, it is now time to act.
We will keep members advised of a timetable when and if it is finalised.
