CPSU NSW delegates and industrial staff met with University of Technology representatives on 25 March to discuss issues facing members in the workplace and how their rights under the Enterprise Agreement (EA) are being respected and applied. The key issues are as below:
The union requested information on statistics around the rate of casual employment of professional staff and the status of the pause on creating ongoing roles.
The CPSU NSW raised the concern that the recent Information and Technology Unit, People’s Unit and Creative Industries Change Processes have resulted in the loss of a significant number of staff. The university confirmed casual staff only represent 9.92 per cent of the overall professional workforce. The union has asked for further updates on casual staffing at the remaining two Implementation Committee meetings.
The CPSU NSW also raised concerns about the way the university is implementing change plans, which differs to how it should be done under the Enterprise Agreement.
The union raised the continuing issue arising when roles are not filled as part of change processes and between change processes. These roles disappear from UTS’s records. In addition, organisational charts do not accurately represent the positions that disappear. In some cases where the work of the deleted roles is still required, it is pushed onto other roles.
The university has responded that staff should come forward with any concerns by using the Workload Management and Allocation framework in clause 71 of the EA. The university also stated organisational charts are a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of roles and teams before they are changed.
The CPSU NSW has argued that the requirements of clause 52 of the EA should not be treated as the bare minimum of consultation UTS management must have with affected workers.
University management should be making greater effort to review the accuracy of the organisational charts. Affected staff would then be appropriately informed about their workplace structures, compared to any proposed changes.
Your union also argued that consultation is a two-way street. While staff often give the university information on staffing numbers and roles in their areas between organisational changes, the university should not be expecting them to do this. The university also needs to make more effort to review role numbers and organisations both during organisational change processes and outside of this process.
There will be further discussion with the university’s Leadership Team to advise on what improvements and changes should be made to their application of the Change Management provisions of the EA.
The university has released a response paper to the feedback provided by the CPSU NSW and union members. The Leadership Team arranged a 31 March deadline to decide the financial markers for the initiative and will provide further information to the union in the coming weeks.
The Vice Chancellor will also be addressing the Operational Sustainability Initiative in a Town Hall meeting on 10 April 2025.
If you have any questions or want to contact us, you can:
Andreas Dalman
CPSU NSW UTS Branch President
Greg Hampshire
CPSU NSW UTS Branch Secretary
Jose Vasquez
CPSU NSW Organiser
Rubi Tabuteau
CPSU NSW Acting Industrial Officer
