The CPSU is pleased to announce that the new UOW Enterprise Agreement has been drafted and will soon be published by UOW.
On Monday, 13 May 2019 the CPSU held a member’s meeting to endorse the new EA. The member’s in attendance overwhelmingly voted YES to support the agreement.
The agreement reached between the unions and UOW dealt with a number of issues which include (but not limited to):
Domestic and Family Violence Leave – we will now have 15 days stand-alone leave for this leave. Previously this leave was taken from our family leave allocation.
Cultural & Ceremonial Leave – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff will now have access to 5 days paid and 10 days unpaid leave.
Hours of Work & Shift Penalties – we worked with the university to allow an expansion in the span of hours for commercial activities that operate outside of weekday operations. The trade-off was that we gained shift penalty payments for casual staff who work outside of their nominated span of hours (previously they got the same pay rate 24/7). Shift penalties and overtime payments have been maintained.
Casual Employment – we strengthened the clause to give better conversion opportunities for casual staff, as well as a clearer definition of casual employment.
Fixed-term Employment – we strengthened this clause by confining fixed-term employment to certain categories. The trade-off was that the minimum period of fixed-term employment to be eligible for conversion to permanent was raised from 2 years 3 years. This concession is in-line with a similar clause in the academic EA. Ultimately, we came out of negotiations with a much stronger clause for professional staff.
Purchased Leave and Recreation Leave at Half Pay – the university has agreed in writing that pilot programs will be discussed and implemented through the JCC (Joint Consultative Committee). This will happen during the term of the new agreement.
Family Leave – this leave has been increased from 8 to 10 days per year. The Bereavement Leave component of Family Leave has been increased from 1 to 4 days.
Superannuation – UOW have agreed to changes in superannuation payments. UOW will pay 17% superannuation for all professional staff excluding casual employees. UOW will also pay 9.5% superannuation for the approved unpaid maternity component of staff parental leave. This is a sector first. Employer contributions to commence 1 June 2022 are:
17% fixed term regardless of length of contract
17% part time employees with a service fraction of less than 50%
SGC for periods of unpaid parental leave up to 12 months following the birth of the child(ren)
Dispute Resolution Procedure and Employee Consultation Representation – we have maintained our representation rights and ensured that these clauses stay within the enterprise agreement (not within UOW policy).
Redundancy & Redeployment – we have made improvements to severance payments and staff entitlements in this clause. There has been some changes regarding payments to over-45 years in age staff. We ensured that staff are better-off-overall when we agreed to severance payment changes. There are sweet incentives for staff who take voluntary redundancy. Staff who opt to look for employment within UOW during the deployment period will be better off. Staff who are made forcibly redundant will also be better off.
Recreation Leave – we agreed to reduce the amount of leave that is allowed to be accumulated from 40 days to 35 days. This was a trade-off for additional Partner Leave and an effort to be consistent with the academic EA.
Partner Leave – we won an increase in Partner Leave from 5 days to 10 days per year.
Pay
The CPSU has accepted the following pay offer from UOW:
June 2019 – $1,000 uplift to base salary on achieving a YES vote for the new EA
November 2019 – 1.3% pay increase
November 2020 – 2.0% pay increase
November 2021 – 2.5% pay increase
June 2022 – 1.7% pay increase
When the pay increases are annualised over the full term of the EA (expiry date to expiry date) we will have received 2% for each year (January 2018 to June 2022). This does not include the $1000 one-off cash payment that the CPSU won for staff in November 2018.
CPSU Member Endorsement
In light of the member’s support for the EA at the member’s meeting conducted on Monday, 13 May 2019, the CPSU is happy to endorse the new EA.
The University is scheduled to publish the finalised agreement by the end of the week. The EA will be on the UOW intranet for a period of 7 days, which will be followed by a voting period for all staff.
What’s next?
The University will put out the Agreement to all professional staff for a vote.
Provided the majority of staff vote YES on the agreement, the next and final step will be to refer the agreement to the Fair Work Commission for their approval.
For further information, please email:
Lisa Nelson –
Ben Trainor –
What can you do?
Give a copy of this bulletin to your colleagues.
Print this bulletin and put it up on your notice board.
