Enterprise Bargaining Update

The University will commence Enterprise Bargaining with the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) for two days on Tuesday 31 October 2017 and Wednesday 1 November 2017. Additional meetings will then be arranged as required.

The NTEU and the CPSU have provided the University with their Log of Claims and the University has issued our response. These documents can be viewed on the website Enterprise Bargaining 2017.

The University is seeking an agreement that:

• Provides salary increases to staff that are sustainable and are aligned with the CPI. ACU supports a notional salary increase of no more than the CPI of 1.9% (All groups CPI June Qtr 2016 to June Qtr 2017) per annum over the life of the four (4) year agreement 2017 to 2021;
• Builds on the options for the University to offer further flexibility in employment conditions for staff and recognise unique individual needs and the needs of the University;
• Delivers a Plain English agreement that is readily understood by staff and management and with streamlined processes. Accordingly, the University seeks to review the scope and continuation of committees that are associated with a number of processes in the agreement;
• Maintains the current provisions of Academic Working Arrangements with minor adjustments to streamline process. Please note as part of the University’s ongoing review of policy, adjustments to workload allocations from the Academic Workload Policy are currently being considered by the University;
• Continues to support employment strategies with regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to achieve population parity at ACU;
• Meets the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) for staff, and
• Re-affirms the University’s commitment to consult both the NTEU and CPSU on matters that pertain to the employment relationship with staff.

The University looks forward to a productive Enterprise Bargaining period and I will continue to keep you informed as the process progresses via staff emails, the Staff Bulletin and the Enterprise Bargaining 2017 website.