La Trobe signs enterprise agreement

Further industrial action is anticipated during November as the National Tertiary Education Union tries to capitalise on a number of agreements that have been reached in recent weeks. Last week, La Trobe University announced it had reached agreement including a 16 per cent wage increase over four years. It follows on from a 17 per cent pay increase announced at Edith Cowan University in October. Monash has agreed to 16.5 per cent over four years. While all these agreements still need to be voted on by NTEU members, Sydney University recently became the first institution to have its EBA ratified with 97 per cent voting in favour of accepting the agreement. Ken McAlpine, senior industrial officer (strategy and policy) for the NTEU said agreements at Canberra, Deakin and Swinburne were all expected in the coming weeks. He said while it had not been decided which universities would engage in industrial action or when, it was likely to involve bans rather than strike action – although that hadn’t been ruled out for a couple of institutions. Ian Argall, executive director of the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association described the La Trobe, Monash and ECU agreements as “within the parameters we would expect”. Argall also said that positive changes in the economic outlook had helped with recent negotiations. “Recent figures suggest that the sort of pay increases that are being negotiated aren’t out of kilter with economic indicators like the CPI. A 4 per cent agreement six months ago would have seemed far riskier than entering to it now,” Argall said. Argall also said changes in government policy, including the unlocking of restrictions on the number of students that can be enrolled, were providing a more positive outlook in for universities. “I’m seeing throughout the higher education sector a fair degree of optimism,” he said. In addition to the 16 per cent pay increase over four years, the La Trobe agreement also included employment continuity for research-only staff after four years of continuous service; an increase to 36 weeks of paid maternity leave, up from 26 weeks; payment for sessional marking, at least 20 early career development fellowships, a 5 per cent reduction in the number of casual staff between 2009 and 2012 and a 25 per cent casual staff loading.