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Ancora Imparo

25 May 2005

In an address on 29 April, the Minister for Workplace Relations, Mr Kevin Andrews, announced specific requirements for universities to qualify for the 5 per cent increase in the Commonwealth Grant Scheme for 2006 and 7.5 per cent in 2007. These included a requirement to offer Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to all employees, whether full-time or casual, employed after 29 April and to all other staff by 31 August 2006.

Those universities operating under technically expired Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (EBAs) are required to have new certified agreements complying with a range of conditions signed by 30 September 2005. Monash University, along with 25 other universities or higher education providers, is in this group.

Those universities with current signed EBAs would be required to have new compliant EBAs in place by 31 August 2006. Full details of the requirements in order for a certified agreement to conform have not been released and will not be released until June. However, it has been indicated that there will be the following general requirements.

  • Choice in agreement-making -- employees must have genuine choice and flexibility in agreement-making, with all employees employed after 29 April offered AWAs and to all other employees AWAs offered by 31 August 2006.

  • Direct relationship with employees -- the workplace agreements, policies and practices must provide direct consultation between employees and the university on workplace relations and human resources matters. The involvement of third parties representing employees must only occur if requested by an affected employee. In addition, workplace relations consultative committees and associated committee processes must include direct employee involvement.

  • Workplace flexibility -- the workplace agreements, policies and practices must facilitate and promote fair and flexible arrangements. They are not to inhibit the capacity of the university and its employees to respond to changing circumstances and must not limit or restrict the university's ability to make decisions and implement change in respect to course offerings and associated staffing requirements, including not placing limitations on the forms and mix of employment arrangements. Moreover, the workplace agreements must be simple, flexible and principle-based documents which avoid excessive detail and prescription.

  • Productivity and performance -- the university's workplace agreements, policies and practices must support organisational productivity and performance. They must include a fair and transparent performance management scheme which rewards high-performing individual staff and must also include efficient processes for managing poor performing staff.

  • Freedom of association -- universities must not use Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funds to pay union staff salaries or fund union facilities and activities and must neither encourage nor discourage union membership.

I do not welcome this unnecessary singling out of universities for the early trialling of industrial relations reform proposals. Moreover, linking the CGS increases to the new requirements ignores the agreements enshrined in legislation in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 where such rigorous workplace-relations changes were excluded, and the CGS increases were expressly not linked to requirements of this nature. New legislation will be required to reverse this, but with the Government's control of the Senate from 1 July, it will certainly be able to enact this.

I, along with the some other vice-chancellors, have met with Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson and Mr Andrews to explain some of the difficulties with the new legislation. It is particularly difficult to comply by the required date when detailed requirements have not been issued.

The university is committed to achieving the best outcome that it possibly can for its staff. We recognise that the quality of the university and all our aspirations in research and education are dependent on having the highest quality staff, committed to the university. To achieve this, we wish to offer the best employment conditions we are able to afford.

We are keen to work with the NTEU in a cooperative and positive way. We cannot afford to forgo the extra funding in the Commonwealth Grant Scheme. To do this would inevitably mean that we would not be able to achieve the salary increases and other benefits articulated in the Heads of Agreement without significant job losses. The NTEU has indicated a willingness to work with us, and we are hopeful that the best possible outcome can be achieved.

Richard Larkins