On Tuesday 19 January 2010 NTEU representatives had a full day EB meeting with University representatives, which was conducted in a generally positive and constructive manner.
While progress was made in resolving some outstanding clauses there are still a significant number of matters that are not close to resolution. A brief summary of the topics discussed follows:
Senior Staff Contracts
The management proposal to extend Senior Staff Contracts down to Heads of Schools and Branch Heads was extensively discussed and remains an area of significant disagreement, though the discussion did clarify the respective points of difference between each side, notably the philosophical and industrial issues as to whether Heads of School are simply line managers.
Disputes/Reviews and Staff Complaints
There was a useful combined discussion on Disputes/Reviews and Staff Complaints and there is now agreement in principle (subject to drafting) to retain Review Committees separately for matters such as promotion/reclassification, unsatisfactory performance/misconduct, staff complaints, redundancy and redeployment. The disputes clause requires further negotiation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Employment
After considerable discussion we appear to be closer to agreement on a strategy for increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment and on the establishment of a representative monitoring committee.
PDR
A considerable amount of time was spent on this topic as the NTEU is strongly opposed to linking PDR with unsatisfactory performance. Considerable progress was made and our respective positions were clarified. We believe we are close to agreement about removing management’s proposed link between PDR and unsatisfactory performance. The NTEU is to propose a definition of what constitutes unsatisfactory performance.
The drafting group will continue to work on detailed clauses and we have proposed a further full day bargaining meeting near the end of February 2010.
