The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) will recommend Union Collective Agreements to its members at Edith Cowan University that will provide the following:

• A 17% pay rise (18.3% compounded) by June 2012
• Improved rights and pay for casuals
• Improved superannuation benefits for casual and fixed-term staff
• Improved employment opportunities for members of the Indigenous community
• Improved conditions for contract research staff
• Improved job security by restrictions on the use of fixed-term contracts
• Strengthened reclassification procedures for general staff
• Restoration of union rights

“We are proud of what we have achieved with these agreements,” Dr Geoff Lummis, NTEU Acting ECU Branch President said today. “The NTEU and ECU Management have worked together to deliver significant benefits to staff.”

The agreements will see restoration of employment standards lost in 2005 when the Howard Government legislated for industry specific restrictions on union activity and collective bargaining.

WA Division Secretary Dr Lyn Bloom noted that “These agreements demonstrate that the NTEU can work together with University Managements to deliver good outcomes for both the University and its staff and students”. Dr Bloom called on the Managements at Curtin and Murdoch universities to follow suit and deliver fair and equitable new collective agreements at those institutions. “The NTEU is about preserving high quality educational outcomes for students and this can only be achieved by university staff having fair and equitable pay and working conditions”.

For further information contact:

Dr Geoff Lummis, Acting President, Edith Cowan University Branch: 0410 032 563

Dr Lyn Bloom, WA Division Secretary: 0417 930 113

NTEU members at Murdoch University met today and voted unanimously to take industrial action. Members across the three Murdoch campuses voted overwhelmingly in favour of a full day strike on Wednesday September 16.

This will be followed by rolling bans on work-related telephone and email correspondence the following week.

“We will continue with this campaign until Murdoch Management offers its staff an appropriate salary increase and moves to improve working conditions” said Janice Dudley NTEU Murdoch Branch President. “Quality staff deserve quality pay andconditions and it’s in the interests of the whole of the university, including students, for Murdoch Management to recognise this”.

The Murdoch University Student Guild has expressed strong support for the NTEU’s campaign.

The strike on September 16 will coincide with industrial actions at many universities around the country.

For comment please contact Janice Dudley on 0403 380 667

Or Dr Lyn Bloom, WA Division Secretary on 0417 930 113.

The latest news about collective bargaining at Deakin University, with a report in The Australian that Deakin University management have reached a Heads of Agreement with the NTEU.

DEAKIN University has locked in a 16 per cent pay rise over four years to April 2012 in an agreement with the academic union that is likely to set the standard for further university wage deals in Victoria.

Deakin has also agreed to review the operation of its newly adopted trimester academic year while the National Tertiary Education Union has agreed to drop its legal action against the new arrangements.

The deal also includes improved conditions for casual staff.

The 16 per cent pay rise includes a 2 per cent increase granted in April, but Deakin has also agreed an additional sign-on bonus of $1,000 for full time staff, with a pro rata payment for part timers and casuals.

The increase compares with last month’s wages deal at the University of Sydney where pay will rise by 17 per cent over the period from March 2009 to January 2012.

“It sets a standard against which other agreements will be measured and we’d be looking to secure other agreements as soon as possible,” the NTEU’s Victorian secretary Matthew McGowan said.