JCU staff may have to wait more than a year for pay increase
A union has called on James Cook University staff to vote against a plan that management says will save 70 jobs.
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A union has called on James Cook University staff to vote against a plan that management says will save 70 jobs.
National Tertiary Education Union members at James Cook University met yesterday to campaign against a proposal to vary university staff’s Enterprise Agreement and defer a 2 per cent salary increase due this month until December 31 next year.
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The proposal, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and not agreed with by unions, was put to staff late Wednesday with a vote on the variation expected by Friday next week.
JCU branch president Dr Jonathan Strauss said the union was campaigning against the variation because it did not deliver the job security achieved in similar variations at other universities and the negative affect on workers’ retirement incomes.
“Staff are willing to make sacrifices, but they need to know that what is being asked of them is necessary and proportional,” Mr Strauss said.
“James Cook simply hasn’t been as badly affected by the loss of international students as CQU or some of the big metropolitan universities.”
Queensland division secretary Michael McNally said staff know a rough deal when they see one.
“Other universities, for example, have maintained superannuation contributions in their variations so that retirement incomes aren’t affected.”
A spokesman for James Cook University said the university believed the Enterprise Agreement Variation was fair and reasonable given the circumstances and in the context of hundreds of jobs being lost across the university sector.
The university’s proposed EAV includes: Staff to defer a 2 per cent pay increase from September 30 to December 31, 2021, staff to take additional leave over Christmas 2020 and 2021 and voluntary flexibilities around purchasing leave.
The proposal is estimated to save 70 jobs.
“JCU needs to reduce its forecast budget deficit to a manageable level,” the spokesman said.
Originally published as JCU staff may have to wait more than a year for pay increase