Southern Cross University staff deal quashed by Fair Work Commission, worker union celebrates ‘massive win’

Southern Cross University has been found to have misled staff to have an enterprise agreement approved after being criticised for poor working conditions. Here’s what we know.

The Fair Work Commission full bench upheld the NTEU's appeal and quashed the initial approval of Southern Cross University's Enterprise Agreement.

A regional university has been found by Fair Work to have misled staff in order to have an enterprise agreement approved after being criticised for poor working conditions.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) determined Southern Cross University (SCU) led staff astray during a non-union voting ballot by offering a $750 sign-on bonus to those who supported the new pay and conditions agreement.

The university has campuses in northern NSW and on the Gold Coast.

According to the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), the proposed agreement stripped core conditions including job security, procedural fairness and natural justice, and also offered an inferior pay outcome.

The FWC found the university misled staff to get an enterprise agreement approved. File image.

The agreement was approved by Fair Work after a ballot win last year.

Sources within SCU said recognised academics from the schools of law and education, among others, have since left their roles due to the fiasco.

An NTEU appeal was heard by the full bench of the commission on October 18.

The Commission found SCU sent emails exclaiming a $750 sign-on bonus would be paid to all casual staff when a majority of staff voted in favour of the agreement.

The commission found the communications regarding the sign-on bonus were “misleading on their face” and the agreement was not “genuinely agreed”.

The commission said the bonus could reasonably be expected to have the effect of deceiving employees into voting for something which they would not otherwise have voted for.

The full bench upheld the NTEU’s appeal and quashed the decision to approve SCU’s enterprise agreement on Tuesday, October 31.

Southern Cross University vice chancellor Professor Tyrone Carlin said promised pay increases won’t be affected by the Fair Work Commission decision.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Tyrone Carlin expressed concern for the uncertainty the decision created for staff.

He said the decision would not impact pay increases in relation to backdated salary increases.

“We said that we would provide these, we did, and we stand by that,” he said.

“Nothing changes our fundamental commitment that the arrangements that we ultimately make with respect to any future enterprise agreement for Southern Cross University should be governed by the needs and priorities of our people and our institution.”

NTEU general secretary Dr Damien Cahill said the Commission decision was a “massive win” for staff.

He hoped SCU would “address its relationship with its staff and their union” and return to the bargaining table

“They can now start working with us on a fair deal that is sustainable and keeps pace with pay and conditions across the higher education sector,” he said.