University of Southern Queensland staff call on vice-chancellor Geraldine Mackenzie to come to the table as contract negotiations continue

UniSQ staff took to the streets of Toowoomba in a bid to bring the university’s vice-chancellor to the negotiating table, as talks over conditions further stall.

University of Southern Queensland staff have called on vice-chancellor Geraldine Mackenzie to come to the negotiating table to end prolonged contract negotiations, with union organisers warning they were prepared to scale up industrial action.

Dozens of UniSQ employees marched through the Toowoomba CBD on Thursday morning as part of a three-hour protected strike, holding signs expressing anger and disappointment towards management.

It was the latest public move to help secure a better deal in ongoing enterprise bargaining agreement talks between the university and the National Tertiary Education Union, which have dragged out for months and featured 22 negotiating sessions.

Staff at the University of Southern Queensland have held further strike action on November 9 along Ruthven Street to push for better conditions and job security measures as part of ongoing enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations with the institution.

It comes several weeks after members voted 93 per cent in favour of industrial action, which would include work stoppages, strikes, refusing to answer emails as well as not working outside the hours of 9am to 5pm.

The current offer includes a 16.5 per cent pay increase over five years, improved staff benefits and super contributions of 17 per cent.

NTEU’s UniSQ branch president Professor Andrea Lamont-Mills said the dispute was not about pay but rather two work condition issues.

Staff at the University of Southern Queensland have held further strike action on November 9 along Ruthven Street to push for better conditions and job security measures as part of ongoing enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations with the institution.

The union wants a “redundancy as a last resort” approach ratified within the EBA document, as well as the preservation of an internal review process for staff made redundant due to misconduct, long-term illness or poor performance.

The university has refused both items to this point.

“Our members are understanding of the university’s financial position, wages are not the issue,” Professor Lamont-Mills said.

“What we can’t accept is decreasing our working rights and conditions, which would be less than at other universities.

“Redundancy as a last resort is not in the current agreement, but I’ve been here for 25 years and I know that redundancy as a last resort has been the uni’s practice.”

Professor Lamont-Mills said Professor Mackenzie should lead negotiations, arguing the issue could be resolved before the end of the working week.

“We’re calling on vice-chancellor Geraldine Mackenzie to sit down with us and hash this out in a few hours — she’s a skilled negotiator so we want to sit down with her and get this agreement sorted,” she said.

Professor Andrea Lamont-Mills.

Professor Lamont-Mills also warned further industrial action could be on the cards, which she said would be more disruptive and potentially impact students.

“If there’s no movement (Friday), we’ll go back to members and the mood is to take other actions, but we’ll be guided by them,” she said.

“We are getting a strong message about the university holding out and we’re trying to be conciliatory and we understand their position, but our members want to be treated with respect.

“Both members and non-members are disgusted with how they’ve been treated.

“One member described it as a ‘slap in the face’, after everything staff did during Covid.”

In response to the strike, a university spokesman said UniSQ would go to the Fair Work Commission on Friday to help resolve the matter.

“The proposed agreement includes a range of improved staff benefits, from increased cultural and gender affirmation leave to protections for academic freedom, as well as more flexible working arrangements,” he said.

“The outstanding bargaining issues relate to NTEU demands for additional internal review steps in performance management and misconduct processes.

“The university has already put forward multi-step processes that protect staff from unfair decisions.

“The University of Southern Queensland has sought a conciliation process, which will occur on Friday, to bring the process to a close for the benefit of all our staff.”