University of Southern Queensland workers back industrial action as pay negotiations falter
The union representing academics, administration and support staff say industrial action could start in the coming days in a bid to stop the university from actions which the union claims is stripping workers of crucial protection and conditions.
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University of Southern Queensland academics, administration and support staff have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action as enterprise bargain agreement negotiations falter.
In a protected action ballot on Friday, 93 per cent of the National Tertiary Education Union’s UniSQ members voted in support of 10 proposed industrial actions.
The actions include strikes, refusal to answer emails, work stoppages, refusal to work outside the hours of 9am-5pm and a ban on using the university’s online systems.
NTEU UniSQ branch president Professor Andrea Lamont-Mills claimed the university had proposed cuts to staff working conditions and employee protections during what had been a drawn-out negotiation to secure a new enterprise bargain agreement over the past year.
The university disputes these claims.
The key sticking points included a lack of clarity within the proposed EBA regarding workload models.
The union alleged that the university wanted workload models to be dealt with as policy and procedure and not protected by the EBA.
Professor Lamont-Mills said this would give the university the power to change workloads at a whim and without consultation.
“This is particularly important for academic staff and we are seeking to ensure that academic workloads are regulated,” she said.
Ms Lamont-Mills said academic staff were overloaded with teaching requirements, administration work and the pressure of their own research, which resulted in long hours put in to meet semester deadlines.
“We want workloads to be bound legally to ensure staff are protected,” she said.
The union was also concerned about efforts by the university they claim have the effect to remove the right of appeal that workers have when subject to a disciplinary decision for misconduct.
It wants better protections for staff who are unable to work due to long-term illness and a commitment from the university to convert all long-term casual staff to permanent roles if they are working in genuine permanent capacity.
A University of Southern Queensland spokeswoman said that management was committed to achieving an agreement and that it proposed a salary increase of 16.5 per cent over five years.
“The university is committed to improving conditions for all of our staff,” she said.
“The university is negotiating in good faith and is pleased with progress made in meetings this week.”
The spokeswoman added that the workload models were referred to in the current draft EBA.
“Regarding casualisation, we have existing processes for converting casual staff to ongoing positions, and we have also committed to an annual process for conversion to ongoing positions,” the spokeswoman said.
“In relation to termination for misconduct, the university has not removed the rights of staff to seek review of a termination for misconduct decision, and has proposed a fair and transparent process for managing misconduct which includes independent investigation.”
A fresh round of negotiations will be held on Wednesday and depending on the outcome, industrial action could start as soon as Thursday.
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