WORKING TOGETHER
Update on Negotiations
1st May 2009
Until recently, the University and the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) had been meeting regularly to negotiate a new Enterprise Agreement for staff at the University of Melbourne.
The University was recently informed of the NTEU's application for a protected action ballot. A protected action ballot is a vote by members of the NTEU on whether or not to take industrial action against the University and is a necessary precondition to taking industrial action. While the University acknowledges that a protected action ballot does not always result in industrial action being taken, the NTEU would not be seeking a ballot if it did not intend to take industrial action.
The University has a long-standing position that it will not negotiate under the threat of industrial action. As the protected action ballot clearly constitutes a threat of industrial action, the University will therefore not negotiate with the NTEU until this threat is lifted or has passed.
The University is looking forward to recommencing negotiations once this process has run its course. In the meantime, the University's Enterprise Bargaining team will continue working behind the scenes to ensure that when the parties do return to the table, we can all work towards a swift resolution to the bargaining process.
In the meantime, the terms and conditions of employment outlined in the University of Melbourne Enterprise Agreement 2006 (.pdf) will continue to apply until it is replaced by a new Agreement.
There is a lot of information circulating at the moment about the NTEU's application for a ?protected action ballot?. To many staff, the details of these actions may be unclear. To better inform staff about the protected action ballot and industrial action, the EB website now includes a section on what this mean for the University and for you.