Unions strike out on pay deals

There is little denying the effect industrial action has had at Western Sydney University.

In the past 12 months, the university’s National Tertiary Education Union branch has twice voted to undertake protected industrial action, with its log of claims to the university having included a request for a 12 per cent salary increase split over two years.

Other branches of the NTEU’s NSW division, including that covering University of Sydney, also voted in favour of such action in April, with branches covering The University of Newcastle and University of Technology Sydney respectively following suit in June and July.

Those branches have all embarked on varying lengths of work stoppages in the past six weeks.

Should they achieve a breakthrough in discussions, WSU will almost certainly be a test case for how effective industrial action may prove during protracted negotiations.

Staff at that university are now in line for a pay bump of between 14.2 and 16.3 per cent split over two years, weighted to lower-paid staff, alongside a slate of other improved conditions, such as newly instated gender affirmation leave, included in the deal.

The union could arguably have won a lot more, as the NTEU celebrated wins on job security, salaries and superannuation, while noting little about improved intellectual freedom or workload provisions, as the branch’s log of claims requested.

No matter, as at least a dozen other branches have also voted in favour of taking protected industrial action this year, should they also fail to strike a deal at the bargaining table.

They include five of Queensland’s seven public universities, as well as Australian Catholic University, which covers campuses in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and University of Tasmania, which, along with universities in NSW, equates to branches covering about a quarter of the country’s universities.

None of Western Australia’s branches have so far lodged similar action with the industrial action umpire.

That’s not for lack of trying, with the NTEU’s Curtin University branch handed a defeat earlier this month after the Fair Work Commission ruled questions included in its protected action ballot, such as those authorising a ban on responding to phone calls or attending campus, were “too ambiguous”.

Stacked alongside a failed bid to seek an administrative pay increase separate from bargaining, which fell flat in August, it amounted to the second loss for the Curtin branch in as many months.

The commission’s deputy president, Melanie Binet, allowed for just three of the branch’s 10 proposed questions to be put to members, covering varying lengths of work stoppages and preparation for events.

That’s despite ballots for other university branches polling members on similarly worded questions.

In her ruling, Commissioner Binet cited precedent in a dispute between the Transport Workers Union and Prosegur, in which it was found employees must understand the tasks they would forgo should they choose to strike.

“If the questions are ambiguous or lack clarity, industrial action taken pursuant to the protected action ballot may be found not to be protected with adverse consequences for bargaining representatives and their members,” she said.

That decision was later overturned on appeal.

Negotiations between the tertiary education union and universities come as inflation in Perth tracked 7.4 per cent in FY22, outpacing a national increase of 6.1 per cent and by far the biggest percentage increase reported across Australia’s capital cities.

Public servants have been among the most vocal to agitate for a pay bump in recent months following years of capped increases after Labor’s election win in 2017.

Figures from major unions, including United Workers Union and CPSUSCSA, have protested on the steps of parliament house in that time, arguing the state government’s pay offers have not been sufficient to meet rising inflation stresses.

Premier Mark McGowan has since called the state government’s latest proposal, set to cost $3.3 billion, a “generous” and “final” offer.

State School Teachers Union of WA members in June accepted a previous offer of 2.75 per cent pay increase over two years.

That was later revised to 3 per cent following an update to the state government’s pay offer in August.