University of Canberra offer staff nine per cent pay boost over three years

The first year will deliver 3.9 per cent pay rise backdated to the start of 2013.

The UC believes it is the first university to seek to peg staff wages to Commonwealth income through the Higher Education Grants Index which is based on a combination of the Professional, Scientific and Technical wage index (75 per cent) and the Consumer Price Index (25 per cent).

But the NTEU described the move yesterday as “unprecedented across Australia’s industrial relations landscape” and accused management of being wildly provocative.

ACT division secretary Stephen Darwin said the union would immediately seek a ballot for protected action under Fair Work Australia and would launch a campaign on Wednesday urging staff to vote no to the offer.

The offer includes a 3.9 per cent increase this year, 3 per cent in 2014 and an estimated 2.4 per cent the year after.

The NTEU has refused to sign off on the deal on the basis that the indexation would tie staff to an unknown figure as the index has not been calculated for 2015.

“It is unprecedented that management would ask staff to take them on trust that they will pay whatever they get from the Commonwealth. We do not even know whether the new government will continue using this index,” Mr Darwin said

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Nick Klomp, who has lead the negotiations, said he believed staff would overwhelmingly accept the offer, which will put them even further ahead of their colleagues at the Australian National University.

After threatening strike action, ANU staff signed four-year agreement with 3 per cent increases each year.

Professor Klomp said UC salaries would be in the top ten in the country.

“This arrangement means salaries are directly linked to the university’s major source of income. Increased funding is passed on in increased salaries,” Professor Klomp said.

To agree to a higher percentage than was covered in Commonwealth funding would lead to cost cutting and job losses, he warned.

Outside the agreement, the UC also proposed to bring in a bonus scheme where - once planned underlying margins are achieved - a remaining surplus of $1 to 2.5 million was shared equally among all staff, except senior managers.

This could mean annual bonuses of around $1000 to $2500 per staff member.

“As the union’s ACT division secretary has noted, our salaries are already higher than salaries paid at many other universities, including others in the ACT,” Professor Klomp said.

“We want our staff to share in the university’s success, but also share some of the risk that now exists in the higher education sector. Unfortunately it has become clear that the national NTEU office will continue to resist such innovation, despite the generosity of the offer.”

Earlier in the year staff were given an interim 2 per cent administrative pay increase. The 2013 pay-rise of 3.9 per cent will take this into account, but will be back-dated to the beginning of the calendar year, which will see staff receive a significant lump sum payment. The 2014 increase of 3.0 per cent will then come into effect in January.

The pay offer means the salary for an assistant professor at the top of the salary range will go from $117,325 a year in the final pay of 2012 to $125,558 in the first pay of 2014. A professional staff member on a UC level seven salary will go from $80,307 to $85,942 in the same period.

Other changes to the staff agreement agreed during the negotiations include the goal of doubling the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, the offer of leave to staff who are victims of domestic violence, the opportunity to choose to ‘cash out’ up to two weeks’ leave where eight weeks or more have been accrued and further professional development for staff

In line with the Fair Work Act, staff will have seven days to consider the new agreement before a three day voting period, which opens at 8am on November 20 and closes at 6pm on November 22.