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Key Provisions

Swinburne University of Technology, Academic & General Staff
Enterprise Agreement 2009

What happens with the old EBA?

The Swinburne University of Technology, Academic & General Staff Enterprise Agreement 2009 will replace the Swinburne University of Technology, Academic and General Staff Certified Agreement 2006-8.

When will the new Agreement start?

The new Agreement will commence after a majority of employees who vote have voted ‘yes’ for it, and 7 days after it is given approval by Fair Work Australia. The Agreement will be lodged for approval with Fair Work Australia when a staff “yes” vote has occurred and has a nominal expiry date of 30 June 2012.

Who will the new Agreement cover?

The Agreement covers all academic and general staff directly employed by the University but does not cover:

  • TAFE Teachers (they are covered by a separate agreement);
  • Staff with terms and conditions of employment governed by an AWA

What are the salary increases?

  • 3% March 2009 (already paid)
  • 2% March 2010
  • 2% September 2010
  • 2% March 2011
  • 3% September 2011
  • 4% March 2012

In addition to these payments, the University will pay all fixed-term and ongoing academic and general staff employed at the time the new EA is approved by staff a one-off payment of $1000 (pro rata payment for part-time staff) (Appendix 1).

What benefits do casual academic staff receive?

Payment of casual marking
Other than marking that is undertaken during a lecture, tutorial or clinical session, all marking completed by a sessional academic will be paid for at the prescribed marking rate (Appendix 2, Cl 2.4).

Early Career Development Fellowships (ECDFs)
A number of ECDF fixed-term positions will be established and advertised which current casual academic staff may apply for. These are full time Level A teaching and research or research-only academic positions. They are available for 2 years, to staff who:

  • have been awarded a PhD and have performed casual teaching work at Swinburne in 2 entire teaching periods over the past 3 years, or
  • have been an active PhD candidate for at least 2 years and have performed casual teaching work at Swinburne in 3 entire teaching periods over the past 3 years.
    Successful applicants will be selected from eligible candidates on academic merit (Cl 9.2.5).

Long service leave
Casual service (where the service is regular and systematic) shall count for the purposes of qualifying service and determination of entitlement to long service leave (Cl 39.2).

Casual Loading increase
Casual loading will increase to 25%. (Appendix 2)

Superannuation
Employer superannuation contributions will be extended from 3% to 9% for all sessional staff (irrespective of meeting the $450 per month threshold)

Extended Leave Entitlements
Casual employees will now be entitled to unpaid carer’s, bereavement, maternity and adoption leave.

Usage of casual staff
The University has committed to a target reduction on the number of FTE casuals positions as a proportion of the total academic staff FTE by 1% over the nominal life of this Agreement (Cl 9.2.3).

Are there new provisions for the engagement of Fixed Term staff?

This Agreement sees the reintroduction of limitations on the use of fixed term employment. Fixed term employment is permitted in the following circumstances (Cl 13.6):

  • Specific task or project
  • Research
  • Replacement employee
  • Recent professional practice required
  • Pre-retirement contract
  • Fixed-term contract employment subsidiary to studentship
  • Disestablishment work area
  • New organisational area
  • Apprenticeships or Traineeships

Can fixed term contract staff convert to ongoing?

There is a limited right for a fixed term employee to convert to an ongoing status subject to the following criteria:

  • the employee has been employed by the University for three consecutive years;
  • the employee was appointed through an open and competitive selection process;
  • there is a record of satisfactory performance in the position;
  • the University has an ongoing need for the position.

(Cl 9.2.6).

What changes are there to Superannuation?

Extension of 17% employer superannuation contributions to:

  • Eligible TAFE general staff; and
  • Part-Time staff on less than 50% fraction who have a contract greater than 12 months

What commitments have been made for Indigenous staff?

  • Implementation of the indigenous employment strategy
  • Increasing employment to 0.6% of the University FTE staff complement and use best endeavours to achieve the same fraction (at least 0.6% of FTE) across each mode of employment.
  • Dedicated Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting to be convened on a regular basis, with representatives of the local Indigenous Communities entitled to attend all meetings of the dedicated JCC.

What provisions apply for academic workloads?

The new Agreement contains a fair but flexible academic workload provision which provides that Managers in consultation with staff will be responsible for the appropriate and equitable distribution of workload within their management units. It includes:

  • Statements of commitment to managing workloads (Cl 15)
  • JCC role to review workload models
  • Allocation of workload models (Cl 15.1.2)
  • Dispute Resolution process (Cl 15.3)

What about Academic Development?

An Outside Studies Program (OSP) policy will be developed and implemented in 2010 to enable academic employees to pursue a structured program of sustained scholarship, research and associated developmental activities, outside the University.  All academic employees holding a continuing or fixed-term appointment will be eligible to apply for OSP after three years continuous service in accordance with University OSP Policy (Cl 56).

What about PDR?

The new agreement provides for a clause which commits to continue to trial the PDR process and to work collaboratively with staff and the NTEU in the further development of a fair and sound process.

When does consultation on change occur?

The new Agreement contains a coherent and workable managing change clause in much the same terms as the existing clause. The clause provides for consultation with affected staff and the NTEU before implementation of any significant change (Cl 53.2)

Are there any changes to the dispute resolution procedures?

The new dispute resolution procedure seeks to resolve issues quickly and without the need for external tribunals or court involvement in the first instance (Cl 52).  

What are the changes to Parental Leave?

The new agreement provides for greater flexibility for parental leave which includes the ability for a staff member to:

  • Agree to return to work during the period of parental leave (38 weeks at 0.6 salary or unpaid parental leave) to a maximum fraction of 100% (Cl 38.7.8);
  • Use accrued leave entitlements to supplement the 38 weeks @ 60% component of  parental leave (Cl 38.13.1)
  • Request to return part-time until the child reaches school age (Cl 38.11.3).

What are the changes to Long Service Leave?

In addition to the extended provisions for casual sessional staff, the new agreement provides an entitlement for staff to be eligible to pro rata long service leave upon resignation, retirement or redundancy after seven (7) years service (Cl 39.8).

What are the changes to Probation?

The new agreement reincludes the ability:

  • To extend the probation period by up to 4 weeks
  • For Academic staff with a probation period of 24 months to seek confirmation after serving 12 months probation (Cl 14.2).