Colleagues

Further to the email issued by Louise Palmer as acting DVC and Director TAFE on 23 August, I now write to all Teaching Staff to advise of the proposed next Teacher pay rise and Enterprise Bargaining arrangements with the AEU.

The Victorian TAFE Association (VTA) delegation including 3 TAFE CEOs met with the Australian Education Union (AEU) on 22 and 30 August and again on 5 September.  The VTA delegation outlined to the AEU the TAFE
sector management proposal as approved by the State Government on 21 August.  The AEU also tabled their claim and the VTA has responded to the key elements of the AEU claim.

KEY FEATURES OF EMPLOYER OFFER TO THE AEU:

SALARY INCREASES
* Salary increases of 3.25% per annum over the 3 year term of the proposed Multi Business Agreement (MBA) consistent with the State Government wages policy.

PRESERVATION & PROTECTION OF CONDITIONS
* Preservation and protection of Award conditions and the prior Multi Employer Certified Agreement (MECA) conditions (the current Agreement) including the associated Memorandum of Understanding in a comprehensive all inclusive new MBA rather than the current separate Award and Agreement.

This is designed to enshrine and protect Award conditions which could otherwise become unenforceable.  There have been some minor variations proposed but only as is required by Federal Legislation and the Workplace Authority to remove what is now illegal/prohibited content.

PRESERVATION OF CURRENT TIME ALLOWANCES & CONDITIONS OF WORK OUTSIDE
ORDINARY HOURS
* Preservation of the existing MECA Schedules 3 and 4 currently in operation that relate to Swinburne arrangements for Time Allowance Arrangements and Additional or Alternate Work Outside of Ordinary Hours Arrangements.  These remain unchanged.

ACCESS TO LSL EARLIER
* Access to accrued Long Service Leave entitlement after 7 years service rather than the current 10 years.

ADDITIONAL MATERNITY & ADOPTION LEAVE
* An entitlement to 14 weeks paid Maternity and Adoption Leave rather than the current 12 weeks.

SWINBURNE SPECIFIC ARRANGEMENTS REINTRODUCED
* Reintroduction where appropriate of the specific arrangements that operated from 2000 to 2003 under the Swinburne University of Technology TAFE Teachers' Certified Agreement 2000 that were agreed to at the time by the AEU and teaching staff via a vote on those arrangements when the Agreement was made.

VOLUNTARY REMUNERATION PACKAGING OF MUTUAL BENEFIT
* An extension to all teachers of the ability to enter a voluntary agreement for an Overall Total Remuneration Package which is currently limited to teachers who work overseas.  This arrangement would enable teachers and the University to package up varied employment conditions in return for extra salary.

The salary package could not be less than the teacher is entitled to receive when applying all the terms of the Award and Multi Business Agreement.  This arrangement would be by a written agreement, and would provide for an increased Superannuation salary for the teacher whilst providing some flexibility for the University.

I emphasise that such arrangement would be purely voluntary and that an internal no disadvantage process is outlined in the VTA proposal to the AEU.

SUPERANNUATION SALARY PACKAGING - MEMBERS OF REVISED & NEW SUPERANNUATION SCHEMES
* The proposal that the VTA put to the AEU includes that TAFE Teaching Staff who are members of the Revised and New Superannuation Schemes be declared by the State Government as Eligible Salary Sacrifice Contributors.  The State Government only makes such declarations as part of Enterprise Agreement processes.  This means that members of those superannuation funds would have the ability, if they choose, to salary sacrifice into their superannuation schemes, which is an ability that they do not currently have.

IN SUMMARY
Swinburne, together with all other Victorian TAFE providers, through the VTA, have offered to  the AEU a non ambit, practical, pragmatic Multi Business Agreement that provides for salary increases, numerous advantages to Teaching staff and a voluntary flexibility that will be of mutual benefit to teaching staff and the University should a teacher and
the University wish to enter the voluntary and rewarding arrangement. 

QUICK IMPLEMENTATION
The offer has been made with the intent of achieving a speedy outcome with the AEU, to provide the opportunity for a ballot of all TAFE sector teaching staff on accepting the Agreement and concluding the complex legal processes to lodge the Agreement with the Workplace Authority as soon as is practical.  This would mean the associated agreement salary increases would be able to be paid to teaching staff as soon as is legally possible.

FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SALARY INCREASES
I would emphasise that of the 3.25% salary increases proposed per annum, the State Government will contribute 2.5% for recurrently funded staff.  The University has been required to demonstrate service delivery improvements to the State Government that equate to the 0.75% difference for recurrently funded staff and is required to fund the entire 3.25% per annum for staff deemed allocated to commercial/fee for service work.

The VTA has also outlined to the AEU that, consistent with Government policy, we are prepared to consider increases above 3.25% per annum where demonstrated new productivity proposals are articulated in the MBA.  We have requested that if the AEU would like to progress discussions for higher payments, we welcome their suggestions on
proposed productivity initiatives that can be implemented at each TAFE provider.

I will continue to keep staff informed of the progress of discussions between the University, the VTA and the AEU.

Alistair Crozier