NTEU UC Bargaining Update

Professional Staff issues discussed with good progress, but UC Management against standalone Reproductive Health Leave

Yesterday was our final bargaining meeting of the year and was a chance to discuss some new issues, but also to have a review of items from the previous two meetings. It was great to get into some professional staff-specific issues – we’re making good progress on getting an effective reclassification clause with a tighter process and clear timelines. We also had productive discussions on career development, including improving broadbanding. While the discussion of career progression was good though, there appears to be differences of opinion on professional development.

Job security concerns in relation to fixed-term and casual conversion remain unresolved and we're disappointed with UC Management's position on Reproductive Health Leave. We need to see movement on these issues from UC Management in the new year.

Professional development

Professional development (PD) has been highlighted as a key concern for our members – both for academic and professional staff. This relates to specific roles, but also to new ways of working (one of the big issues is obviously the emergence of AI). There is a widespread view that professional development opportunities are hard to access, and questions about whether ‘PD Week’ is the best mechanism. This has not only been feedback we’ve received through member consultation, but was clearly reflected in UC’s recent Pulse survey. However, UC Management’s view was that UC’s professional development opportunities are highly resourced and utilised. Needless to say, that was surprising to a lot of staff reps in the room…

It may well be that PD is highly resourced at UC (we’ve let UC Management know we’d be interested in discussing this more), but even so, the feedback indicates there are problems with implementation. If UC is resourcing professional development, it may be possible to have constructive discussions about how, to ensure that it is going to where it is needed. As we discuss workloads in meetings next year, we’ll also need to ensure that sufficient time is available for staff to participate. We’d love you to hear from you on your experiences of accessing PD at UC – email us at uc@nteu.org.au!

Reproductive Health

Perhaps the most disappointing part of the day was UC Management’s response on Reproductive Health Leave. We view this as an important equity measure in the workplace. Our members spoke powerfully of experiences including endometriosis and perimenopause – though our proposal is broader and includes fertility treatment, preventative healthcare, and managing pain and discomfort.

In addition to standalone leave (we’ve claimed 15 days per year), we’re asking for workplace accommodations when necessary, such as working flexibly or working from home, so that staff can continue to work where appropriate while managing discomfort or symptoms related to reproductive health.

UC Management do not agree. Instead, their position is that reproductive health is just another reason to take personal leave.

We want to hear from you on this too. If this issue is important to you, get in touch at uc@nteu.org.au and one of our team will follow up in a confidential and respectful manner. It’s clear that we’re going to need to do more to move UC Management from their current position.

Stocktake

As it was the final meeting of the year, it was a good chance to review progress. While we’ve reached agreement in principle some of the less significant clauses, there are still major disagreements on casual and fixed-term employment. We have stressed the seriousness with which our members view UC Management proposals to strip away entitlements relating to casual conversion and fixed-term conversion to continuing jobs. These are important not just to those in fixed-term and casual roles, but because they impact the nature and structure of the University as a whole. If there is not reconsideration of those positions by UC Management early in the new year, we will have to consider our options.

On the positive side, we believe we’re close to locking in an improved clause on academic freedom and freedom of speech which will importantly extend academic freedom to professional staff doing academic work. This will be a significant win for those working in the Third Space. We have had productive discussions on Parental Leave which will improve entitlements and are still discussing Partner Leave. We’ll also improve other things which may seem minor in the grand scheme of things but are nonetheless important – like evidence requirements when falling ill while on recreation leave or long service leave. We’re continuing discussions on Continuing (Contingent Funded) positions, though there is still some distance between the UC Management proposal and the NTEU response.

Wellbeing

While discussing professional development and career progression, members have made us aware that the Performance Development Plan (PDP) has a new section on Wellbeing. We’re pleased that this includes things like seeking support when needed, healthy work boundaries, and reasonable workloads.

We believe the best way to ensure workplace support, a healthy work/life balance, and a workplace that eliminates or minimises psychosocial hazards is through collective union activity – much of what we’re claiming in bargaining is in pursuit of these goals.

So whether you write it in your PDP or not, when it asks “Please record a wellbeing practice you will commit to in the pre-set objective,” we believe one of the best objectives you can set yourself to ensure that UC is a psychosocially healthy workplace is to “Ask a colleague to join the NTEU at www.nteu.au/join.” Together, we can ensure that UC staff are valued, supported and respected.

Please feel free to share this email with your colleagues!

Next year – Academic Workloads is first up

The next meeting is on 28 January and will be one of the big ones – Academic Workloads. We’ve received great feedback through our member consultation, via email, and through our Delegates on this, and you can also give us more at uc@nteu.org.au. How important is this issue to you, and what are the main things you think need to be addressed.

If you’d like to give us examples of how your academic workload currently works (or doesn’t), please do. There may be some enforcement opportunities we can take prior to a new Agreement as well.

Our main claim is for collegial endorsement of workload guidelines – that means staff covered by a workload model get to vote up or vote down that workload model. This is the clearest and most effective way for staff to ensure that workload models adequately account for the time it takes to perform tasks.

We’ll also be ensuring that any future clause has sufficient protections in case of future changes to teaching, such as the relentless expansion of online and asynchronous teaching, as well as any introduction of the Block Model.

We’ll also be dealing with big issues like organisational change and redundancy in February, and flexible work, overtime, TOIL and professional staff workloads in March.

We’re looking forward to a big year in 2026 – enjoy your break and come back refreshed and ready to win the workplace we all deserve.

Meeting 3: 17 December 2025