2 May 2005

New requirements for funding

On Friday Ministers Brendan Nelson and Kevin Andrews released a joint media statement entitled "Modernising Workplace Relations in Our Universities". This release has been posted on the http://www.dest.gov.au website. It specifies a new set of Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements (HEWRRs) which the University will need to meet to access increased funding under the Commonwealth Grant Scheme.

What HEWRRs means for Macquarie

AWAs

To meet the HEWRRs funding criteria we will need to start offering Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to all new staff and by 31 August 2006 we will offer them to all existing staff. AWAs are contracts between the University and individual staff member. They allow us to negotiate and agree to different conditions than are in our current Enterprise Agreement. For example, they could include options either to "buy out" excess leave or alternatively "buy more leave" and have the deduction taken out over the year. Most importantly, AWAs are voluntary. While we will talk with staff about these and other options and will offer them to you in due course, there is no compulsion for you to take up an AWA. It is up to us to make them attractive to staff and entirely up to you to either accept or reject the offer when it is made.

Enterprise Bargaining

To meet the HEWRRs funding criteria we will need to make changes to our Enterprise Agreement. This will include:

• clarifying the use of AWAs,
• removing limits on the forms and mix of employment,
• creating new processes for rewarding high performing staff and managing poor performance,
• making the agreement simpler and removing excess detail and prescription,
• tailoring the agreement to the circumstance of our University.

These changes will not occur until the next round of bargaining has been completed. In the lead up to the next agreement we will consult with all staff (and their unions if they so elect) far more than we have in previous rounds of bargaining. I look forward to your input when this consultation starts later next year.

We will be providing further information, education and then consultation on both AWAs and Enterprise Bargaining after we have had an opportunity to further clarify the HEWRRs requirements.