How was our enterprise agreement developed?

Our Enterprise Agreement (EA) was developed by following the mandated steps in the enterprise bargaining process.

Enterprise (or collective) bargaining was introduced in Australia during the 1990s as a move away from the old award system where the federal government would create minimum conditions across industries.

Enterprise bargaining allows employers and employees to work together and create their own contract or agreement to suit their workplace, and creates an opportunity for the parties of the employment relationship either directly or through their union representatives to engage in mutual negotiations.

It involves a discussion of all conditions of employment and is designed to benefit both the employee and employer.

The EA was developed by the University of Sydney Enterprise Bargaining Team, the National Tertiary Education Union Team and the Community & Public Sector Union Team. It replaced the previous Academic, General and Centre for English Teaching (CET) Staff Agreements when these expired.

Significant changes were made to these agreements in response to staff feedback and to ensure the new agreement would support the strategic direction of the University, add value to the relationship between staff and the University, and be easy and flexible to apply.

A ballot of relevant staff took place between 20 and 23 October 2009. A majority of staff who participated in the ballot voted in favour of the new agreement. The EA was approved by Fair Work Australia on 16 November 2009 and became operational on Monday 23 November 2009.

The current EA has a nominal expiry date of 31 May 2012. Although the EA will continue to operate after this date, the University has now commenced a bargaining process to develop a new agreement. Find out more