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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2011

Role of the Joint Consultative Forum (JCF)

The above agreement has been the result of a difficult bargaining round and,
while the document may not have been as progressive as the unions involved in the negotiations may have liked, it represents a reasonable compromise and will enable the university and staff to move forward and address the many challenges that face us all in the Higher Education sector.

CPSU encourages all professional staff to become familiar with the new Agreement to ensure that the improvements are adopted in your work area. Please feel free to contact CPSU if you would like more information. There are excellent improvements including the restoration of many rights that were taken away from university staff under the WorkChoices legislation.

In accordance with Clause 13 the role of the unions has been written back into the agreement. The Committee members of the JCF consists of Director: Human Resources, Manager: Workplace Relations, Manager: Human Resources Services and two representatives from each union that is a party to this Agreement (comprising one union official and one staff representative employed by the university).

The role of the JCF is to deal with matters pertaining to the Agreement.

The JCF will meet 4 times per year or as necessary within 20 working days at the request of a member of the JCF.

In accordance with the agreement the Chair will alternate between the nominated university and union representatives with CPSU chairing the next meeting.


The first meeting of the JCF was held on 24 August 2011 and attended by Avonne Newton as the professional staff CPSU member employed by the university and Margaret Warner is the CPSU union official. Avonne served CPSU professional staff during the long and protracted negotiations to achieve the 2011 agreement.

Items discussed at the JCF included:-

The new Performance Development Framework - A report will be presented to the Committee on how the University is rolling this out.

Managing Change was discussed and how the process can be improved.

CPSU believes that the restoration of union rights in the Agreement and the formation of the JCF to serve as a vehicle to deal with the matters pertaining to the Agreement will serve professional staff well in this new 2011 Agreement.

CPSU THE UNION NEGOTIATING ON BEHALF OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF IN UNIVERSITIES.