Week 14: 6th and 7th October 2026
Bargaining Summary
A major achievement was the in-principle agreement on measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. Key outcomes include a target of 2.5% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment by 2029, retention of the 3.8% population parity goal by 2032, stronger Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property protections, improved leave and working-from-Country provisions, audits of insecure employment, better allowances, and annual professional development allocations. These measures are intended to improve recruitment, retention, and workplace conditions.
The parties also reached broad agreement on several disability and chronic health condition initiatives, including adoption of the social model of disability, relevant definitions in the agreement, introduction of disability passports, and improvements to Disability and Inclusion Action Plans. Final agreement remains dependent on related clauses concerning flexibility, workload, and performance processes.
However, several contentious issues remain unresolved. These include advertising requirements for professional staff secondments, academic freedom provisions, and academic workload protections. The union remains concerned about Dean-appointed workload committees and management’s refusal to commit to a 45-hour weekly workload cap.
Further discussions addressed fixed-term employment, decasualisation, and Schedule 1 reforms. While some progress was made, significant negotiations continue. Overall, the report describes a mix of notable gains and ongoing sticking points ahead of planned industrial action, including a stop-work meeting and strike.
Full Report
Context
Members will know that bargaining during the preceding fortnight was interrupted due to management bringing to the table a “complete package”. This disrupted bargaining, as the Bargaining Team needed to break off discussions to review the substance of the package, check it against matters already discussed (and possibly resolved in principle), and consider the implications for bargaining going forward.
These undertaken, the NTEU wrote to Senior Management to resume bargaining this week, but politely declined to finalise bargaining within the framework or according to the timelines set out in that document – bargaining being a mutual process and not determined by only one party at the table.
The Management team agreed, and the teams returned to the agenda items disrupted previously.
Meanwhile… success!
The same week this distraction occurred, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bargaining team members Cheryl (Possum) Swinton and Tracey-Anne Cameron finalised in-principle agreement on matters related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff – the best outcome in the round so far on these matters.
You’ll have seen the outcomes in detail (see here), but some of the major elements of the package are:
- The first “hard target” for employment at the University of Sydney: 2.5% of the workforce to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by late 2029.
- Maintaining the 3.8% national population parity aim for 2032.
- Enhanced University commitment to Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property recognition and protections.
- Better leave provisions and facilitated requests for working from Country.
- Improved efforts to employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for roles that are substantially focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander engagement, policy, research, service delivery or community-facing work.
- An audit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island staff in insecure employment with the objective of determining staff that can be offered continuing roles.
- New and improved allowances.
- An annual development allocation for use by professional and academic staff.
- Possum and Tracey are now discussing early implementation of these provisions, and strategies to ensure that continuing and new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are clearly informed of their existing and improved rights in the Agreement.
When implemented, these improvements will greatly improve the working conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, serve to increase recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to our great institution, enrich our students and the University community, and enhance the reputation of the University of Sydney.
Tuesday 6th – ups…
Hoping to borrow the shine of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bargaining teams, we returned to the table and reached in-principle agreement* on many of the Union’s Disability and Chronic Health Conditions proposals:
- Recognition of the importance of the social model of disability as central to the University’s approach to these issues.
- Introduction of definitions relevant to Disability and Chronic Health Conditions in the Agreement.
- Commitment to the introduction of a “disability passport” for staff to ease in the administration of adjustments and the protection of privacy.
- Improvements to the development of the DIAP (Disability and Inclusion Action Plans), including wider consultation and localisation.
Members will recall previous agreement around the ability to seek additional personal leave in advance of its complete exhaustion.
* We are almost there! This will be subject to the finalisation of clauses around flexible work arrangements, independent medical exams, workload allocation, and performance and development processes containing the relevant provisions requested on Disability and Chronic Health Conditions.
That caveat noted, when finalised this is shaping up to be a good set of improvements for people living with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions at the University of Sydney, and a progressive model for other Universities to consider adopting.
Tuesday 6th – and downs…
The remainer of Tuesday was taken up with three key areas of discussion that – despite progress – were not resolved.
These were (in order of discussion):
First, the amorphously nicknamed “professional staff omnibus” – which includes the previously agreed pilot for professional staff broadbanding, a range of cleanups on items where the text of the Agreement no longer matches current practice (e.g. referring to teams that don’t exist anymore), and the question of secondments.
Secondments are an important and complex part of the clauses. Professional staff will know that secondments are widely used, and are an important part of the career development.
The parties discussed secondment matters in depth, and a number of clauses were agreed in-principle, however, a key sticking point emerged about the advertising requirement and the minimum length of time an internal position required to be filled for it to be advertised. This was not resolved.
Second, academic freedom and freedom of expression. The clause has been subject to considerable and ongoing discussion and debate at the table, recognising its importance to the Union and staff of the University. The NTEU made a proposal to management to resolve the clause – focusing on deleting ambiguous language requiring the “highest standards” in the construction of professional and ethical practices and conduct. Management were unwilling to agree .
Finally, academic workloads. Unfortunately there are two sticking points here: First, the selection of Collegiate Workload Committees – the NTEU does not want Deans to be able to “stack” these committees, and want (as the word “collegiate” implies) 50% of members to be elected. Management rejected the claim. Second, and more disappointingly, our understanding that management would agree to an absolute cap of 45 hours per week for academic staff (for “peak” working weeks) was premature and did not materialise in management’s proposed draft clauses. Without this protection (see below), it will be hard to move forward on many matters at the table.
Wednesday 7th – new matters, but productively felt out
Wednesday was an important day because three matters finally came to the bargaining table that had not had serious discussion to date. This was largely a “feeling out” discussion, but there are important outcomes in this:
Fixed Term precarity – the NTEU has proposed improvements to the clauses governing fixed-term academic and professional staff, one area of precarity particularly significant here as USYD is a research-intensive university. This was a productive discussion and some combination of the Union’s key proposals might be agreed the next time it is at the table (reducing the number of categories that fixed-term contracts can be used for, improved notification periods for the expiry of contacts, pushing for continuing positions to be used where the work is likely ongoing, and redeployment options for fixed term staff). Management were more positive about the first two of these, and less positive about the last two, but discussions continue.
Decasualisation – following the key resolution of the NTEU membership that laid down three requirements to discuss decasualisation matters with Management’s proposals on the table (genuine decasualisation outcomes, no new categories of employment, a higher-than-current floor on 40/40/20 roles) the Bargaining Team pressed the position the discussion could not occur without agreement that any outcome struck would include those elements as a minima. The negotiations moved forward on that basis and the parties spent some time “talking maths” about the way that any calculation of floor / ceilings /hard numbers of these roles would be construed. A methodology will be negotiated as a key part towards the next steps: the substance of the nature of academic employment and related protections (this links to the 45 hour issue).
Schedule 1 – finally at the main table and in need of more time, initial discussion was had about the substance of that Schedule and the need to review the proposed changes against Management’s stated aims that this is purely about simplification to avoid future iterations of the wage theft issue. Peter, in particular, will need to organise time with the SMEs to flesh this out in detail (watch this space).
Overall, ups and downs – but a seemingly productive couple of days following management’s “Package” misstep and NTEU members resolution to press management through our planned Stop Work Meeting on 13th October, and full day strike on 22nd October.
