CQU EB negotiations update
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 7, 8 October 2021, page no.22
TAFE Executive has rejected a proposal from CQU that would average teaching hours over a 10-week period or annualise them.
At its meeting on 13 September, TAFE Executive considered the progress of CQU enterprise bargaining negotiations and accepted in-principle a range of changes that have been settled by the parties.
It also discussed changes the university has been seeking which would average teaching and other hours over a 10-week period. While this has been a shift in the CQU claim from annualisation, both models are aimed at reducing overtime liabilities.
Modelling based on 38 hours per week attendance by apprentices indicates that one teacher delivering at that high level of delivery for six weeks would exhaust the proposed contact target of 220 hours. The CQU proposal does not impose a limit on the number of hours of contact per week, protect NCT or account for other required duties, such as recognition of prior learning.
Some questions have been raised regarding the proposal.
- How does it apply, i.e. to whom and when? How is it designated and what are the mechanisms by which it will be implemented – voluntary or by fiat?
- What are the processes for accounting for the time?
As a manifest solution to paying overtime to educators in areas that are having staffing problems, it raises questions of workload and organisation, such as:
- Who prepares resources, etc for class demos and student exercises?
- Is there going to be NCT overtime paid, travel on top of the 36.25?
- Who cleans up?
- What safeguards are in place to prevent multiple weeks at high successive levels of contact?
No answers to the above have been received at the time of writing. However, the question that must be answered is, would the implementation of currently available mechanisms and better planning and timetabling provide the fix for whatever the problem is? The QTU believes that the current problems are cultural, and has proposed alternative timetabling models that could deal with high levels of demand without incurring excessive overtime payments.
One alternative is the negotiation of a team based working agreement based on high-intensity-low-frequency principles. Ironically, such a TBWA could be implemented under current conditions, allowing almost a full four weeks of contact (76 hours) to be delivered in a two-week period, followed by a week of NCT and a full week of TOIL.
The CQU proposal is opposed on the basis of work health and safety, work-life balance and the subsequent impact of the reduction on the overall attractiveness of working conditions in CQU. One of the significant issues being addressed in the current negotiations is increasing both attraction and retention of VET educators within the university. It is highly unlikely that this proposal would increase either.