SUMMARY OF OUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT

Staff are encouraged to read the full agreement; however, we set out some of the key features of the proposed agreement below.

Increasing job security
The agreement includes commitments aimed at increasing job security, including:
●	an increase in the number of continuing academic staff by recruiting an additional 170 full-time equivalent (FTE) continuing teaching and research academic staff;
●	introduction of a new form of Continuing (Defined Periods) Academic Employment aimed at reducing our reliance on sessional staff in relation to teaching duties and a commitment to offer at least 56 FTE of these new roles;     
●	improvements to existing options for fixed-term staff to convert to continuing employment;     
●	improvements to redeployment processes; and
●	a commitment about when Monash will advertise roles internally and gives priority in appointment to internal candidates of equal merit to external candidates.
Salaries
The agreement includes fair, competitive and responsible salary increases as follows:
●	3 per cent from 3 December 2022 (already paid as an administrative increase);     
●	4 per cent from 3 June 2023 (already paid as an administrative increase);     
●	3 per cent from 1 June 2024 (already paid as an administrative increase);
●	3.5 per cent from the first full pay period (FFPP) commencing on or after 1 June 2025; and     
●	3.5 per cent from the FFPP commencing on or after 1 June 2026.
Academic workloads and pathways
The agreement includes several improvements, including:
●	clear pathways for staff members appointed as Continuing (Defined Periods) Academic Employment staff and as Teaching Fellows to transition to workload allocations where the starting point for allocation discussions is as per the workload allocation processes in clause 69 – Academic Workloads;
●	additional requirements about the content and process of developing academic workload models; and
●	expanding the types of activities that can be counted as academic service activities including those relating to external engagement.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment
As one part of our strategy for supporting and promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, the agreement includes:
●	increased employment targets; and
●	recognition of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship relationships to establish a staff member’s “family member” for leave purposes (e.g. carer’s leave).
Leave and holidays
In addition to the already significant leave benefits, the agreement increases leave benefits, including:
●	a total of 30 days' paid gender affirmation leave as one part of the University’s commitment to support staff who are affirming their gender;
●	significantly increasing the maximum amount of paid partner leave in relation to the birth, adoption or placement of a child from five days to 12 weeks; and     
●	flexibility in accessing both paid and unpaid partner leave to allow staff to manage the needs of their family circumstances.
Academic and Intellectual Freedom
As a University, we are committed to the values of academic and intellectual freedom. This commitment is reinforced by new provisions in our agreement, which include that an exercise of academic or intellectual freedom in accordance with the agreement provisions will not constitute misconduct or serious misconduct by reason of its content.
Work-life balance
The agreement provides additional commitments aimed at assisting our staff to maintain work-life balance. These are in addition to the existing detailed processes and review mechanisms already available under the expired Enterprise Agreement. These improvements include a dedicated clause about working from home arrangements, as well as:
●	for professional staff, a new clause providing a right to disconnect and improvements to the workload management clause; and
●	for academic staff, a new clause entitles staff to apply for reasonable adjustments to their teaching and/or marking where they do not have at least two weeks free of teaching and marking between teaching periods.
A safe workplace
The agreement includes significant improvements that reflect our commitment to an inclusive and safe workplace:
●	substantially expanding the provisions setting out how the University will respond to complaints of workplace bullying; and 
●	enhancing the occupational health and safety clause, including recognising the responsibility of the University and staff to minimise psychosocial hazards.
Improvements for casual and sessional staff
In addition to the commitments above, the agreement improves clauses applying to casual and sessional staff, including:
●	improvements to dealing with payments to sessional staff, including significantly improving the clauses dealing with payment for marking and the process for determining the allocation of hours for marking;
●	makes clear that any required training for sessional staff will be paid at the applicable “other required academic activity” rate;
●	increasing unpaid compassionate leave for casuals from two to three days; and
●	provides for sessional staff to apply to continue with email and library access after the conclusion of their employment and that their applications will not be unreasonably refused.
Other improvements
The agreement includes additional and significant improvements in other areas, such as:
●	increasing the redundancy entitlements for long-term professional staff from 52 to 56 weeks’ pay;
●	expanding the provisions dealing with consultation on major workplace change;
●	extending on-call and call-back benefits to additional cohorts of professional staff;
●	making clear that probationary academic staff will not be excluded from access to career development opportunities, including professional development programs and the opportunity to apply for promotion; and
●	a modernised superannuation clause that is compliant with choice of funds legislation.