EB'99 Academic Staff

Communications

TERMS OF REFERENCE

• Purpose
• Membership
• Meetings
• Chairperson
• Agenda
• Minutes
• Confidentiality and Information Sharing
• APPENDIX A: Rights and duties of ASEBCG members
• APPENDIX B: The role of the Chair

Purpose

The Academic Staff Enterprise Bargaining Communications Group (ASEBCG) will be responsible for giving information to and receiving feedback from academic staff in schools on matters being discussed in the academic staff enterprise bargaining negotiations.

It is important to note that the ASEBCG is a communications group, not a decision making committee

Membership

The ASEBCG membership will be as follows:

• Elected academic staff members: one from each school.
• The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and External);
• The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic);
• Dean, Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies;
• the Executive Director (Business and Administration) or nominee, and
• the Manager, Industrial Relations and Workplace Change.

The NTEU will also be invited to nominate two (2) representatives to participate in each meeting.

Rights and duties of Group members are defined in Appendix A.

Meetings

The frequency of ASEBCG meetings will be determined by the Group.

Chairperson

The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and External) shall be responsible for chairing the first meeting of the Group.

At the second meeting of the Group the members of the Group shall elect from amongst themselves a Chairperson who shall hold that position for the term of the office.

The role of the Chairperson is described in Appendix B.

Agenda

The agenda shall be determined by the Group. Any agenda items should be forwarded to the Chair for distribution to Group members prior to the next scheduled meeting.

Minutes

Human Resources will facilitate the taking, typing, photocopying and distribution of minutes. A draft copy of the minutes will be made available to all Group members within one week of the meeting.

Confidentiality and Information Sharing

It may not be possible to provide certain information to the ASEBCG due to the fact that the information could compromise the wellbeing of the University or the rights of any individual.

Every effort will be made to provide as much information as possible for the effective resolution of problems and for genuine consultation with employees.

APPENDIX A: Rights and duties of ASEBCG members

All members of the ASEBCG are to carry out their duties in a responsible and honest manner in the spirit of this constitution. Members should:

- objectively represent the interests and opinion of their constituents

- respect each member

- criticise ideas rather than people

- keep an open mind

- question and participate

- forward apologies to the Chair if unable to attend meetings

- encourage and assist constituents to submit agenda items

- provide explanations of items recorded in the minutes

- brief staff as required

APPENDIX B: The role of the Chair

The role of the chair is to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly and that the agenda items are dealt with.

The Chair should:

• make sure that minutes are being taken
• set the finishing time for the meeting
• be attentive to what is happening in the meeting
• encourage participation and make sure that everyone gets a say
• make sure that only one person is talking at a time
• keep discussion to the point
• regularly summarise the discussion on each item and point out areas of agreement and disagreement
• keep the meeting moving and keep a check on the time
• be assertive about their role as the Chair to make the meeting run smoothly
• not get bogged down in personality clashes
• remain part of the Group and should participate in discussions
• be a fair Chair, remembering that everyone must leave the meeting feeling that they have had a fair hearing