58 Dispute Resolution
- Academic and ELC Teaching Staff Collective Agreement 2014–2017
- The following Industrial Dispute procedure must be used to settle any industrial dispute which may arise about the application of, or matters arising under, this Agreement or the National Employment Standards.
- Until the procedures described in subclause 58.3 have been completed:
- work must continue in the normal manner prevailing at the time of the dispute. However, depending on the nature of the dispute, the matters in dispute will not be implemented or continued so long as this would not unduly disrupt the work of the University or have a significant negative financial impact.
- nothing must be changed which is the subject of the dispute except to the extent necessary to address, where applicable, a workplace health and safety risk;
- no industrial action will be taken about the dispute; and
- no action will be taken which may exacerbate the dispute.
- If there is an industrial dispute the following procedure must be followed:
- In the first instance, an employee/s and/or their NTEU representative/s, and the University representative/s will discuss the dispute and attempt to reach Agreement within seven calendar days of the dispute first being notified in writing unless agreed otherwise.
- At the election of either party to the dispute, where they believe it would be beneficial to have further discussion, within seven days or other agreed timeframe, at least one further meeting will be held to attempt to resolve the matter.
- During this internal process, the employee and the University may request representation by a person or organisation of their choosing*.
- Should the dispute not be resolved by the process referred to above, the matter may be referred by any party to the dispute to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for resolution by conciliation, or where conciliation does not resolve the dispute by arbitration, in resolving the dispute the FWC can exercise any of its powers under the Fair Work Act. The parties to the dispute will be bound by and implement any recommendation or decision of the FWC subject to an appeal to the Full Bench of the FWC.
- Nothing in this clause prevents the parties to the dispute from agreeing to refer an unresolved dispute to a person or body other than the FWC for resolution, in which case the parties agree to be bound by any recommendation to resolve the dispute, made by the agreed person or body. Such agreed person or body may exercise such powers and functions as the parties agree are appropriate at the time.
*An amendment has been made in accordance with the UNE Undertaking letter.