Slowing productivity, persistent inflationary pressures, and heightened uncertainty created by the war in the Middle East should temper union wage demands.
That's the view of the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA), which says a flexible and effective bargaining system is critical to supporting sustainable wage growth and economic resilience.
Many higher education providers are either in or about to begin enterprise agreement negotiations.
However, at the same time as the federal government is acknowledging challenges to revive lagging productivity nationally, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is using it as a bargaining chip in enterprise agreement negotiations.
AHEIA said the NTEU needed to cite the deliverables in terms of productivity on university campuses, if it pushes ahead with logs of claims including fewer working hours and more holidays for more money.
The peak body has cited a number of issues that are challenging the sector and its outputs, including industrial relations legislation that effectively now grandparents archaic and unproductive enterprise agreement provisions.
"Right now, the notion of productivity is amorphous and more like a bargaining chip with no defined value," the Executive Director of AHEIA, Craigh Laughton, said.
"Given that universities often are treated as generic entities by the union, we encourage it to define what it means by productivity and give examples of how and where it can occur.
"Such an approach will be helpful for everyone and could lead to faster and more productive agreement in enterprise bargaining."
AHEIA has also called on the federal Treasurer to work with colleagues to remove the Section 270A of the Fair Work Act, which is a significant productivity killer.
