Staff at the University of Newcastle have overwhelmingly voted to endorse a new enterprise agreement, ending a bargaining process that has run for well over a year.
Friday's result following extensive negotiations that had spilled into strike action and a dispute before the Fair Work Commission.
University vice chancellor and president Professor Alex Zelinsky told staff in an announcement that he was pleased to share the result of the ballot this week.
They included votes in favour of the proposal from 96.2 per cent of academic and teaching staff and 98.5 per cent of professional staff.
Under the new agreements, Professor Zelinsky said the university will be able to implement salary increases of 15.2 per cent, with the first increase of 3.5 per cent backdated to March 1 2026.
Professor Zelinsky thanked the university's bargaining team, the unions involved and staff themselves "for the positive bargaining outcome".
Documentation will be lodged with the Fair Work Commission to formalise the agreements, a process that could take several weeks.
"Subject to approval, we anticipate implementing the salary increases, including back pay, in September," Professor Zelinsky told staff.
"We will provide further updates once the Commission has made its decision on the approval of the agreements."
The ballot is the culmination of a bargaining process that began in April last year.
The university had previously offered a 12-month extension of the existing agreements, including a 3.45 per cent pay rise in March 2026, on top of a 4 per cent rise delivered in March 2025.
While the CPSU accepted that offer, the NTEU rejected it.
That sent both parties into full-scale bargaining.
Union members wallked off the job several times in the negotiation period, protesting the "lack of progress".
In May this year the university reached the in-principle agreement with the NTEU.
"Our members are pleased that UoN staff have overwhelmingly endorsed the new agreements," An NTEU spokesperson said.
"They deliver real improvements on pay, workloads and job security, and give staff welcome certainty after a long bargaining process.
"This result reflects the persistence of NTEU members, who campaigned and took industrial action to secure it.
"Management made the road longer than it needed to be - calling for the Fair Work Commission to intervene in bargaining even as its claims of financial hardship were being tested by the NSW parliamentary inquiry into university governance.
"Staff wore the cost of that delay.
"But endorsement of new EBAs is a chance for a fresh start.
"We hope management now approaches implementation, consultation and workplace change in the same spirit staff have shown - open, fair and constructive."
