UNIVERSITY of Newcastle staff have overwhelmingly voted yes to proposed new pay and work agreements, in what the union has touted as a welcome win after lengthy negotiations.
Support for the professional staff agreement came in at 96 per cent, while 93 per cent backed the agreement for academic staff and teachers.
The enterprise agreements come with a 13 per cent pay rise, and other benefits including three additional paid days off and leave flexibility.
Associate Professor Terry Summers, president of the Newcastle branch of the tertiary education union (NTEU), said members had stayed staunch for 22 months.
"Through that commitment, we have won a good outcome for all staff," he said after the results were announced on Friday.
"We successfully defended existing conditions that management were so intent on winding back."
He said the votes were a strong endorsement of the "long and hard" campaign to achieve reasonable working conditions for university staff.
A strike was held amid the negotiations in September last year, with public demands for better pay and "reasonable" working conditions.
"The students and the staff are the university," Associate Professor Summers said.
"I want to express my thanks to all of our bargaining team, and all our members at the university who campaigned so hard to defend our existing conditions and won important new gains.
"I want to thank the students who supported us, and the wider community too."
He said there was still work to be done, and the union would continue to fight for superannuation equity for casual staff.
University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor Alex Zelinsky said the results of the ballot, held across the past week, meant the agreements would now go to the Fair Work Commission for approval ahead of being implemented.
"We're very proud to have found a balance of improving benefits for our staff that ensure our University remains a contemporary and competitive workplace and ensuring our financial sustainability in a tough environment," he said.
He said the university worked closely with the NTEU and the specialist union for professional staff in higher education, the CPSU, to reach the resolution.
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