1 Attendance:
As per list in Attendance Book.

2 Apologies:
Terry Cook, Bill Oates, Hans Schaeffer, Tania Marshall, Diana Helmrich, Ros Van der Lynn, Greg Kelleher, Simone Barnsden-Wright, Rob Stott.

3 Confirmation of Draft Minutes of Previous Annual General Meeting:
“That the Draft Minutes be accepted as a true and accurate record of the Previous AGM.” Moved, Kylie Day; Seconded, Barbara Avis; Motion Passed.

4 President’s Report:
Tony Pavan effectively resigned from the presidency at the end of 2007 to difficulties getting time to attend to the responsibilities of the position. Tony exhorted the meeting that ‘The Union is the members and we all need to be active. I appreciated the support of all the Branch general members and the Executive.” Tony introduced Thane Pearce (Industrial Officer) and Rowan Salomon (Organiser) from Head Office and told the meeting that they intended, as far as possible, to be at UNE every two weeks.

5 Appointment of Returning Officer:
Rowan Salomon was the only nomination and was duly appointed as Returning Officer.

6 Election of officers of the Branch Executive:
The nominations for election to the various positions on the Branch Executive are listed, with the subsequent election results:
President: Kylie Day was the only nomination and was declared elected.
Vice President: Tony Pavan, ditto.
Secretary: Rowan Webb, ditto.
Assistant Secretary: Judy Stott, ditto.
Women’s Officer: Jen Mitchell, ditto.
EEO Officer: Judy Stott, ditto.
OH&S Officer: Rowan Webb, ditto.
Membership Registrar: Rob Webster, ditto.
HERC Representative (two positions): Rob Webster and Jen Mitchell were the only nominations and were declared elected.
Indigenous Officer: No nomination was received.
Delegate (two positions): Barbara Avis and Debbie Simmons were the only nominations and were declared elected.

7 General Business:
7.1 Industrial Officer’s Report:
This is the first CPSU meeting I have attended at UNE since the Commonwealth Election and the campaign leading up to it. The CPSU met with Julia Gillard to discuss Higher Education, particularly the Labor Government’s attitude towards universities and the attachment of funding to Industrial Relations agendas. “HEWRRS is dead and funding will be restored.” The “No disadvantage test” will be restored under ITEAs. New legislation for 2010 will probably be introduced into Parliament later this year.

Enterprise Bargaining starts at UNE later this year as the current Agreement expires on 30th of June 2009. The campaign strategy has already been discussed with the Branch Executive and we need to set out major themes for the local Branch membership to take to the Enterprise Bargaining process. We need four or five discussion groups to develop a Log of Claims specific to this Branch. We can then engage all General Staff in supporting the Log’s claims as part of the Enterprise Agreement.

Major themes so far are;
i protecting terms and conditions,
ii ensuring we are listened to,
iii improving pay, superannuation and leave,
iv ensuring we are treated with respect, and
v allowing us to balance work and life.

7.2 The Enterprise Bargaining Team:
The core bargaining team is Marnie, Kylie and Jen from the Branch and Thane from Head Office. The extended bargaining team is Rob and Rowan W., with Barbara as backup if required; Jude and Tony have also volunteered their services.

UNE is the first university to engage in the next round of the university Enterprise Bargaining process. Management’s team is Frank Strbik, Vicky Anderson and Adrian Robinson. We will need to see the NTEU’s position but we hope to cooperate with them.

7.3 Organiser’s Report:
The two main campaigns on campus at the moment are;
i cuts to Student Services and
ii proposed privatisation of UNE’s Residential Colleges.

8 Meeting Close:
The meeting closed at 2pm.