NCJ Number
95150
Journal
Academe Volume: 66 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1980) Pages: 342-348
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article traces the recent background of the Academic Salaries Tribunal (AST), emphasizing the role of precedent and the positions of the major participants in its inquiries.
Abstract
As a statutory body, the AST dates from 1974, having been established by the Remuneration Tribunals Act of 1973-74. However, academic salaries have long been determined or heavily influenced by arbitration boards or ad hoc boards of inquiry. The creation of the AST formalized the process and followed the Federal Government's assumption of all higher education costs beginning on January 1, 1974. With three reviews in the period 1973-76, academic salaries caught up with and maintained traditional relationships with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and other public service organizations. However, since the introduction of indexation in 1975 as the principal means of wage and salary adjustment, changes in academic salaries have lagged behind those in the in academic salaries have lagged behind those in the service and manufacturing sectors. Unions in these sectors have been able to secure wage increases outside the indexation system based on alleged changes in 'work value,' i.e., changes in the job requirements. Negotiated 'over-award' agreements, which are not available to academicians, have increased. Academicians, who have previously been unable to convince the AST of the necessity for salary increases based upon changes in work value, are unlikely to be able to do so in the future. Twenty-eight references are provided.