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A landmark agreement has been signed in Western Australia between the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the Community and Public Sector Union/Civil Service Association of Western Australia (CPSU/CSA) over union representation in the state’s higher education sector.

The following abridged statement was posted on NTEU.org.au by NTEU WA division secretary Lyn Bloom.

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The CPSU/CSA in WA has announced that it is withdrawing from active involvement in the higher education sector.

Following an agreement with the NTEU, at both the national and WA division levels, the CPSU/CSA has written to all WA public universities appointing the NTEU as their agent for all bargaining and industrial purposes.

The union has written to their members advising them of this decision and encouraging them to transfer to NTEU membership.

To encourage this membership transfer of university general staff, the CPSU/CSA and the NTEU are holding a series of joint on-campus meetings with CPSU members. CPSU/CSA members have already started transferring to the NTEU.

“This is truly a landmark occasion”, said NTEU WA division president Gabe Gooding, herself a general staff member at UWA. “The NTEU won coverage of general staff in WA universities only 10 years ago, and we are very happy to welcome these new general staff members to the NTEU.

“This will enormously strengthen the NTEU’s position at the bargaining table and will for the first time in WA effectively unite almost all university staff into a single union.”