Rex is a lecturer at Curdoch University of Taxonomy and a member of the Academics' Union which represents most staff on campus.He is currently employed under the terms of an Enterprise Agreement negotiated between the Union and the University under The Fair Work Act.The Agreement is about to expire.

The Union has sought to negotiate a new agreement with the University.However, the University has refused to meet with the Union.Instead it has announced that it will shortly ask employees to vote on a new Enterprise Agreement, which it says staff must approve if the University is to remain viable.

It is rumoured that, while the new agreement will provide for (modest) wage increases for staff it will also, amongst other things, (i) remove any obligation on the University to consult staff about major workplace changes, (ii) restrict the ability of staff to bring an unfair dismissal claim under The Fair Work Act, and (iii) reduce annual leave for staff to two weeks a year.

Advise Rex as to the legality of the rumoured proposals in an Enterprise Agreement and whether there is any guarantee that staff will be no worse off overall under any new agreement (if desperate for a pay rise they approve it) than under the existing agreement.Is there any way in which the University can be forced to negotiate with the Union?(You are not required to discuss the possibility of staff taking industrial action).