Negotiations for your new collective agreement are drawing to a close and your CPSU bargaining team require your input into whether we are close to an agreement or not.
Meetings will be held around the country tomorrow to discuss the current state of negotiations. As important decisions need to be made at these meetings all non-SES staff are strongly encouraged to attend.
The end of flex?
At the start of negotiations management tabled the removal of flex from your next Collective Agreement as one of their claims. Your bargaining team asked your views on this in a recent survey. You told us overwhelmingly that you wanted to retain flex or have the option to choose between flex and TOIL. Management’s response was to offer that flex be retained for current CA staff but not offered to AWA staff transitioning to the CA or to new employees. These staff would only be given access to TOIL. Your union bargaining team voiced our disapproval of this proposal for two reasons. Firstly we do not believe this offers the ‘choice’ staff were seeking. Secondly we are opposed on principle to having staff forced to conduct the same work on two sets of conditions.
At the 11th hour management revised their offer. At the end of negotiations on the 2nd day the offer is:
Flex retained by all staff: Pay Offer: 4.3%pa
Flex grandfathered* Pay Offer: 4.5%pa
(*only accessible to current CA staff up to ILC3 level and not staff transitioning from AWAs or new ILC employees)
Over to you…
Current negotiations are taking place in circumstances particular to our times. Due to last year’s federal election Australia is in the process of changing the laws that govern employment conditions. Management has agreed to allow staff to choose to terminate their AWAs and return to the Collective Agreement by mutual consent. This was part of the CPSU ILC staff bargaining claim.
However, due to processing times with the Workplace Authority, AWAs will not be terminated in time for these staff to be able to participate in the vote on your new Collective Agreement even though it is their conditions being affected.
What does this mean?
This means the 50% of staff currently covered by the Collective Agreement will be asked to vote to remove flex as an entitlement from the 50% of staff currently on AWAs and any staff to be recruited to the ILC in the future. These staff would be on TOIL and would not have the option of flex.
What do I gain?
Management has advised your bargaining team that the average wage in the ILC is $76,434. On this figure the annual gain would be approximately $153 or $2.94 a week pre-tax in the first year.
Your other conditions. Where we stand:
Maternity Leave
Increase to 14 weeks
Paternity Leave
2 weeks introduced separate to personal leave
Adoption Leave
2 weeks introduced separate to personal leave
Travel Time (Outside of bandwidth)
Management has agreed to recognise travel time as non-accumulative TOIL. This means it would generally need to be taken within 2 weeks
Travel Allowance Accommodation Rate
With prior approval, to be paid at higher amount where accommodation unavailable within set rate
Communication Framework
IRT/SRT to review draft document and incorporate ideas from staff survey
Professional Membership fees
Payment to be recognised in CA
Studies Assistance
Increase to $1,000 per subject and $1,200 for Indigenous staff
Superannuation
Paid at 15.4% regardless of choice of fund
PEMP/Work Level Standards/Learning and Development
To be reviewed within 6 months of agreement taking effect
Transition from AWA to CA
Agreed this will be allowed by mutual consent of both employee and employer
HES (Healthy Employee Scheme)
Increase to $300 per individual claim and $550 for teams
Where to from here?
Your CPSU bargaining team has worked hard to deliver the best results possible. Any further improvements will only be achieved if everyone works together. The ILC board meets next Wednesday 27 August and will be presented with details of what is agreed to date.
What you need to do:
Attend the meeting in your area this Thursday and let us know your views
