Hunter Water Corporation EBA Campaign
Hunter Water - Next step pre-strike ballot
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 13 October, 2009
At our meeting on Friday members overwhelmingly voted to reject Hunter Water’s offer. This was after hearing from all points of view and considering all the issues. The decision was made by secret ballot.
The biggest concerns raised by members were:
- Your current redundancy entitlements can be taken away at any time in the future by an incoming Liberal government or by the Corporation as they are only in policy, not legally enforceable in your Agreement. This is the last Agreement we will negotiate before the State election. Members strongly believed that redundancy payments MUST be protected now and into the future. This protects jobs against mass outsourcing or privatisation and ensures workers should not have to fear that their redundancy pay could be taken away. Sydney Water have agreed to this in their current offer to their staff. It has been made clear to Hunter Water management that this (cost neutral) issue is very important to members, however they have refused to agree. This raises significant concerns for all members.
- The pay increase. Members felt that 3%, 4% and 3.5% was not good enough. Hunter Water have offered up to an extra 0.5% in the final year (it could be no increase or it could be a 0.1% increase) only if after going through a yet to be determined process, with a yet to be determined criteria, enough money is saved by the introduction of GPS that it adds up to 0.5% or more. Members believed that this proposal was unacceptable and puts all the risk onto employees.
Now a democratic decision has been made – all members need to unite to push for a better deal.
The ASU will be requesting a pre-strike ballot which is required under the new Fair Work laws. This means a ballot will be conducted of UNION MEMBERS ONLY by the Australian Electoral Commission. We must have your current mailing address and you must be a member in order to vote. Members should use this web form to update your contact details for the ballot. If you are not a member, join the union.
