We are pleased to let you know that Mission Australia and the ASU had a positive meeting earlier this week and have agreed to future arrangements aimed at getting negotiations back on track and achieving a quick finalisation of the Collective Agreement.

These arrangements are as follows:

• Mission Australia has agreed that in the future, should it have concerns for operational reasons about releasing a staff member to participate in negotiations, it will first consult with the ASU.
  
• The ASU has accepted that in some circumstances, Mission Australia could have reasonable operational reasons for not wanting an employee to be released from their ordinary duties to attend negotiations.
  
• We have agreed to cooperate with each other to overcome any such difficulties to the best of our abilities.
  
• Mission Australia will provide the ASU and its representatives with a Draft Agreement incorporating its responses to concerns previously communicated by the ASU, by Friday July 4th.
  
• A small joint sub-group will meet in the week of July 21st to identify any issues that require further negotiation.
  
• Tentative dates for the next round of negotiations, if needed, have been set for July 29th and 30th.

We are both pleased that we were able to agree on a way forward and give the Agreement negotiations the priority that is warranted.

Regards,

Lincoln Hopper                                            Michael Flinn
Executive Leader                                         Assistant Secretary - (NSW and ACT  Services Branch) ASU Community Services                                     On behalf of the United ASU Staff Negotiation Group