St Vincent de Paul EBA Campaign

VINNIES C.A. GOOD, BUT SOME PROBLEMS. HAVE YOUR SAY

Details

Published on Monday, 02 February, 2009

Collective Agreement

Members will have received from Vinnies the proposed Collective Agreement which will cover “all” Special Works employees. The CA will replace the SACS Award and sets out the new wages and conditions for all Special Works employees.

The ASU has examined the proposed CA in detail and, whilst it contains some valuable above Award provisions, we have identified the following main concerns:

Grades 5 and 6
The Agreement does not apply to employees on Grades 5 and 6 of the SACS Award. This means that managers are excluded from the Agreement and will have to negotiate their own employment conditions individually. This is contrary to principles of collective bargaining. It also means that there are no clear career paths for workers to progress to management level.

Fixed term and Live-In Employees
There are NO provisions contained in the Agreement that relate to fixed term and live-in employees.

6 Month Probation
This provision is excessive and completely inconsistent with the rest of the social and community sector. The standard in the sector is 3 months.

Wages
The Agreement removes the entitlement to automatic wage increases every 12 months and replaces it with 18 month automatic wage increases. This is a serious problem.

We note also that the study leave provisions, contained in Vinnies Workplace Manual, are not contained in the proposed CA. Accordingly, these provisions are not enforceable and can be changed at anytime by your employer.


CARE Campaign
Members are aware of our sector-wide Campaign which was endorsed by delegates at the end of last year. The Campaign aims to significantly improve the wages and conditions of SACS workers, will replace the SACS Award and will set a new benchmark for the social and community sector.

The ASU accepts that Vinnies want their own Agreement. However, is it imperative that no new agreement entered into undermines the CARE Campaign. To ensure that this does not happen, the ASU will only support agreements that are “CARE COMPLIANT”.

For 2009, an agreement must meet the following conditions to be CARE COMPLIANT:

• Provide for wage increases that are 6% above the Award.
• If it replaces the Award in total, then it must cover all of the matters that were in the Award.
• Provide for a specific commitment from the employer to support the CARE Campaign and to join the ASU in lobbying Government to achieve the CARE Claim, especially portability of Long Service Leave.
• A link between career and education pathways, and wages.
• Provide for not less than 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
• It must contain conditions that are superior to the Award but not less than the Award.
  

The proposed Vinnies Agreement meets most of these conditions but we have sought confirmation that the remainder will also be honoured. It is vital that Vinnies members are not left behind the sector.

Delegates Meeting
We now want your feedback. We encourage all members to conduct a workplace Union meeting and put together your feedback on the Agreement and any concerns or additional provisions you would like in your Agreement. Once you have had a workplace meeting, we invite a representative or delegate from every workplace to attend a meeting here at the ASU on Monday 9th February at 6pm to provide us with your workplace feedback and discuss the way forward.

The ASU is located at 39 Renwick Street, Redfern. Any representatives who are unable to attend the meeting are welcome to dial in:
Within Sydney metro: 9696 0695 Outside Sydney metro: 1800 333 803 Pin #: 6343

We are also looking for 5 active delegates who wish to take part in the formal negotiations with Vinnies management to finalise the CA. Please contact Adrienne Vella on 9310 4000 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to express your interest.