Uniting Care Campaign

UnitingCare workers begin EBA negotiations

Details

Published on Wednesday, 20 August, 2008

As you are aware, your Certified Agreement is due to expire at the end of 2008. This means that the process to negotiate your new conditions of employment has now begun.

Important Information about Unifam workers and the ASU
You are entitled to be a member of the ASU, just like many other Unifam employees already are. The Union that you are eligible to belong to is not dependant upon the award that you are employed under. Nor is it based on who your employer tells you to join. Your employer is promoting one particular union for Unifam workers to join. We do not believe that this is correct, fair or appropriate. You have the right to join the union that you choose. Unifam employees are all eligible to be members of the ASU. The ASU already has a number of members employed by Unifam.

A Union Agreement
This will be a Union Agreement which will cover all staff employed by the UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families service group. A Union Agreement means that your union will be negotiating with your employer on your behalf. There will be a number of directors and management representatives negotiating on behalf of your employer. These representatives have been involved in the negotiating process before. This is why it is important that the Union and all of its resources are representing you. Negotiations are set to begin on Tuesday 19th August. This is when both parties will be able to present their claims for what they would like to see changed in the agreement.

Where Are We Up To?
The ASU is currently holding meetings with workers at a number of centralised locations. All workers from across the region will be given the opportunity to attend these meetings in paid time. If a service is unrepresented, or employees are unable to attend these meetings, please contact the ASU office on 1300 784 278 to organise a follow up workplace visit. It is important that all workers are given the opportunity to take part in the consultation process with the Union. This is how the ASU will form our bargaining position, and consequently your employment conditions for the next three years. The ASU is committed to consultation and a democratic process. We represent the view of employees.

Employees should also note that your Staff Consultative and Safety Committee has also appointed a number of staff reps for the negotiation process. The role of staff reps is to assist in communicating with all employees. Your staff reps are:

Vivien Tait	Managers
Catherine Cooper	Unifam
Joshua Patterson	Burnside
Tricia Carlson	Burnside
Deslie Griffiths	Admin Staff
Romola Hollywood	Service Support Programs

All of your staff reps can be contacted by emailing “EBA STAFF REPS”

Already Some Concerns
There are a number of concerns with your current agreement that have come to the attention of the union. Please be aware of these issues when you complete the survey and make the decision to get involved in the campaign. These concerns include the use of “performance based pay”. Under the current enterprise agreement, once you reach year three of your grade, your annual pay increases are linked to performance. This is referred to as performance based pay. This is NOT a feature of any other agreement in the industry.

The Salary Packaging arrangements in your agreement are also of concern. Salary packaging is widely available across the SACS industry and is a big benefit to you – up to $16,000 a year. In all SACS employers in NSW the employees receive the whole of the benefit of salary packaging. At UnitingCare your employer keeps some of the benefits of salary packaging. They do this by removing your annual leave loading. Again, this is not a feature used by any other employer in the industry. Remember salary packaging cost your employer nothing!

It is the position of the ASU that employees should be afforded at least the industry standards, and that the UnitingCare Children, Young People and Family service group Enterprise Agreement should only build on to these standards – NOT take away conditions!

What Do I Need To Do?
All service group employees are strongly encouraged to join the union. A strong union means better conditions for workers. Employees are also encouraged to complete the employee survey that the ASU has prepared and is circulating at the centralised meetings. The responses to these surveys will enable us to build our claim and bargain for the conditions that YOU want.

Once you have completed your own survey, you should also encourage others in your workplace to do so to. Speak to your co workers about the issues with your agreement, the bargaining process, joining the union and completing the survey.

For Further Information
If you would like further information on the campaign or to arrange for an ASU organiser to visit your workplace please contact the ASU office on
Phone: (02) 9310 4000       1300 784 278 (outside Sydney area)
Fax:  9698 8936
Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Visit: www.asumembers.org.au