Uniting Care Campaign

The ASU and Staff Negotiators – Working as One!

Details

Published on Wednesday, 17 September, 2008

On Tuesday 9th of September Employee Representatives (including Union representatives and Staff Negotiators) met with Uniting Care Children Young People and Family Services (UCCYPFS) management representatives to begin negotiations for your new enterprise agreement. This meeting mainly focussed on outlining the continuing consultation process, communications with all employees throughout negotiations and setting dates for the provisions of parties’ claims.

Staff Negotiators and the ASU are working as one to represent the views and interests of employees throughout the bargaining process – we are your Employee Representative team. We will be holding workplace meetings, attending bargaining meetings with management and communicating with employees together as one united team.

Staff Negotiators and the ASU have been meeting regularly and attending staff meetings at UCCYPFS workplaces. The first round of these meetings was to give all UCCYPFS employees an opportunity to have input into building the Union’s log of claims for bargaining. This was done through completing the survey. We are now conducting a second round of workplace meeting to endorse this claim.

Continuing Consultation Process

After Tuesday’s meeting the consultation process is continuing. Union representatives and Staff Negotiators will be continuing to conduct the second round of meetings in your workplace. These meetings are to debate and endorse the bargaining claim and should be held a time that as many employees as possible can attend (for example this may be at a staff meeting).  As previously stated in the ASU’s Uniting Care Staff Bulletin number 2 for 2008 the process for the second round of meetings is as follows:

1. All employees are invited to attend the meeting
2. All employees are invited to participate in the discussion around the items in the claim
3. Only union members can vote on the claim
4. All employees can give comment or feedback to Staff Negotiators, who will pass this on to the Employee Representatives team.

Remember:

1. All employees have a voice whether they are Union members or not.
2. If you wish to have a vote on the claim you need to be a member of the ASU.

Extension for Deadline to Return Endorsed Claims

The deadline for workplaces to return their endorsed claims has been extended to close of business Friday 19th of September. After your workplace has held a meeting to discuss and vote on the claim, the completed claim can be faxed back to the ASU on (02) 9698 8936. All of the endorsements and amendments to the claim that are returned to the ASU by this date will be reviewed to produce our revised log of claims, which will then be presented to management to begin negotiations.

Another outcome of Tuesday’s Meeting is that we have set dates for both parties to provide their logs of claims. It is agreed that the ASU will provide the employees log of claims to management by the 23rd of September.

Management will then, based on this claim, provide the Employee Representatives with:

1. An initial response to our claim; and 
2. Management’s log of claims.

We will then begin negotiations.

Communications Throughout the Process

As was discussed during the first round of consultation between the union, Staff Negotiators and employees, communication with employees will be continued throughout the whole negotiation process. It was agreed that after each round of negotiations at the Joint Consultative Committee, a joint communication will be provided to all employees. All parties involved in the negotiations will have input into this communication.

In addition to this, Employee Representatives will also provide a bulletin such as this one, to all employees. This will be a communication to you as an employee of UCCYPFS from your Employee Representative team, consisting of Union representatives and Staff Negotiators. Management may also choose to distribute their own bulletins on the progress of negotiations.

What Do You Need To Do?

1. It is important that you now ensure that your workplace has had a second meeting to discuss the claim.
2. If you wish to vote on the claim, you will also need to join the union. You can complete your union membership form before or at the time of voting. It will need to be returned to the union with the endorsed claim.
3. Continue to pass on suggestions and input via your Staff Negotiator or Union organiser.