Water & Ports

Working Party Tackles Issues

Details

Published on Wednesday, 27 February, 2008

A working party of waste water treatment workers, employed by Hunter Water Australia, has been formed in order to resolve many outstanding issues through negotiations.

Waste Water Treatment workers feel they have been denied access to their rights under their Agreement and have been dealing with issues for seven years now.
The Party was established in June last year and as a result a list of issues was compiled and includes:
• Not being managed in accordance with the Agreement or Award
• Remuneration issues - not being paid for standby or call out operations; not being paid for using a personal car for less than 50km; changes to work requirements without consultation or additional remuneration.
• Staffing levels – workers feel under-staffed especially when workers are on leave. They often miss meal breaks.
• Communication – there is a need for more consultation, involvement in decisions, transparency and honesty.
• Future uncertainty – the operators are uncertain about where they sit in the future.

According to Party member and ASU Hunter Water President, Max Johns, there has been no negotiation or consultation with the union despite 28 changes to work practices in 2 years.

“Our concerns keep falling on deaf ears. Hunter Water need to know that a letter is not consultation or negotiation, it’s just communication,” said Max.
The Party feel that Waste Water Treatment workers are constantly neglected and ripped off in comparison to those who do the same work in Sydney.
They believe the time has come to draw some solutions.