Water & Ports

WaterNews Speaks to Tim Park

Details

Published on Monday, 07 July, 2008

Job description: Waste Water Treatment Operator and a Hunter Water Australia employee.

How long have you been an ASU member ?

2 years

You’re a member of the Waste Water Treatment Working Party; why was this established?

It was set up to tidy up some old issues and move on to deal with new ones. We needed to deal with outstanding issues with the Hunter Water Corporation such as pay disputes and communication issues, and also to move on in regards to the new EBA for Hunter Water Australia. We’re just about to start negotiating our first agreement and we’re hoping to mirror the agreement with Hunter Water Corporation.

Has the Working Party been successful and how?

We have moved forward on a few issues and are in the process of moving forward on some others. The main issue we are dealing with at the moment is wage structure. We want to move down the path of Sydney Water toward a pay system based on skills recognition. At the moment ours is fairly stagnant, and the only way to move around, let alone move forward, is if somebody leaves. The committee is set up of 8 people (5 union members and 3 management) and it is important because it has strength in numbers. If it was up to individuals negotiating with management, it wouldn’t get very far. The party meets once a month for negotiations and we distribute the minutes from the meetings and report back to members at group meetings.

Why is union membership important?

In the modern world you need some sort of base for negotiations in order to deal with the way most managers think. Unions deal with management all the time and to have any success, you’ve got to know the system to be able to use the system.

How do you think the union can remain active and visible?

The union has to be proactive in trying to recruit and keep people involved. We have to be seen to be helping people and we can do this by keeping people informed on how the union is helping them.