Over the past two days your Union has participated in rigorous EBA9 negotiations with senior Australia Post Management representatives, including CEO Ahmed Fahour.
And while we’ve made significant progress on a number of matters you told us were most important to you, we believe it is important to consult with members and their local reps to explain where the offer is now at and seek direct feedback from members.
Where the current offer meets what you told us matters most to you:
- An exemption from the Federal Government’s Workplace Bargaining Policy, allowing the rolling-over ofALL the current EBA8 Agreement document – securing all your existing conditions including genuine consultation, dispute resolution procedures, the maximising of full-time jobs, the protection of penalty rates and the retention of your current RRR entitlements in full;
- Your Union Picnic Day (Authorised Holiday) will remain untouched and its timing will remain subject to annual consultation as presently occurs;
- Extending the CEPU/Australia Post Reform Accord – protecting employees impacted by postal reform from involuntary (forced) redundancies for the life of EBA9;
- Protecting your APSS defined superannuation benefits, and the 12% accumulation rate for non-APSS members, for the life of EBA9;
- A $22 million future skills training fund limited to Award / Operations level employees to ensure our members can be retrained and redeployed to growth areas of the business to secure their ongoing employment as our traditional work continues to be disrupted by shifts in consumer demands;
- Ensuring the sustainability of the jobs of Postal Delivery Officers into the future (“Posties of Tomorrow”);
- In addition to the Government Workplace Bargaining Policy’s maximum 2% annual wage cap, we have secured an additional annual 1% bonus payment that will be calculated against youractual gross annual earnings – including overtime, additional hours, penalty rates, allowances and other non-salary earnings with a minimum safety-net payment of $250 to employees earning less than $25,000 p.a. This equates to more than 3% of new money every year for the life of a three-year EBA9.
What concerns us:
Australia Post wants to link the new bonus payment to profit outcomes and service performance.
Your Union has some reservations about these conditions placed upon the annual bonus component.
This is an issue now, more than ever before, due to the low annual maximum 2% wage cap imposed by the Federal Government’s Workplace Bargaining Policy.
We believe it is unfair that our members’ only opportunity to achieve earnings greater than the 2% wage cap will be subjected to service performance and the “Australia Post Group” turning a profit – two key indicators that we accept are crucial to Post’s continued success and sustainability, however are the clear responsibility of the Executive group, not Award/EBA/operational level employees.
Rain, hail or shine: you’re required to turn up, clock-on, and undertake the duties required of you and clock-off – therefore, we feel very strongly that any condition to achieve additional earnings should not be linked to outcomes outside of your control in your role.
Where to from here? Special Union briefings to occur shortly.
We are at the critical stage of negotiations and are close to reaching an agreement for our members and your feedback has never been more vitally important.
That’s why your Branch Officials will be out and about in workplaces across NSW and the ACT where they will be attempting to brief and gather as much member feedback as possible on the current offer.
Importantly, special detailed briefings of your local Union reps (AURs) are being planned to occur within the next week.
AURs will be contacted shortly once arrangements for these special briefings have been confirmed.
In the meantime, let us know how Australia Post’s new offer stacks up for you and your family – send us your feedback now by clicking here.
Comments are closed.
