The Union is today celebrating a massive win off the back of an incredible campaign effort by CEPU members across the country.
Just ahead of the Senate’s inquiry hearing into Australia Post’s regulatory changes, Australia Post and the CEPU have entered into agreements which provide the following outcomes for members:
- One in four delivery jobs will no longer be cut from the delivery model
- All posties employed at ADM sites will receive pay parity. For those currently receiving shift penalties, they will be maintained and for those who don’t, a 15% ADM allowance payment will be paid from the effective the date that ADM is effectively introduced at a workplace, or by 30 September, whichever occurs first;
- The One Network roll out at regional and rural sites unaffected by ADM will continue, delivering pay parity across delivery. If a site has not yet transitioned to One Network by the time EBA9 is replaced, all members at those sites will receive the One Network 15% incentive payment, regardless;
- Until the One Network incentive payment described above becomes payable, the ratio of penalty to non-penalty shifts in those workplaces will be maintained;
- Shift commencement times will be determined by operational needs through consultation with ADM Local Working Groups;
- The job security for everybody affected by the impacts of the ADM – including operational areas responsible for the transportation and processing of that product – not just posties, is now guaranteed;
- Retail Rewards incentive payments, that were stripped away from retail members in March 2020, despite already being earned, will now be back paid following a petition signed by PSOs across the country and presented to CEO Holgate in person by National Secretary Greg Rayner and National President Shane Murphy;
- Australia Post will not seek to vary or terminate EBA9 and bargaining for a new EBA will now be deferred to avoid being forced to negotiate an EBA marred by the impacts of the pandemic, including the Federal Government’s COVID-19 public sector wage freeze; and
- A 1% pandemic “thank you” payment will be paid to all EBA employees next month, with no strings or conditions attached.
This outcome represents a massive shift from where we were 8 weeks ago.
Members were staring down the most significant attack on their jobs and take-home pay in recent history – changes which would have impacted on the jobs of thousands of postal workers, not just posties – but also those supporting the transportation, processing and sorting of mail product. Members were also being forced to the bargaining table to negotiate an EBA which would be subjected to the Federal Government’s COVID-19 public sector wage freeze policy.
Since that time, CEPU members, their friends and their families undertook a disciplined campaign – calling talkback radio and local television stations, sending tens of thousands of emails to MPs and Senators along with making hundreds of telephone calls to their offices – calling on them to stand up for the postal workers who have stood up for Australians throughout the pandemic.
Your campaign won the early backing of Labor Leader Anthony Albanese and Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who have been incredibly vocal in their support for your jobs, and the services you deliver. Ultimately, during the last sitting of Parliament, an Inquiry into the future of Australia Post’s service delivery was established by the Senate.
And whilst the commitments we’ve secured to guarantee all jobs in the delivery mix and supporting operations will improve the prospects of Australia Post meeting their claims to deliver a better parcel service, the proof of that remains to be seen.
So, the inquiry will still run its course, examining the appropriateness of the regulatory change, and that’s why we will continue to advocate against its impact on services to our communities.
However, regardless of the Senate’s decision on any disallowance of the regulatory change, and whilst talks between your Union and Australia Post will continue in constructive manner in an effort to mitigate against remaining impacts, members can at least have some immediate certainty that: their jobs are protected; pay parity will finally occur in delivery; incentive payments owing to retail members will be paid; they will not be forced to bargain for a new EBA at a time when the uncertainty of the pandemic clouds the outcome; and they will finally be rewarded financially, and unconditionally without any strings attached, for their dedication to our communities on the frontlines of the pandemic response.
A copy of the Union’s submission to the inquiry, and The Future of Australia Post report we commissioned to supplement that submission, can be downloaded by clicking here.
Once again, this win belongs to our members. Without the enormous pressure of your efforts so far, this outcome would not have occurred.
Your voices led to the jobs of our members, and the services you provide to your communities, being the topic of an entire Parliamentary sitting and led to your first win in this campaign – a commitment from the Federal Government not to privatise Australia Post.
We’ll be holding Zoom conferences in the coming days for members to be taken through these agreements in more detail.
In the meantime, well done to each and every one of you. And remember – united we bargain, but divided we beg.
Yours faithfully,
SHANE MURPHY
NATIONAL PRESIDENT
GREG RAYNER
NATIONAL SECRETARY
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