Emirates completed “Performance Matters!” appraisals for your 2016 performance during January of February 2017. During Bargaining, the ASU requested a summary of the completed assessments and Emirates provided us with two tables, as follows:
| YOUR GRADE | THE OVERALL “PERFORMANCE MATTERS” RATING ACHIEVED BY FEBRUARY 2017 | TOTAL | ||||
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Developing | Unacceptable | ||
| 4 | 1 | 71 | 4 | 76 | ||
| 5 | 1 | 14 | 113 | 1 | 129 | |
| 6 | 4 | 48 | 1 | 53 | ||
| 7 | 3 | 44 | 47 | |||
| 8 | 3 | 7 | 10 | |||
| TE | 1 | 2 | 8 | 11 | ||
| Total | 2 | 27 | 291 | 6 | 0 | 326 |
| GRADE | AVERAGE VARIABLE MERIT POT INCREASE UNDER THE 2014 AGREEMENT BASED ON INDIVIDUAL RATINGS ACHIEVED BY FEBRUARY 2017 | ||||
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Developing | Unacceptable | |
| 4 | $1,515 | $703 | $0 | ||
| 5 | $2,912 | $2,168 | $1,016 | $0 | |
| 6 | $2,539 | $1,148 | $0 | ||
| 7 | $2,930 | $1,373 | |||
| 8 | $3,354 | $1,533 | |||
| TE | $6,543 | $4,129 | $2,108 | ||
In the first table provided by Emirates, you can see that of the 326 (out of 339) staff that have been assessed under your “Performance Matters!” policy, a majority of 291 staff were rated “Good” performers. The first table also shows a concentration of 113 staff in the Grade 5 Salary Band who were rated “Good”.
In the second table provided to us by Emirates, you can see the average dollar amount increases that should have applied to your annual salary rates.
Read together, both tables show that most Grade 5 staff; for example, could be owed an average pay increase of $1,016.00 (based on the current minimum of 1.5% and maximum of 3% percentage increase parameters agreed in Clause 15.7).
The history of the variable Merit Pot increase
Emirates’ “Performance Matters!” appraisals have been regularly completed on an annual basis to determine a variable salary increase payable to an individual employee. Clause 15.7 of the current Agreement states that the increases “...apply to all individual employees effective from 1st April in each year of the agreement”.
The ASU says that when the assessment criteria were set in the previous calendar year (2016) staff would have had a reasonable expectation that a Merit Pot increase would be applied to their salaries in 2017. This is because Emirates was also expecting all staff would work towards the parameters set for them in 2016 under their “Performance Matters!” policy.
However, Emirates did not process those adjustments to your wages and salaries.
The ASU believes Emirates should apply Clause 15.7 of the current Agreement now and reward individual staff for their 2016 performance by adjusting wages and salaries according to the assessments completed by February 2017.
The ASU is also looking at legal proceedings and getting the 2017 increases paid. Members interested in what we are doing should contact their ASU Organiser as soon as possible.
Why you should Vote ‘NO!’
The ASU anticipates that Emirates will ask staff to vote again on a Proposed Agreement with very few improvements. The ASU have said to Emirates they must not mislead staff about the impact of the offer.
We recommend a no vote because the Proposed Agreement:
- has a below industry standard redundancy package
- cuts the Merit Pot in half
- provides a wage freeze for 2017
- has a pay rise below CPI for 2018 and 2019
- cuts Annual Leave and Long Service Leave for new staff (this means existing staff cost more).
It’s time to vote NO! again to show Emirates that we deserve better.
Stay informed
In the event that Emirates put another offer out to vote, be ready:
- Make sure that your current contact details are up to date with the ASU. Contact your ASU Organiser.
- If you are not an ASU member – now is the time to join – you can do this on line at: https://www.asu.asn.au/asujoin
You have any questions about any of the above, contact your local organiser (download the full bulletin below for details)
Emirates Bulletin, 19 September 2017