GROW Agreement 2012 – your VOTE your say

The GROW draft agreement has been issued by management and subject to a ballot of staff commencing 11 May and closing 18 May 2012. Unfortunately the final draft agreement is not one the ASU could recommend to members.

The offer is for a 4 year agreement with 3% pay increase in July each year.

All staff covered by the agreement will have the opportunity to vote  on whether the enterprise agreement is acceptable.

During fortnightly bargaining meetings earlier this year the ASU negotiated some significant changes to the original draft agreement based on the modern Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010.

However notwithstanding good progress in bargaining the following outstanding issues remained unresolved:

Pay Increase

Given the length of the Agreement the ASU sought a National CPI increase (if greater than 3%) each year. The old GROW collective agreement (2009) expired on 1 March 2012 and the ASU sought back pay from the day after the expiry date i.e. 2 March 2012.

Introduction of Change and Redundancy

The ASU sought union, as well as employee notification, for any impending change to the organisation which may affect ongoing employment of members.

Casual employment

Given the distinction and definition of “regular casuals” the ASU sought a commitment as per the old agreement (cl.8.4.1) as follows:

“A casual employee means an employee who is engaged intermittently for work of an unexpected or casual nature and does not include an employee who could properly be engaged as a full-time or part-time employee”.

GROW Policy Review

The ASU expressed concern with polices developed outside the agreement which could prejudice employee entitlements e.g. travel, car and mobile phone usage.

Pay out of Accrued Leave

While management agreed to remove pay out of Long Service Leave, they retained the option of pay out of Annual Leave which is allowed under the FW Act but contrary to the original rest and recreational/ life balance reasons the entitlement was created in the first place.

Overtime and Broken Duty

The Broken Duty Periods provision in the award (cl. 25.6)  is for: “SACS employees when undertaking disability services work and home care work” however these same workers don’t get the award and old agreement  benefit of double time after two hours (proposed to be three) as per cl 28.1 (a)(ii). The agreement picks up the worst aspects from both award clauses.

Be sure to vote - your vote counts!

It is important that everyone votes. The enterprise agreement will be made if a majority of those employees who vote approve the agreement.

If you do not agree with the proposed enterprise agreement, then it is better that you vote NO than remain silent. We hope this bulletin assists you to make an informed choice in the forthcoming ballot. Please do not hesitate to contact the ASU if you have further questions or concerns.

The ASU is the union for social and community workers and the community sector.  With every member we become stronger and make your voice louder.  So if you’re not a member and wish to join today please go to ASUjoin and/or contact the following:

Contacts

Download the full GROW Bulletin - 8 May 2012