Newcastle Permanent Building Society: 2010 COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT UPDATE
By Paul Sansom
USU Organiser
Jul 1, 2009
Your Collective Agreement, which contains your working conditions and entitlements, expires on 31 January 2010. So what, you say, that's months away. Both your Union and NPBS management recognise these Agreements take considerable time to finalise and so are keen to kick the process off in the near future. The Federal Labor Government's Fair Work Australia (FWA) legislation, which came into place on 1 July 2009 replaces the previous Workchoices legislation and therefore there will need to be changes in the way the Agreement is worded.
Under FWA a Union cannot be excluded from agreement negotiations, which is very different to what happened under WorkChoices. This is of huge benefit to Union members as the Federal Department of Workplace Relations own data shows that collective agreements negotiated with a union achieve much better outcomes than non-union agreements.
So far, preliminary discussions between the United Services Union and the Society’s management have taken place to discuss the legislative or "legalistic" side of things.
Our Commitment to Communicating With You Just like the negotiations back in 2006, the United Services Union is committed to keeping you informed on the status of the negotiations. We'll be putting out regular flyers to our members, providing updates on the negotiations as they progress. We will also be looking to hold off-site, out of hours meetings for our members to receive updates and provide feedback to us if required.
But I'm on an AWA or ITEA! Society employees who are on Grade 4 or above, and some newer Society employees, have been employed on Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) or Individual Transitional Employment Arrangements (ITEAs).
The Fair Work Australia legislation abolishes AWAs and ITEAs. So if you are currently on an AWA or ITEA you may be eligible to be part of the collective agreement negotiating process,including voting on the new agreement, and the United Services Union can represent you in this.
It's important for all staff to take an interest in the process, as those currently on AWAs or ITEAs may fall under the "umbrella" of the Agreement when their contracts reach their expiry date.
Where to Next? Going on past practice a Committee will be elected by the staff to represent them in the negotiations. These representatives should be drawn from different areas covered by the Agreement such as–Branch and Head Office staff including management, Member Support Centre, Community Managers.
Your Union will be working in conjunction with the Society's elected committee to ensure an Agreement is negotiated that reflects improvements in conditions for all USU members.
USU members should keep an eye out for updates from the United Services Union, check out our website www.usu.org.au and make sure to have a say on what matters to you.
Want more information? Want to join the USU but don’t know how? Its easy- Either contact one of your delegates Lee Brossman ph 4927 4332 or Helen Loxley 0403 040 362, or your Union officials Paul Sansom 0409 076 033 or Jodie Harrison 0419 761 318. Or visit here.
