TO ALL UNION MEMBERS IN THE RACV MCC AND RELATED WORK AREAS
The negotiations for your new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) continue to roll on with RACV management.
It has been a few weeks since our last update so we thought it was time to let you know the current state of play…
WHAT THE UNION IS SEEKING FOR YOU
The Union continues to push hard for all of YOUR claims. We have not taken a backward step and we are mindful of what Union members said was important to them for this new EBA.
Some of the things that we continue to push for include:
- Protection, as a minimum, of ALL of your current terms and conditions of employment including Redundancy provisions, penalty rates, sick leave and the right to go to the Fair Work Commission if you feel that you have been poorly treated in your workplace
- New processes and measures to reduce stress around meeting your KPIs including greater input from employees into how KPIs are set
- Greater certainty around the taking of your annual leave so that you can take it at a time that is convenient to you
- Improved procedures to stop management from harassing you when you take sick leave. We want to protect your right to privacy and stop invasive management questions like “what is wrong with you?” or “why are you off work?” or “when are you coming back to work?”. Employees should NOT feel pressured or guilty for taking sick leave when it is their right to do so.
- Improvements to YOUR access to YOUR time in lieu so that you can take it at a time that is convenient to you.
- Better break arrangements to ensure employees have proper spaced breaks between commencement of work, first tea break, main meal break, second tea break and cessation of work.
- A Union Rights clause for the new EBA so that like your fellow RACV employees in work areas like the RAC your union delegates have some rights to represent you properly in your workplace and that we can hold Union meetings in the workplace as paid time arrangements. These provisions apply very well and very sensibly in the RAC and there is no reason why they shouldn’t apply in the wider MCC.
WHAT RACV MANAGEMENT ARE TRYING TO DO
Whilst the Union’s starting point in these negotiations is to protect the terms and conditions in your current EBA RACV management have a totally opposite view.
They continue their assault on your long standing and hard won terms and conditions of employment.
As most of you will know by now RACV management are trying to impose upon MCC workers a new EBA that slashes and burns the conditions contained in your current EBA.
Just a few of the things RACV management want to take off you include:
- The current Redundancy provisions which pay a maximum of 74 weeks. RACV want to reduce that back to as little as 16 weeks.
- RACV also want to slash the afternoon shift penalty rate of 25% back to just 10%
- RACV management want to put new wording in your agreement that will reduce your current 12 days sick leave per year back to 10 days per year
- RACV want to remove any right employees have to overtime payments by making employees take time in lieu instead of any overtime payments
- Management have also tried to force upon workers a new pay rate that would slash the rate available to MCC employees back to 80% of the current minimum rate – OUTRAGEOUS!!!
The new EBA RACV management want to impose upon you is just 15 pages long. Your current agreement is 90 pages long.
That means a lot of your rights and terms and conditions of your employment will disappear.
BUT only if YOU let it!!!
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
The Union will continue to negotiate in good faith as we are obliged to do under the laws of the Fair Work Act.
RACV management continue to play hard ball and force their sinister reduced conditions on employees.
The Union will remain strong and continue to resist any of these harsh and unfair changes.
It is very important for all RACV MCC workers to remember the following:
- That although the current EBA expires on 30 June, 2016 (today) it must, by law, stay in place until it’s replaced
- That means if it takes some time after the expiry date to finalise a new agreement the old EBA continues to operate for as long as it takes
- The only way the current agreement can be replaced is if employees vote to replace it with a new agreement
- Management will try and use incentives to get people to accept a crappy new EBA. They will likely threaten to withhold your annual wage increase which is outrageous as you are due to receive your 2016 wage increase for your performance over the course of the last 12 months. They may even try and offer some other minimal financial settlements to buy out your penalty rates and time in lieu. MCC employees must remember that a short term buy out can NEVER replace the long term benefit of keeping your terms and conditions. Once they are gone they are gone forever.
So the message to Union members is to stay strong and united. Your workplace delegates have been working very hard for you in these difficult negotiations with management. Support them and give them your feedback and thoughts at all times.
The Union will continue to fight for YOU. Tell your workmates that aren’t Union members that the only way we can protect you and them is if you are all in the Union. There is unity and strength in being one united force against your aggressive and rampant RACV management.
For further information on any of these matters please see one of your Union workplace delegates Jenny Stewart, Rona Milne, Thomas O’Keefe, Rod Semple, Annie Keen, Sue Heynders, Helen Verwey or Kerry
Forbes or contact the Union office – David Leydon (Ph.: 0408998849, email: dleydon@asupsvic.org) or
Andy Lewis (ph: 0409778890, email: alewis@asupsvic.org)
