On Thursday 25th January, Slater and Gordon held a second briefing session about the proposed changes to the incentive scheme. The ASU was not aware that a meeting had already been held prior to this date and only got invited to the latter two meetings after we discovered that they had been scheduled for the 24th and 29th of January, 2019 and contacted HR and requested our own meeting to be held after they had finished.
At the session that the ASU held it became quite apparent that there was much confusion about what had transpired in the lead up to these information sessions and Slater and Gordon’s decision to modify the current incentive scheme.
It is even more disappointing to note that members were advised by management that the ASU agreed with what Slater’s was offering and supported the decision. For the record this is not accurate.
What did happen was the ASU eventually conceded that given the incentive scheme payments were negotiated and agreed to individually, that we could not stop them offering something different or stop an individual accepting something different.
We did however clearly explain that the ASU’s position was, and still is that, the current incentive scheme forms part of an individual’s contract of employment and that Slater and Gordon cannot unilaterally get rid of or change the parameters of a condition of employment without there being agreement with the individual employee to whom the scheme applied to.
On multiple occasions both verbally and in writing the ASU recommended to Slater and Gordon that they pay 100% of an employee’s cap given that 5-6 months of the measurement period had effectively passed.
We also suggested that they turn 100% of the available cap into a base rate pay increase. Both of these options were rejected by Slater and Gordon and they have decided to run with their original offer as described in a letter to you and via briefing sessions.
The ASU has once again written to Slater’s asking them to delay the decision making date of 31st January, 2019 and come back to the table and meet with the ASU and your delegates to work out a better way forward.
We have explained that employees have had significant pressures and hardships over the last two years, and that this is yet another slap in the face in what has been an exhausting period for Slater and Gordon employees generally. Many employees have suggested to us that they are fatigued by the level of change. You are not only working harder and longer, you are expected to take less and or be offered less for doing so. Processes such as this take away from the main game and waste time that could be better spent.
See letter and printable version of bulletin here.
If you know someone that’s not a member of the union please encourage them to join.