Approximately 8 weeks ago the ASU discovered that the Transport allowance contained in your EBA was not being paid and raised this with your local management.
After some initial investigations Andrew Smith agreed that the allowance should have been paid and that it hadn’t been. Andrew further agreed to commence investigations into how much was owed and to who and then get back to the ASU with a compiled list of who was owed what.
What is a Transport Allowance & when should it be paid?
As was detailed in our previous bulletin the Transport allowance is to be paid when you work on a shift that starts before 7am, or on a shift that finishes after 7pm. The transport allowance is $9.46 per occasion, therefore, if you work five 6am starts in a week you would receive five payments of $9.46 ($47.30) for that week’s pay.
How do I know how much back pay I’m entitled to?
For many individuals this will be a significant amount of money owed and the easiest way to get an indication is to check your records of the shifts that you have worked back to May 2013. Any shifts where you started work prior to 7am, or any shifts that you worked later than 7pm you are entitled to an amount of $9.46 for each of these shifts.
Why is the calculation taking so long?
This is a reasonably complex task and we don’t think that Toll Dnata realised the extent of the underpayment until they started investigating how often the allowance was actually payable
and how much was owed. Please remember that Toll will need to go over every individual’s record of every shift that was worked over a period of nearly 12 months. Keep in mind that there are approximately 180 people at Melbourne airport alone.
We will hold Toll Dnata to account.
Please rest assured that the ASU will continue to pursue this underpayment and ensure that it is paid to any member that is owed back pay.
We thank you for your continued patience, the ASU will continue to push Toll Dnata to expedite the calculations and subsequent payments and keep you informed of the progress.