Another Recieved Email
The CEPU have sold us out for what appears to be short term political gain.The EBA that will be put to the membership to vote on is a disaster. Post and the CEPU did not negotiate on any of the issues presented in the log of claims put forward by the CEPU in November 2003. The log of claims put forward by Post was the only log of claims addressed. This is EBA1 thru 5 all over again. We, the workers have been screwed again. Our only chance is to run a strong NO campaign.
VOTE NO FOR EBA6
Also I have been speaking to some members today and the feeling is similar, they felt Post's agenda will be steamrolled through, regardless of workers demands.
Certainly Davo will not listen as he has told us since the begining.
Why do they call it negotiations?
I want to see the document!
1 Comments:
SPECIAL August 24th. 04
UNDERSTANDING
THE EBA6
NEGOTIATING PROCESSS
The Enterprise Bargaining process (EBA) involves the membership of the CEPU through its representatives in negotiations with Australia Post. This is the sixth EBA negotiated by the Union. It is the first negotiations in which the Union has comprehensively involved the input received directly from the membership. The EBA negotiations commenced in November 2003. This followed extensive involvement by Union membership, through General Meetings, workplace meetings, and surveys. A Union position paper was prepared and a Union EBA6 campaign was prepared, this included an EBA6 emblem for easy recognition by members. The Unions position paper was distributed to the membership during November 2003.
Australia Post waited until the end of the EBA5 to meet with the CEPU National Negotiators, this was February 2004. At the initial meeting it became very obvious that Australia Post wanted to use the EBA6 negotiations to introduce major, extensive and negative changes to the conditions under which our membership operate. The original document that Australia Post gave to our National Negotiators included the implementation of AIMS which was a management tool to dismiss without proper appeal rights, members, who they deemed were taking too much sick leave. As well as, dedicated outdoor delivery, whereby PDO’s would work their whole shift on the bikes in our hot climate without proper facilities, this also allowed for the introductions of a secondary workforce and seriously endangers the well being of PDO’s. There was a great fear that if this Dedicated Delivery (DODO) were introduced in the delivery area then the same process would be introduced to change negatively the employment categories of mail officers. Australia Post also wanted to introduce the franchising of the corporate post office network and disendorse a great majority of our retail membership. Mail officers in Queensland were to have their meal allowances paid into their pay accounts rather than access them in cash. The initial document also had provisions whereby workers were to have sort rates used unreasonably to monitor and affect workers performance. There was to be no access to arbitration and a decrease in the application of consultation. The Australia Post position on teams and HPO was that teams must be fixed rosters and fixed functions. There were significantly more oppressive claims in Australia Post’s initial EBA6 documentation.
Australia Post is wholly owned by the government of the day. The current Liberal government has an anti worker Industrial Relations policy. The Act under which Industrial Relations is administered in Australia is the Workplace Relations Act 1996. By all fair interpretations, this act is extremely draconian. The Act empowers the employer to exercise an inordinate amount of management prerogative.
What did your Union do about all this? It sought active membership involvement. It conducted urgent pre and post shift, membership meetings. All members were invited to attend these meetings. There were meeting where members stood outside facility gates in the pouring rain, so that they could get report back information from your Union officials and so that they could inform the negotiators of there concerns. A strategic planner was employed by your Union. Workplace Union representatives training took place. Local workplace union representatives and activists were given skills in becoming more active and effective in the workplace. They were also given skills in motivating the workplace membership into action, so that CEPU members could protect the hard won and hard fought for conditions which Australia Post workers have gained over a hundred years of industrial struggle. Conditions that the government of the day and Australia Post senior management were trying to take from the members. Weekly and sometimes twice weekly news/information bulletins were widely distributed to the membership via local workplace representatives, to keep members informed and involved in the process of defending our conditions and improving our wages.
When Australia Post continued to negatively affect our rights and continued to insist on the input of very unacceptable clauses in the EBA6, your Union sought membership authority to take industrial action for the first time in nearly 30 years. Australia Post informed their staff, through inflammatory newsletters and team briefs, that the industrial action would not get them to change their minds, and that the EBA6 would include all the previously mentioned negative clauses. An extremely effective industrial action took place. This action was supported across the membership in all divisions and in all states. The action resulted in a significant loss of income to many members. Australia Post, in other states used a secondary workforce even after the action ceased thereby continuing to disadvantage members.
The result of the effective stoppage was that Australia Post did change its tactics and did agree to significantly reduce the harsh claims in the initial document. Your union still believed that the new revised EBA6 document was not commensurate with the efficient, dedicated work done by our members to make Australia Post the enterprise that it has become. Your Union sought a back-pay clause and even more changes. We gave Australia Post an ultimatum. Australia Post was told that further industrial action would follow if more changes were not made. Other forms of strategic action were implemented. This indicated to Australia Post that your union had the support of the membership and that the membership wanted to continue to pursue a fair and just EBA6.
These continuing actions forced Australia Post to make the following changes to the previously unacceptable EBA6 document.
Union workplace representatives will be paid training and receive official status.
Union workplace representatives will have a charter introduced into the EBA6 which will give the representatives a better chance to adequately represent members in the field.
It was agreed to put arbitration and consultation into EBA6.
Better maternity leave provisions were introduced.
Better employment arrangement clauses were put into EBA6.
Stronger clauses protecting against contracting out were put into the new document.
Retail shoe allowance was significantly increased.
Protection for tea breaks was introduced.
AIMS was taken out of the document and will not be implemented.
Machine sort rates will not be unreasonably used to monitor workers.
Strong and acceptable limits are to be placed on retail franchising arrangements.
There is to be no fulltime DODO.
Any form of DODO will only be introduced into super centres for part timers and only after Union consultation.
There will be no absolute requirement to work fixed teams or fixed shifts in order to obtain the team skills loading.
There is to be a review of the transport structure.
Salary sacrifice provisions are to be enhanced.
Australia Post will make a payment to members to seek superannuation advice.
Meal Allowances will continue to be paid according to the current process.
Australia Post also agreed to increase the pay offer to 4% up front with three payments 8 months apart of 2%, and a four hundred dollar bonus.
Your Union continued the campaign. The aim of all negotiations is to get the best deal available and possible for the membership. Australia Post was then directed by its owner, the Liberal government, to cease all negotiations with the Union, to withdraw all offers mentioned above, to cease any involvement by the Union and not to allow the Union to have access or to provide workplace representation of its members. Your Union then sought expert advice and assistance from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Secretary, Greg Combet of the ACTU lead further negotiations.
During these new negotiations, Australia Post’s position was clear. With direction from the government they were to terminate the bargaining period thus giving the membership, no access to protected industrial action. Australia Post would then continue to trade under the provisions of EBA5. This would allow Australia Post open slather on:
Franchising
DODO
AIMS.
The CEPU would be left with no access to workplaces and our local representatives may loose their right to effectively represent member’s issues. There would be no access to arbitration, no improved consultation, no union representatives training and no Union representatives charter. Only disputes which had no impact on Australia Post’s finances would be allowed to be arbitrated by a third party. The government directed Australia Post to launch an all out full anti-member attack. Australia Post would then go down the track that Telstra took some years back. They would offer members pay increases through Australian Workplace Agreements whereby individuals would argue for their own pay increases thus loosing the bargaining power of the collective. Australia Post would then withdraw from all forms of EBA negotiations. Telstra’s strategy was to decimate the Union by sacking key union representatives, to stop payroll deductions and limit access. If any of this type of action were to take place your CEPU would need to mount a strong and continuing campaign with a minimum of ten days of industrial action and still face an anti Union employer not willing to back down just before a Federal election and with government support.
There is an understanding amongst the membership that an orchestrated, comprehensive campaign would then be required to affect any change over perhaps the next five years. No further pay rises, no union involvement, and a possible hostile government for the next five years. Many of the other state branches and many of our members in Queensland rejected this scenario, particularly when the benefits of the EBA6 (newly negotiated), as listed above were taken into account.
The Queensland Branch with the assistance of NSW and Victorian branches continued to pursue further beneficial changes and were able to make minor adjustments. Importantly an agreement was reached that three months out from the end of EBA6, future negotiations would commence on EBA7.
A new EBA6 Document will be prepared and that document will be available next week. It is the intention of your Union to put that document to members to allow them to decide whether to accept the document or not.
Your Union would appreciate the opportunity to completely involve you and inform you of the processes followed on your behalf to achieve the best result achievable and possible. The Union also has available trend and comparative information about member’s conditions.
.
UNION WEBPAGE. http://www.cepu.asn.au/comm.cepu/
So this means we back down and accept what they are offering?
4:19 pm
Post a Comment
<< Home