Newcastle Member Bulletin
KDH put out a survey and bulletin recently regarding the EA negotiations. They are trying to make it look like there’s been some huge and lengthy process and the company has been reasonable.
It has not been a long time and the company has not been reasonable.
From the beginning we had to push them to keep to the agreed meeting schedule. When we were last in the Fair Work Commission getting Protected Industrial Action approved it was the Commissioner who agreed with the RTBU that 2-hour meetings each fortnight was not efficient or productive. Only then did we have longer meetings as previously agreed. Although KDH continually implies that the RTBU are responsible for the delays in reaching an acceptable agreement this is not the case. KDH have stalled negotiations throughout the process much to the frustration of the RTBU representatives and our members.
The company has refused to genuinely consider most of the claims put forward by the RTBU. Many of these claims simply lock in things like current rostering practices and give drivers certainty for their day-to-day work.
In the end, we prioritised certain claims based on feedback from members and that is what we have been negotiating.
In the last meeting, the company again refused to something as simple as putting in the name of the depot into the overtime clause. They continue to insist that EVEREYONE at Belmont depot must be available to do on demand work instead of a voluntary system. To us this looks like the first step to undermining the roster system and making drivers do whatever work the company wants them to. You’re on a roster, unless the company wants you to do something else.
Members need to understand-
- A 6-month bargaining process is not a long time.
- The Fair Work Commission process is not the be all and end all.
- The company has refused to move on the RTBU wage claim AT ALL, even though we pointed out to the company this week that workers are effectively 10% behind in real wage terms. Workers should not be on anything less than $40 per hour by the end of this Agreement.
KDH were told in our last bargaining meeting that if they were so sure that workers would be happy with the substandard pay offer they were sticking to then they should stop trying to blame the Union and put it out to a vote. The survey was them testing the waters for that. If they think they have a shot at getting the current deal across the line then they’ll do everything they can to lock workers into a pay structure that will leave you unable to pay your bills without doing overtime.
This week we met with the company in the FWC where Keolis tried to make out that the company was being hard done by because the RTBU was being unreasonable. Unfortunately for them they had no evidence this was the case and it quickly became clear that what they really wanted was for the FWC to order us to stop taking industrial action. Again, there was no evidence why this should be done.
We are next meeting in the FWC August 4th in person to discuss the formal positions of each party.
In the meantime, the fight for a fair and reasonable pay rise goes on!