Your wages, allowances, conditions, and rights are all under attack from your employer’s offensive and unreasonable log of claims for your new Award. Only the Union can protect you from this attack on your workplace rights and conditions.
Please carefully consider the below table which compares the employer’s claims with your current entitlements under the Award.
| Your employer wants to… | You currently have… |
|---|---|
| remove the ‘Work Health and Safety’ clause in the Award and replace it with a single ‘dot point’ at the start of the Award | an entire section devoted to Work Health and Safety. In particular your employer is proposing to remove a provision which requires risk assessments to be conducted in ‘extreme or unusual weather conditions |
| Remove ‘on call allowance’, ‘community language allowance’ and ‘first aid allowance’ from the definition of ‘ordinary pay’ | an entitlement to receive these allowances whilst on leave. Your employer wants to extinguish this entitlement |
| limit the circumstances in which you receive higher duties allowance | an entitlement to higher duties when required to relieve in a higher paid position. Your employer wants to change this so that you are only paid the allowance if directed to relieve in a higher position |
| determine annual pay increases by reference to factors such as the historically low level of inflation and your employer’s capacity to pay | a 2.8% pay increase which is greater than the 2.5% pay increases offered in the State Public Service and the 2.4% minimum rates increase ordered by the Fair Work Commission |
| clarify that they may, upon your request, make super contribution payments into any complying super fund | Local Government Superannuation is your default super fund |
| only pay for outgoing calls on your home phone which are made on your employer’s behalf | an entitlement to receive payment for installation costs, line rental, and outgoing calls where, upon agreement, you use the phone on your employer’s behalf |
| create a sub-category of ‘motor cycle’ for the purposes of the vehicle allowance which will be paid at $0.26 per km | most motorcycles paid a vehicle allowance of $0.68 per km |
| deny you a vehicle allowance for travel to seminars, conferences, or training, even if you are required to attend as part of your job | an entitlement to receive the travelling allowance for all travel to and from a place other than your normal place of work |
| limit the first aid allowance to employees who are in charge of the first aid kit and are required to administer first aid. | an entitlement to the first aid allowance if you are in charge of the first aid kit or required to administer first aid. |
| get rid of the Civil Liability Allowance | a 3.5% allowance for engineering professionals or the functional management of engineering professionals |
| create loopholes to apply greater increases to your leaseback vehicle fees | leaseback vehicle fee increases which are limited to either 10% or CPI (whichever is greater) |
| move all 35 hour a week workers onto 38 hour a week schedules with no additional pay | a 35 hour working week for most indoor staff |
| be able to direct you to take meal breaks at times more convenient to your employer | an entitlement to a minimum 30 minute unpaid meal break within the first 5 hours of your shift and a paid 20 minute meal break for every additional 5 hours |
| remove weekend penalties rates for all recreation and community services workers | an entitlement for penalties rates as high as double time for Sunday work |
| extend the span of hours for child care workers to 6am to 8pm | A span of 6am to 7pm for childcare workers which means all hours worked outside these hours attracts a ‘shift penalty’ |
| have greater power to direct you to take accrued time in lieu | all time in lieu accrued as a result of working a public holiday being taken at a ‘mutually convenient time’ |
| require all employees to ‘immediately respond to a request to attend work’ | to attend work while on call ‘within a reasonable time’ |
| only pay a minimum of 3 hours for all employees who are called back to work | have an entitlement to a minimum of 4 hours pay when called back to work |
| get rid of Union Picnic Day | access to a day of paid leave each year to spend with your family, friends, and colleagues |
| be able to pay you out of some of your long service leave | access to a scheme to pay out some of your long service leave into superannuation only |
| limit the portability of your long service leave to five years | The ability to transfer all of your long service leave when you transfer from one local government employer to another |
| consider reducing the capacity to enter into flexible working arrangements | access to flexible working arrangements based on the national standard |
| increase the requalification period for parental leave make-up pay to 6 months | to only return to work for 3 months to requalify for parental leave make-up pay |
| combine the prohibitions against the use of labour hire | Protection against labour higher in two separate subclauses |
| restrict your capacity to be represented by your Union at a grievance and/or disciplinary matter | the right to a Union representative at a grievance or disciplinary meeting. Your employer wants to minimise this person’s role by turning them into ‘support person’. |
