The employee ballot for your new enterprise agreement is now open. Voting will happen between 10 to 17 August. Vote ‘Yes’ to the new EA to lock in your pay increase and new conditions.
The Agreement includes a 2.5% annual pay increase for Support Staff and Law Clerks, a 2% annual increase to the minimum rates for Lawyers, and other improvements to your conditions of employment over the next two years.
It’s time to draw a line under these protracted negotiations. We started bargaining in the middle of the pandemic, when we couldn’t be in the same room as our colleagues. Even so, we’ve moved management from their hard-line opposition to any pay increases at all. We now need to focus on building our strength ahead of our next EA negotiations in 2024.
Next Steps
If a majority of voting employees vote ‘Yes’ to the Agreement, it will be submitted to the Fair Work Commission to make sure it passes the Better Off Overall Test.
It can take several weeks for the Commission to approve an enterprise agreement. We don’t want this to delay your pay increase. At our member’s insistence, management will apply the Year 1 pay increase (which will be backdated to 1 July 2022) during the first pay run of August.
Encourage your colleagues to join the Union!
Want a better deal next time?
We are stronger together. The more members we have, the better our prospects of winning a fair pay rise from management. Forward this bulletin to a non-member and ask them to join the USU/ASU.
Fees are low and all tax deductible. As a member you also get access to a range of excellent retail and travel discounts, and can access professional development through the Union’s Career Launchpad platform.
New members can join here: www.usu.org.au/join
For more information contact your delegates or USU Organiser Thomas Gao on 0417 420 924.
