Thank you to all who attended the USU update meeting on Tuesday 31stAugust.  It was great to meet you all and thanks to all who provided their feedback following the meeting. As discussed in the meeting, the combined unions were to attend a meeting with Management on the 1st September to discuss the combined unions counter offer and management response.

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We can report that in the Enterprise Agreement discussion on the 1stSeptember, management rejected the combined union counter proposal and announced that they would be taking the agreement out to vote.

The current pay offer from management is as tabled below;

  • 3 year agreement
  • 2.5% wages increase per year
  • Backdated to 1st December 2020 payable upon a yes vote.

As discussed in the USU members meeting, the combined unions’ counter claim is currently requesting an increase of 3% for each year of the agreement with an increase of 0.5% of the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) for each year of the agreement.

Some union members are on Individual Employment Agreements (IEA), TransGrid are constantly trying to push IEA’s onto more and more staff and have it mandatorily applied to lower and lower salary point bands. People on an IEA are forced to self-fund any legislated SGC increases, so a 2.5% pay increase would be 2% wage increase plus 0.5% SCG increase. Those on IEA are currently on 10% SGC not the 15% that those on the Enterprise Agreement enjoy, the counter claim of increasing the SGC for all staff delivers a fair and equitable outcome for members.

In our meeting on the 31st August we asked you if you were unsatisfied with the outcomes from the next meeting that a Protected Industrial Action application be lodged,. Support for this from our responding members to the USU is at 80% and aligns with the strategy of the combined unions.  

In order for you to understand what Protected Industrial Action is please DOWNLOAD THIS DOCUMENT which will provide you with information from the Fair Work Commission (What is Protected Industrial Action).

Since we commenced negotiations in May 2020, the combined unions have achieved a lot.

We started with a company offer of 1.5% over 3 years and a huge push from Management for fortnightly pays since then we have managed to achieve the following:

  • Increase in standby rates
  • SUSO Rates in line with ATO provisions
  • Improvement to Family Domestic Violence support
  • Improvements to the Dispute Settlement Procedure
  • Rebutted fortnightly pays
  • Pushed wages increases to 2.5% per year for 3 years

These improvements could not have been achieved without a concerted effort from the collective unions working as one. But we still have not achieved everything and we have a small way to go to be able to push improvements in your Superannuation.  As we discussed in our meeting with you, this is not just to improve your Super conditions but to also lay a platform for improvements in super for generations to come. All improvements in your working conditions such as annual leave, long service leave, an 8-hour day, parental leave etc have been achieved by collective unions working together to improve wages and conditions for all.

We have come this far, let’s not give up now!

Please fill in our survey – if you have any questions contact either your USU Organisers Troy Dunn or Melissa Pond on their details below or your Union delegates Peter Rogers, Paul Jupp or Brad Wasow.

Let’s work together to get you the EA you deserve.

Troy Dunne tdunne@usu.org.au phone 0419 403 076
Melissa Pond mpond@usu.org.au phone 0408 620 741