MYTHBUSTERS
Your union is fully aware that Ausgrid is broadcasting daily a series of so-called Mythbusters regarding the renewal of your Agreement. We receive the daily updates from our membership as they arrive.
Your union finds this series to be, at best, disingenuous with their very carefully chosen and worded explanations.
For one, the USU has not received concerns from members, or endorsed any claims from members or its organisers, that negotiations have stalled. Further, such a claim hasn’t been made by any representatives from the combined unions sitting on the negotiation committee. Frankly, we are at a loss to explain the necessity for this “Mythbuster.”
With regards to the so called myth around annual leave, as is the case with the above example, the combined unions, their members or negotiating representatives aren’t claiming that Ausgrid wants to control when you take leave. What we are saying is that Ausgrid already have more than ample mechanisms to manage its leave liabilities and it is up to them to manage it. We refute the claim that the mechanisms available to Ausgrid aren’t sufficient. Furthermore, the point at which an Ausgrid employee’s leave balance is considered excess and the mechanisms the business has to manage this excess are standard across many industry types. Where we agree with Ausgrid on the point of annual leave is that it should be taken – annual leave is a union won entitlement that allows people to spend time with their loved ones. We absolutely agree with the business on this point and your union has been vocal in its agreement with this principle.
Where we disagree though, is with Ausgrid seeking to reduce the point at which leave is considered excess and, instead, it should be managing an entitlement that has historically been badly mis-managed – that our members have to now pay for Ausgrid’s practices of mis-management is not acceptable.
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