USU Manager Northern Stephen Hughes explains why CHOOSING to join your union is an important right. He looks at past experiences and examines the great benefits of belonging.
Do you have any non-Union members in your workplace?
As a young man back in 1984 when I commenced work on Narrabri Shire Council after completing my 3-year enlistment period in the Australian Army as an infantry soldier where I served with 3RAR, membership of the Union was compulsory. I remember being handed a green membership form for the then Municipal Employees Union (now United Services Union) by the payroll clerk when signing to receive my first pay and was instructed to sign it.
I had no reason to refuse as I had no objection to being a Union member and it became my first and only Union that I have ever belonged to.
Within 12 months I became a local workplace safety representative, when new legislation came into being that provided for workplace safety committees, after I came from a role where safety was a priority in the military, to one where we didn’t have work clothing provided, and only very basic and often unsuitable basic protective clothing begrudgingly supplied.
When I raised safety issues with management I would regularly be told if it’s not in the Award you aren’t entitled to it.
Back then NSW Local Government had multiple Awards, with Wages, Salaried, Engineering, Health and Building, Senior Officer and Clerks Awards, which to be blunt didn’t really cater very well consistently for all categories of workers, for example the lack of work clothing and even the ability for employers to require outdoor staff to camp out on jobsites in remote areas in tents.
The fact that Union membership in many sectors was legally compulsory back then in my opinion tended to create a blasé attitude by some Union leaders as they were guaranteed to receive membership fees regardless of how good or bad a job they did in negotiating for their members.
In order to prevent my Council management fobbing off my requests for proper safety equipment and clothing as a Health and Safety Rep by saying they were Award issues, I decided to approach a mate and then Council mechanic John Zimmerman to run as with me as Union Delegate and Co-Delegate which he agreed and we then called a yard meeting and were voted in to replace the then previous somewhat inactive Delegates.
Within days I found numerous areas where Council hadn’t been complying with the then very prescriptive Award regarding pay rates for the then numerous classifications for things such as truck drivers and plant operators, where the prescriptive Award classifications and allowances paid drivers and operators based on the weight, kilowatts, bucket size, etc where Council had been upgrading plant and equipment over the years but no one had bothered to ensure that the driver/operators were paid the appropriate Award rate. As a result, Council then had to pay some people up to 7 years backpay at a total cost in 1985 of $70,000.00, which back then was very significant.
This may sound strange as a long-time Union member, ex Delegate, ex MEU Executive member, ex Organiser and now USU Manager and sometime Acting General Secretary, but in hindsight compulsory membership, while good for the Union budget was not good for Union members due to the complacency it bred in Union leadership at the time.
Compulsory Union membership ended around 1991 and within 12 months the Local Government Unions and the Local Government and Shires Association got together to modernise and consolidate multiple NSW LG Awards into one Award that introduced multi skilling and new salary systems with salary ranges for all and with the right to annual salary assessment and salary progression based on the acquisition and use of skills.
Before then only indoor positions had salary ranges with incremental progression based on years of satisfactory service, while outdoor positions each had only one pay rate and no salary range, with wage increases only coming through Award increases and with promotions based on seniority of service and not ability.
Most people employed today have enjoyed significantly better salaries and conditions of employment when comparing conditions and the frequency of Award increases before the first of our consent Awards from June 8th, 1992, and in particular the annual Award increases that we have negotiated into every Award since 1995.
Prior to this, we had a period of 4 years with no Award increase in pay, with only a one off $8.00 pw safety net increase, at a time when interest rates were up around 17%.
While many people in our workplace may today question the value of Union membership, they need to have the experience and perspective of those of us that have seen where we have come from with wages and conditions to those significantly improved wages and conditions that we have today.
Yes, there’s always more to do, and every day the USU devotes its time and staffing resources in servicing and representing our over 30,000 members while at the industry and political level we work, campaign and lobby to improve Award conditions, legislated rights and conditions, including health and safety, bullying and harassment, funding and numerous other issues.
Our actions saw the NSW Local Government Award excluded from wage capping under then then new Liberal/National NSW O’Farrell led government that quickly acted to wage cap all NSW Public Sector workers covered by NSW Awards, which today is seeing these workers and their Unions seeking significant increases due to over a decade of wage capping and absorbing the federally legislated compulsory employer superannuation increases into the maximum 2.5% annual Award increases which the NSW Labor Minns led Government quickly legislated to remove the cap after being elected, but which has now led to Public sector Unions seeking significant pay increases to undo the damage done by over a decade of Liberal wage capping.
The decade of Federal Liberal/National Government also saw those many millions of workers in the federal IR system also suffer significantly in not seeing regular, reasonable wage increases keep up with the cost of living.
Those employed in NSW Local Government have significantly higher accrual rates of long service leave as a result of our NSW LG Industry Award as well as early access to this leave after only 5 years of service.
There are many more conditions in our NSW Local Government State Award that provide for the opportunity to have a long career in Local Government, unlike most workplaces that have been privatised and outsourced.
Now getting back to what Union members are entitled to that non-members aren’t.
First union fees are tax deductible, unlike other forms of insurance and employment protections.
Under the NSW LG Award, only Union members have the right to request Union representation at any time, during grievances, disciplinaries and workplace restructuring.
A Union member has the right to refuse to attend a meeting for any of the above without first arranging to have their Union in attendance to provide representation, advice and where required support.
In cases of workplace restructuring which may impact on the worker, only Union members have the right for their employer to not only notify them before the employer makes any proposed changes, but the employer is required to notify the Union to which the member belongs and to meet in an effort to avert or mitigate any proposed changes that may be detrimental to our member/s.
The USU has offices and Officials based in sites right across NSW, including Sydney, Wollongong, Rutherford, Port Macquarie, Grafton, Tamworth, Dubbo, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Hay and in the ACT.
We have hundreds of Delegates across the State, with the overwhelming majority of employers that we cover, having trained USU Delegates in the workplace.
The USU has developed and can provide our members with Grievance and Dispute forms to formally lodge their grievance and the remedy sought, and following that can have the matter listed in the Industrial Commission, as well as guaranteeing the right to Union representation and that status quo provisions should apply until the matter is resolved through negotiation, conciliation or arbitration.
We have also developed a Bullying and Harassment grievance form which seeks to ask all of the relevant questions in seeking to protect our members.
In the NSW IR System only Union members have the right to have a matter listed as a dispute other than unfair dismissals.
Regarding unfair dismissals in the Industrial Relations Commission, this is provided by the USU for our members who choose to utilise their USU representation, however non-members would almost certainly have to find someone to represent them and pay for that representation, which can be very expensive and generally cost more than any monies that may be awarded to them by the commission.
Almost every day the Union is approached by non-members who want to join and seek representation on pre-existing issues, while we can choose to supply advice and potentially some limited assistance for pre-existing issues, it doesn’t include listing the matter as a dispute. People need to realise that you can’t prang your uninsured car and then take out insurance expecting to be covered for prior damage, why would the Union be any different.
Our Union members are provided with journey Claim insurance included as part of their membership to cover them where current Workers Compensation may not in travelling to and from the workplace. We can honestly state that we have had members injured and even killed when travelling to or from work, who would not be covered by current workers compensation who themselves or the family have received significant travel insurance payment through our insurance.
There is the annual Union Picnic Day of which most Councils only pay Union members for the day off, or for those working on their Union Picnic Day only Union members are entitled to claim public holiday pay rates for working on their Union Picnic Day.
USU Members can access significant discounts for many items purchased through Union Shopper, and free access to our solicitors from Carroll and O’Dea Lawyers for Workers Compensation representation, free basic wills and initial free advice on other issues.
The Mutual Bank also currently provides a better interest rate for loans and deposits for our members over non-member rates.
We have a $50.00 sign up a member promotion, where you can claim $50.00 for each new USU member that you sign up and submit a claim for once verified and the new member has met the minimum membership period of 6 weeks. Note: new member application forms and application forms to claim this payment can be sourced from the USU website or contact your local USU Delegate or Organiser or local USU office.
A joint NSW Local Government Industry Induction video can be accessed through our website and should be shown during inductions for new employees at your Council which identifies the Industry Unions and what we do and how we can be contacted to join. A video also is available for our non-Local Government workers seeking to learn about the USU.
Our strength is in our numbers and more members makes your Union even stronger and allows us to increase our services to you and strengthens our voice when negotiating, lobbying and campaigning, in seeking to protect our members and to improve their working lives.
