Forestry Corp NSW individual contract for Level 6 employees – March 2017 (PDF version)
The PSA (CPSU) has written to Forestry Corporation regarding its proposal to remove Level 6 employees from the next enterprise agreement. This is completely unacceptable to the PSA (CPSU) and your union will be doing everything we can to fight this.
More importantly for Level 6 employees, the proposed individual contracts Forestry Corporation is asking you to sign may have major impacts on your take-home pay and workplace entitlements, even if an enterprise agreement applies as well.
The PSA (CPSU) strongly recommends all Level 6 employees do not sign the proposed contract.
Forestry Corporation has included a clause in the contract which would make void all your entitlements under any enterprise agreement or the modern award. The individual contract requires that the salary is inclusive of all “overtime, loadings, allowances [and] penalty rates” that you get under any instrument, being the Modern Award or a future Enterprise Agreement. A separate clause delays the negative effect until a new Agreement comes into force, but this clause may not be in every individual contract.
If you sign the individual contract, you will sign away any rights to:
The PSA (CPSU) expects Forestry Corporation will not agree to include Level 6 employees in the proposed enterprise agreement, nor will it agree to a clause in the agreement that stops it from extending individual contracts further to Levels 5 and below. Where will it end? Will Level 5s be removed next time? This means we will need to apply to the Fair Work Commission for a Scope Order.
Scope Orders are when a bargaining representative (in this case the PSA (CPSU), applies to the Commission to make an Order regarding who is covered by any proposed enterprise agreement and who is not covered.
In many cases it is only the most senior managers who are excluded from a proposed enterprise agreement. In Forestry Corporation, Level 6 employees are not senior managers. The PSA (CPSU) is asking Forestry Corporation for the enterprise agreement to cover all employees from Level 1 to Level 6 on the proposed enterprise agreement.
The PSA (CPSU) will let members know when and how the application for a Scope Order is made. The union needs all members to support this fight. We have seen Level 8s and Level 7s removed from the current enterprise agreement. If Level 6 employees are removed this time, what will happen in the next enterprise agreement?
Will Forestry Corporation remove Level 5s and Level 4s from the next agreement?
Will Forestry Corporation try to remove all office workers from the next agreement?
All PSA (CPSU) members are asked to help our fight against stripping conditions and employment protections from Forestry Corporation employees. Please ask your colleagues to JOIN the PSA (CPSU) and be ready to vote down any enterprise agreement that doesn’t include our Level 6 colleagues.
If you have any further question or comment for your bargaining team, please email us.
Your union will keep you informed as bargaining progresses.
Feel free to contact your PSA (CPSU) Bargaining team:
Cassie Giudice (PSA (CPSU) Industrial Officer)
Lisa Nelson (PSA (CPSU) Senior Organiser)
It’s important that Forestry Corporation employees are part of the PSA (CPSU) to ensure that we can get the best outcome for our members. Please ask your colleagues to join the PSA (CPSU) online HERE.
Correction: Correction: In our last bulletin to members we indicated that “no requirement for one month’s notice for annual leave” was agreed to by Forestry Corporation. For complete correctness, this should have read, “No requirement for one month’s notice for annual leave in emergency situations.” This was an error and the PSA (CPSU) did not intend to misrepresent the position of Forestry Corporation.
