Whilst it may have appeared to have been quiet on the enterprise bargaining front over summer, your Union can assure you that it at least was working if Serco was not.
Our last meeting was in November when you may recall Serco tabled a new and completely unacceptable offer. This offer included a new CO3 position as we had suggested, however made your progression to it discretionary, the requirements to reach it near impossible and the hourly rate if you miraculously did a mere 45 cents an hour more.
In December we wrote to Serco and advised them formally of our issues with their proposal. We sought meetings in January which Serco were unable to accommodate.
In January we sought meetings in February, which Serco eventually agreed to.
So last week we met again. Rather than take our previously provided feedback on board, Serco tabled its proposal once again well below of what would be an industry standard. The following shortcomings were highlighted:
Parental leave – Serco want a mere 6 weeks (less than elsewhere in the company), no ‘paternal’ leave and all the detail in policy not the agreement which means they can change it by themselves.
Domestic violence leave – no detail on this at all, all in policy. Interestingly after assuring us these policies are easily found by employees, we were provided with their new policy on this leave because they had just realised someone had changed it.
Other leave – there is no detail in their proposed agreement on jury leave, study leave, compassionate leave and many other entitlements. Once again these are only in policy in their plan, which means they can change it or remove it entirely at their discretion. We say if you can find jury leave on your intranet you should be working as an online sleuth and not a CCO.
Classifications – again despite raising the concerns listed above, the proposal was still presented as it was in November…not mandatory, not reasonable and not fairly paid at only $28 p/hour. Serco have undertaken to review this but we advise not to hold your breath.
Salaries – and this is where the rubber truly hits the road now. Members would have noticed for themselves the rising cost of living in the last year, a trend that is only going to continue in light of this week’s international events. The economic data released by the ABS last month confirmed what we are all feeling….inflation was measured at 3.5 per cent for the 12 months of 2021. Despite your cost of living increasing at that rate, Serco are only proposing one pay increase for the life of the agreement of 2.5 per cent. This would leave you further in the red going backwards in terms of spending capacity, being able to afford less. Our priority now is to keep wages on par if not better than inflation. To this end given they have claimed there is no money in the kitty, we have demanded Serco provide us with company profit/loss statements. You can see this correspondence here . We will keep you posted.
We will be meeting Serco again next Thursday (3 March) and hopefully breakthrough on some of these issues on that date.
In the meantime, stick together and support each other. A divided workforce only serves Serco.
Should you have any queries about the matters in this Bulletin or your current conditions of employment, please do not hesitate to contact us through our Member Support Centre on 1300 772 679 or email
