The Fair Work Commission has approved the CPSU NSW’s Protected Action Ballot (PAB). This means that we are on track to take protected industrial action in our fight for a decent pay increase and better conditions at work.
As the Fair Work Commission has approved the PAB, the CPSU NSW and Serco both have to submit a list to the ballot agent. For Serco, this is a list of employees, and for the CPSU NSW this a list of union members. The voting agent will then reconcile the two lists to make sure that all union members listed on our file are currently employees of Serco. The voting agent then compiles a list of email addresses which the voting link will then be sent to. This process can take up to four days but will most likely only take two days. At no point will Serco be able to access the union’s list of members: this information is only for the voting agent to use to finalise the final list of people who will receive the voting link.
After this, the voting agent will email every CPSU NSW member with the questions that are on the PAB. Every union member needs to a) fill out the ballot, and b) select yes for every available question.
If a majority of eligible voters (in other words, union members) participate in the voting process, and a majority of these voters select ‘yes’ for all of the questions, then we will be in a position to take protected industrial action.
Again, only union members can vote in the ballot and take industrial action, so if you are not a member you will not receive a voting link nor will you be able to take protected industrial action along with the majority of your colleagues. The CPSU NSW will likely have to send a list of members to the voting agent by the end of the week, so if you want to be included then you will need to join the union before then. You can join online at cpsunsw.org.au/join.
The CPSU NSW is also aware of the bulletin put out to all members by Serco in relation to the aggregate wages of other correctional facilitates. We will provide a detailed analysis of what this means and an explanation as to why it is factually incorrect over the course of the next few days.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please send an email to , , or .
