Today your employer, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), will be asking you to cast a vote as to whether you accept or reject an Enterprise Agreement (EA). This EA if accepted will prescribe all of your terms and conditions of employment for the next four years.
In the ordinary course of enterprise bargaining, the bargaining representatives reach through discussions a negotiated settlement and the proposed enterprise agreement is put to all employees with the endorsement of all parties.
This has not happened for you.
The CPSU NSW has not agreed at the bargaining table to the enterprise agreement that is being put before you today as we believe your concerns have not been heard nor provided for. As is their right, the NHVR have decided to put it to a ballot of employees regardless.
In coming days we will outline some of these concerns in more depth, but in this Bulletin we will concentrate on what should be the paramount concern – salary.
The NHVR has inherited a national workforce on a patchwork of preserved instruments and Awards.
Our view has always been that they should identify the best of these conditions and bring all employees to it.
Unfortunately the NHVR agreed with this approach only in part. They recognised that NSW had higher salaries than other jurisdictions, and took the decision that they would lift other employees to your level but that you are paid enough in the interim.
Your only change in your take home wage comes through doing an additional three hours paid work a week (35 hours p/week increased to 38 consistent with other States).
This means in times of high inflation, the value of your real wage goes backwards.
It is a slap in the face – we say you need a cost of living increase and then other States should be lifted to your level.
Furthermore, in times of increasing international economic instability (Donald says ‘hi’) NHVR are proposing locked in salary increases for the next four whole years.
This agreement does not expire until January 2029. It is difficult to predict what will happen next week, let alone next year let alone four years from now. You could be left locked into inadequate salary increases for a long time into your future.
We have argued for, and been denied, either set salary increases or the relevant CPI increase – whichever is greater – to protect your take home pay if something goes wrong.
That NHVR have refused this means they value their budget forecasting greater than their workforce’s financial security.
At the eleventh hour and outside the bargaining meeting room, your CEO appears to have realized this mistake and threw compensation at the problem….a paltry $500 “additional payment”.
Tell the CEO and NHVR to hit the road when it comes to this offer – and vote NO.
The bargaining representatives, including your Union, simply return to the bargaining table and continue negotiating.
There is no change to who is bargaining nor who the new agreement will apply to.
More importantly there is no change to your current terms and conditions of employment – your Award continues for a number of years until it is replaced.
Quite simply voting YES is accepting a step backwards, while voting NO at least keeps the status quo.
