On Tuesday 27 October the ASU took AAE to the Fair Work Commission over its proposal to change your pay cycle. We also handed AAE the signatures of 111 employees who had signed our petition calling for the change to be delayed. The Commissioner expressed concern about the changes being rushed before Christmas, and requested the parties meet urgently to deal with the concerns raised by ASU members about the changes.
ASU delegates joined forces with TWU delegates to develop a strategy that would make sure that any transition to a new payroll system and pay cycle is not rushed, and the impacts on employees are as minor as possible.
ASU and TWU delegates met with AAE management on Thursday 29 October. After a day of negotiations, we reached a resolution that deals with the ASU members' primary concerns.
AAE has now agreed:
- To delay the change to your pay cycle until February 2016 - this means that you can get through Christmas without any additional stresses on your finances. This also means you have more time to plan for the transition.
- To change the transitional arrangement so that if you choose to take a loan from AAE you can pay it back through deductions from your pay over 12 months, instead of the 6 months AAE were originally offering.
- To work with the ASU over the next few months to look at whether your roster cycle can be aligned to the new pay cycle without negatively affecting your day on/day off pattern.
- To continue to meet with the ASU to work through other implementation issues (such as the impact of the change on your DILs and Z days).
It was only because of ASU members standing together against the unfair aspects of the change, and the excellent work of your ASU delegates that we were able to stop AAE from implementing the pay cycle change in a few weeks' time, which would have made life difficult for employees in the lead up to Christmas.
We will keep members updated as we continue to work through rostering and implementation issues with management.
At this meeting your delegates were able to clarify a number of matters but needless to say there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
In the meantime, if you have any questions please contact your local ASU organiser (download the full bulletin below for details).
AaE Bulletin - 30 October 2015