We had an extremely successful “wear red for Rem day” on 1st June 2016 with staff across the country donning red to send a message to the firm that it is time to make a fair pay offer.
From the wearing of red stockings, dresses and shirts to socks and umbrellas there was no doubting our determination to get the best pay deal by showing our coast to coast solidarity – while having a bit of fun too.
Plenty of Maurice & Doris badges were worn too – we know they would have been proud!
Time for union meetings
Behind the scenes your national negotiating team have been continuously meeting with the company reps – at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks to see if we can get any movement in the offer.
There have been some changes in the offer from the firm and we have now decided to have meetings of members to take stock of where our negotiations are currently at.
There is some good news and some not good news – which needs detailed discussions with members to determine our next steps.
Local ASU branches will be organising meetings shortly to go through the current state of play. These are meetings you cannot afford to miss.
We need your opinion and commitment to the next stage.
No union Agreement to Total Reward Framework trial and rollout
HR is about to rollout presentations about their Total Reward Framework. The ASU has had a cursory presentation about HR's proposals and although we were able to ask questions the company have refused to give us copies of the slides they used to explain their new scheme. As best we can understand they are proposing a trial of their new scheme which starts this year with 4th year lawyers and above. Base rate percentage pay rises are linked to performance (the 1 to 5 rating system) and will start from 1 July 2016. There is also a bonus system linked to the firm's performance, team performance & an individual's performance.
The ASU has not agreed to this framework- we think there is a lot wrong with it - not the least of which is a lack of transparency with how it will operate. We don't think pay rises should be dependent on a system that no one can control or have visibility on.
We urge you to attend an HR session and ask lots of questions, here are a few worth asking
- Will the firm publish information on pay rises & bonuses?
- Why has the firm decided to link pay rises to retrospective performance measures without telling anyone?
- What are the pay rises that are proposed to be paid for each of the 1-5 performance ratings for 4th year lawyers & above?
- Why is there a split system of bonuses?
- What is the evaluation system for the trial?
- Why won't the firm negotiate with the union on the scheme & get agreement about the trial & its evaluated?
- How is the scheme going to be rolled out to others after the trial?
What next?
Watch out for details of local meetings, we don’t resume meetings with the company until the week commencing 20th June and so we want our ASU members’ meetings over by then.
Join the ASU
Now more than ever it is time to join the ASU – you can join the ASU on line at www.asu.asn.au/asujoin.
Need more information?
If you have queries contact your local ASU delegate/NNT member or organisers. (download the bulletin here) 
Maurice Blackburn Bulletin - 7 June 2016