Consistent with the 6 April Order of FWC Commissioner Yilmaz, a fourth Joint Consultative Committee meeting between ASU reps and Auscript management was held on 23 June 2020. Further JCC meetings are scheduled for 16 September and 16 December 2020.
The following issues were discussed along with an update on local OHS COVID-19 measures.
Melbourne Office close down
The ASU has exhausted all avenues to preserve the full time jobs of the Melbourne office for as long as possible. Arising out of the FWC April Order management has consistently sought to close down the office by 31 July 2020.
The ASU has raised the issue of the engagement of contractors to perform any work In Melbourne before the Fair Work Commission this week. Management claim that as per pre COVID practice this is only overflow work and all "inside" work required to be supervised will be transferred to Brisbane.
Through both the ASU winning the Commission case against management's decision to retrench staff without genuine consultation and Auscript qualifying for the JobKeeper subsidy a number of ASU member's jobs in Melbourne were retained for 4 extra months.
While the ASU is deeply disappointed about the inevitable loss of the remaining 11 permanent jobs the union campaign against contract labour replacing normal full time work will continue at all sites. Members are requested to notify the union of any management push to swap their employment with contract work.
Brisbane, Eight Mile Plains & Perth rehire
Given the anticipated recovery of much of Auscript's Court business and a backlog of particularly remote work staff have been rehired in Perth, Brisbane and Eight Mile Plains.
This highlights the union's consistent claim that there were too many unnecessary redundancies and the JobKeeper scheme was specifically designed to assist the retention of jobs by employers in similar circumstances as Auscript. The key features of the scheme was job retention of employees and "One in all in".
Enterprise Agreement CPI pay increases
Management continue to baulk at passing on the CPI increase of 1.8% (Quarter to Dec 2019 All Groups). While the reason is for the loss of business through COVID-19 the EA does not provide for management discretion and the ASU claims it should be paid as in previous years in the life of the agreement.
Management have been notified that if the increase is not granted the matter will be referred to the Fair Work Commission as an industrial dispute.
Clerks - Private Sector Award Rates
It has come to the attention of the ASU that at least the Bronze level of pay rates have dropped below the Clerks - Private Sector Award minimum rate of pay. For most Auscript staff that would be a classification at Level 2 - Year 2 with a current rate of $878.50 per week or $23.12 per hour e.g. for Audio Transcribers, Court Monitors, Annotators, Workflow Officers, Delivery Coordinators and Document Mergers.
As a result of a recent Fair Work Commission decision the award rates of pay will be increased by a further 1.75% from 1 November 2020.
Management have been notified that if the wage discrepancy is correctly identified for any ASU member and not paid the matter will be referred to the Fair Work Commission for determination at the same time as the CPI wage increase.
Petition
PLEASE NOTE the attached staff petition or alternatively online petition here which we request you read and consider signing for the purposes of supporting any Fair Work Commission proceedings.
More information
For more information, please get in touch with your Branch contact.
If you're not a member of the ASU, you can join online now at our secure form: https://asujoin.asn.au/ Download the bulletin 
Auscript Bulletin No. 8 - 2 July 2020