Toll Dnata Bulletin # 4Our second bargaining meeting was held in Sydney on 27th September 2013 and we are now getting a better idea of what the company is seeking from the negotiations. We also had the opportunity to table more detailed claims of our own.
Our claims
At the meeting your ASU National Negotiating Team provided the company with detailed claims as follows:
Claim 4 - Fix ambiguities in the EBA
Claim 12 - Improve rostering
Claim 16 - Provide better access to annual leave
Claim 17 - Provide better access to personal leave
If you would like copies of these detailed claims or any of the material we are providing to the company or receiving from them – just ask your local ASU delegate or organiser.
We also discussed some of our other claims including meal breaks (claim 15), union rights (claim 10), the structure of the workforce and casual conversions (claim 2) and improved higher duties pay and access (claim 6).
We feel we made some headway on some of these claims and had a good discussion on higher duties in particular and we are putting together a new clause for the next meeting that we hope will give more people access to higher duties and also see permanent positions created.
What did the company say?
In addition to the matters covered in the last meeting the company says they also want to:
- Reduce personal leave from 15 days to 10 days
- Introduce an 8 level classification structure currently it is 5 levels
- Have the ability to direct Cargo staff on leave at Christmas, Easter, and Chinese New Year.
We discussed rostering again in depth and while the company seems to understand that we want more guaranteed hours for part timers, 10 hour breaks between shifts and a maximum of 6 days in a row, the company are saying they want min 3 hours shifts for everyone including full timers.
There is also a reluctance to consider our job security issues with the continuing use of labour hire staff.
We continue to discuss these rostering issues as we know they are very important.
We are also considering the company's classification proposal and welcome feedback from members.
Our communication
The ASU National Negotiating Team have decided that it is important for us to be able to communicate frankly and clearly to our members about our negotiations for this EBA.
The company did ask us to participate in the joint communication with staff with the other union involved in the negotiations but we had to agree not to have our own communications with our members. We didn't believe that was in your best interest and so we are not "part" of the joint communications.
We want to reach agreement with the company and the best we know how to do this is to ensure you hear directly from your negotiators about what is happening in negotiations through our bulletins. We will always tell it like it is!
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is scheduled for 10th October 2013 – watch out for more updates.
Want more information?
If you want more information contact your local ASU organiser download PDF bulletin here 
Toll Dnata Bulletin # 4