ASU delegates Alisha Hill and Jose Bejarano from Sydney and Deirdre Costa, Shijo Thomas and Maria Scafi from Melbourne, along with ASU officials and the Sydney bargaining representatives met again yesterday with Toll Dnata to continue negotiations for your new EBA.
We waited 8 weeks for yesterday's meeting because we thought Toll Dnata wanted to get your pay and conditions sorted out...The meeting was definitely NOT worth the wait!
The delay was so that Toll Dnata could show your delegates and the ASU exactly how the rolled up rate that operates in some airports compensates staff for the loss of penalties, allowances and double time overtime. Unfortunately, the figures we got from Toll Dnata didn't add up!
Toll Dnata used the wrong Award rates for their comparison and for Melbourne the company used the 2009 wage rates not the current ones. All this information is readily available so how they made such fundamental errors is anyone's guess?
On top of that, we still haven't received any detailed claims from the company on exactly how they want to implement 3 hours shifts and move your pay from weekly to fortnightly or how any of their other claims would work.
The ASU told Toll Dnata this is not good enough! Toll Dnata workers have already waited long enough for their pay and conditions to be fixed up! The least the company can do is turn up with the right information.
So what's next?
We've agreed to meet with Toll Dnata to discuss the right figures for the rolled up rate and their calculations model but we already suspect at best, they only just meet the legal minimum, and are definitely a long way behind the industry standard. Seems they're not all they're rolled up to be!
How do we fix this?
The only way to make Toll Dnata respect us and come to the table prepared to negotiate instead of wasting our time and delaying your pay increase further is to get organised. Union members can stand together and tell Toll Dnata it's not good enough.
We'll be meeting with the company as often as we can until we get negotiations back on track our next scheduled meeting is 22nd October 2014. In the meantime, the more Toll Dnata staff who join the union, the better deal we'll get. You can join online at www.asujoin.asu.asn
If you want more information contact your local delegate or organiser (download the full bulletin below for details).
Toll Dnata Bulletin, 10 October 2014