Originally Posted by
dragon man
Compare this to the Qantas groups 9% over 5 years and what is happening to Network pilots.
DEAL GIVES 26PC PAY RISES TO WORKERS
multi-*employer agreement
EWIN HANNANAir-conditioning manufacturers and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union have struck the first private sector multi-*employer agreement delivering 26 per cent in pay rises over four years, guaranteed casual conversion rights after three months, an increased span of working hours and a joint commitment to higher skills and increased productivity.
The landmark agreement covering an initial nine employers employing 200 employees, with written commitments from a further seven firms, includes a groundbreaking labour pool clause that requires employers during peak periods to offer work to employees in the other companies before they can engage external casuals or labour hire.
The annual pay of the workers, who install commercial air-*conditioning systems in NSW and the ACT will increase from $102,000 to $133,000 over the life of the agreement that delivers 6 per cent a year wage rises, com*pounding to 26.2 per cent.
The hourly rate will increase from $47 to $60.69.
Declaring the measures will drive “real gains in efficiency and productivity”, the agreement commits the parties to extend the start of ordinary working hours from 6am to 4am, through to 6pm, with double time paid outside those hours.
A new skills development program designed to build a more highly skilled, versatile and flexible workforce will be implemented and a new Industry Skills Council created within the first 12 months of the agreement.
The in-principle agreement, subject to a final vote of workers due next week, says casual employees who have worked a regular pattern of work for three months must be offered a permanent position, while significantly higher wages will be paid to apprentices to attract and keep them in the industry.
The deal, which follows 18 months of negotiations, reinstates a raft of union rights clauses including delegates rights, paid union meetings across all sites of up to four hours every quarter, 10 days of paid union training leave for delegates annually, a union notice board and meeting room, and a requirement that new employees be introduced to the AMWU as part of their official induction program.
AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy expects many other companies to voluntarily sign up to the agreement but “we might well find there are some employers that have to be roped in against their will because workers just need a decent pay rise”.
Asked about the implications of the agreement for the manufacturing sector, he said “once you start to lift the value of a particular trade, you start to pull other trades up.
“Where construction goes, manufacturing will follow. The reason you do this is to put the correct value on the labour that is being provided,” he said.
“Races to the bottom don’t work. The best way to compete in order to make sure we all enjoy a decent standard of living … is to have quality, safety, training and efficiencies that we establish and work together to find a solution for. That’s exactly what this agreement does. It sets up a different conversation that is not conflict based, to say that we are all stakeholders in this industry and we want it to have secure good jobs in the future. We also want it to be productive and for bosses to make their profits”.
HVAC Manufacturing and Installation Association president Mimmo Scavera said the negotiated agreement contained “some wins, some losses on both sides, and we came up with a happy medium we’re all satisfied with”.
“A better skilled workforce and an organised workforce is always a better productive workforce,” he said. “It goes hand in hand. We train, we make people more prepared, we skill, and obviously that gives us better productivity because people are smarter. Don’t work harder, work smarter, that’s the plan.”
He said the labour pool clause meant companies could share existing organised labour during peaks rather than resort to labour hire outside the industry.
As well as the nine companies signed up to the agreement, Mr Scavera said he had written commitments from seven employers willing to be tied to the agreement once it was approved by the Fair Work Commission. He said the agreement would stop rival firms exploiting workers by underpaying them. “For us, it’s a move to improve our industry, to make it a safer, more skilled industry,” he said. “It’s a big leap forward by both sides. Working together means it’s going to improve productivity. There’s no use doing it any other way. It doesn’t work