Crashaxe, last year was pretty bad too, so comparing sick leave to then probably isn't an effective guage. Perhaps your friend looking back further would be more effective. Also, I didn't say sick leave was the highest, I just said it was incredibly high,which surely you must agree with. You also must agree that these draftings, single FA, etc are happening with a much greater frequency. Somewhere along the line, the loopholes in your EBA have been exploited - that's a fact. I agree that an EBA needs to be black and white, but it is basically impossible to draft a document which cannot be interpreted in different ways. This is one of the reasons why there are unions. As an example, and I don't have the document available now, but it says that a rostered shift of greater than 8 hours requires a break. When that was written, it wouldn't have been thought about too much. Shifts were shorter, and draftings were basically non-existent. Do you really think it was intended that you could be rostered 7 hours, then drafted to 10 hours without the requirement for a break? I believe this is a mis-interpretation for the benefit of the company.
EAAFA, I was informing potential recruits of what they are getting themselves into. I guess my initial comments were a little harsh, but I was actually saying you guys are worth more. Perhaps, if the truth is out there, there will be less starry-eyed hopefuls lining up at the door, and you will have a stronger position to negotiate from. As far as my job is concerned, I believe I'm on s**t money as well, the difference is that our management aren't as intent on screwing us.
From my experience, you need to be in communication with your EBA negotiators now, before a document is drafted, making it clear that giving up your hour limit clause for money is not acceptable. Once it's put to the vote, it's really hard to do anything about it. The company will offer you a take it or leave deal with your EBA. If you vote it down, you will most likely lose backpay. If you choose to fight that through protected action (very difficult under the current laws anyway), you are going to need the support of the other employee groups. They would be quite happy to work around you with strike breakers or whatever, which you can't do anything about, but which we can at least try to help prevent.
Anyway, I am actually on your side, so no need to get on your high horses and defend the company. If you don't want any support then perhaps you could lend me a pair of your rose coloured glasses?
