ELEVENTH HOUR CONCESSIONS RESULTS IN AGREEMENT BEING RECOMMENDED TO MEMBERS
20 May 2004
At a meeting between HACSU Officials, the Premier Paul Lennon and the Minister for Health and Human Services David Llewellyn on Friday (14th May 2004) the Government made further concessions on the Ambulance Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.
The concessions made by the Government will now result in an agreement that will be put to members in the near future.
The final package put to HACSU by the Government has been a long time in coming. The last EBA expired in July 2003 and HACSU has been involved in negotiations with the Government since October 2003 on the current EBA.
For further detail on the package please read on...
The final package includes:
· Wage increases of 27.38% over three and a half years;
· The first installment to be backdated to 1st October 2003;
· Agreement that all conditions and wage rates from previous agreements and the new agreement are to be consolidated into the Award. This will ensure that all the wage rates and conditions negotiated in previous agreements and this agreement will now become the safety net upon which future agreements are negotiated;
· Agreement to review the classification structure of the Tasmanian Ambulance Service Award;
· Access to salary packaging once enabling legislation has passed the federal parliament;
· Students to be paid at the composite rate when they are on training after their initial six months of employment with the TAS. This means that apart from the off road training in their first six months of employment, (usually a block of six weeks) all off road training will be paid at the composite rate;
· An allowance of $20 per shift for Helicopter and Wilderness rescues (irrespective of whether they are required to actually undertake the duties);
· Members rostered on the Air ambulance to be paid at BSO rates when so rostered;
· A preceptor allowance of $1.50 per hour increasing to $2.00 per hour over the life of the agreement;
· An increase in the On-call allowance to $2.00 per hour;
· An increase in bereavement leave of up to 10 days in the event of the death of a parent, partner or child;
· A clause giving employees the right to refuse overtime in some circumstances;
· Twelve weeks paid adoption leave;
· Access for Student Ambulance Officers to the Graduate Loan scheme enabling Students to take out a loan from the Government to access the 25% discount on HECS;
· An increase in sick leave entitlements from 96 hours per annum to 152 hours per annum, fully cumulative; and
· Paid meetings for the AESB Executive plus access to information technology saving members three hours of overtime to pay for Executive meetings. In addition to paid executive meetings Executive members now have a range of rights to enable them to represent members more effectively. For example, Executive members will have access to all communication facilities, fax, phone, email, internet, pagers etc, five days paid training leave per year, the right to represent members at disciplinary/grievance hearings, access to departmental policies and staff lists and access to leave without pay to work for the union.
In addition to the EBA outcome HACSU has made it clear to the Government that staffing levels in the Ambulance Service need to be increased. The recent announcement of additional 25 Ambulance Officers and other resources to be provided to the northwest region is an indication that the Government is now aware of the problems in the Service and is starting to listen.
The final package is the result of extensive negotiations on the part of HACSU's Ambulance Employees Sub-Branch Executive with the Government and the strong resolve of the members to obtain a good deal.
Executive members have endorsed the package and are recommending the acceptance of the agreement to members.
HACSU will be holding membership meetings in all regions in the week commencing 24th May and then the agreement will be formally put to members in a ballot.
Sort by Date | Subject
|
