Just an update on how the Subee workplace agreement discussions are progressing.

There has been a process of exchanging paperwork with the Fair Work Commission letting them know we have decided the Subee ECA is due for a bit of maintenance and we intend realigning it under the current legislation, for example when it was written the industry had no Service Coordinators and now we need to include them and possibly others into the agreement, previously there were no Modern Awards even though Subee ensured the terms and conditions of the Modern Awards were met, moving forward we need to include reference to them as well.

The bargaining committee of Julie Gillard in Newcastle, Deb Allen, John Bowman and Bev Jackson in Coffs Harbour as well as the consultants from Realise Performance, Deputy President Booth from the Fair Work Commission and I all participated in a teleconference to introduce one another and ask and questions. We were informed the necessary paper work has been commenced and the old agreement will sit in place until the new one has been drafted, negotiated upon and agreement reached, then Fairwork Australia will need to be satisfied it meets the ‘Better off overall Test’ (BOOT Test). There is no time fame to get this done, we don’t want it to be rushed and we don’t want people thinking it has to be done overnight, lets do it right and do it once.

I am getting a bit ahead of myself now as very shortly we will be moving to the next phase where the Commission will visit and deliver training to the Bargaining Committee, then draft agreements can be tabled, discussed and negotiated.

Please let us know of any concerns you have and please ask questions, there is no silly questions and your input is appreciated. You may wish to visit the Fairwork web site to gain further information and knowledge of the processes involved please follow this link.https://www.fwc.gov.au/awards-and-agreements/agreements/interest-based-bargaining