Union updates
Reject Shop workers stand united for national Agreement
Over the last few days workers at The Reject Shop have stood together to demand a national agreement.
A petition has been signed by 92 day and afternoon shift workers, at both the Altona and Tullamarine sites.
The petition outlines how a national agreement is crucially important to the members in terms of protecting their long term job security. Workers are concerned that if wage rates at a new DC in Queensland are considerably less than theirs, then the Company may have incentive to take work away from them and give it to other sites. There is also speculation that another DC may open in WA, and this is only adding to the fears of the members at the site that there may be no work for them in a couple of years.
The members have clearly said that the claim for a national agreement is not just about equality for other workers performing similar functions for the same company, it’s about ensuring that there is no financial incentive for the company to take work away from Melbourne and jeopardise the job security of NUW members there.
Day shift delegate David Sharp said, “it’s disappointing that the company have refused our claim for a national agreement, they are clearly trying to segregate us and all we want is equality in every state”.
Instead of trying to bargain about the matter of a national agreement, the company have sought to rely on legal recourse at Fair Work Australia to prevent workers from pursuing an entirely legitimate claim. The matter is set down for hearing at 2pm today, and the NUW is hoping that FWA does not deny workers their right to make a claim for a national agreement.
What is our EBA – or our Union Collective Agreement?
The EBA is our workplace Union agreement between Reject Shop workers and management. It contains all our wages and conditions. It gives us some rules and guidelines, and helps provide an even playing field. It protects what we have and provides us with security.
What do we want for our 2011 EBA?
NUW delegates held a training meeting on 24 May to talk about our 2011 EBA. We all agreed that we wanted to get good outcomes for everyone in the 2011 EBA.
As delegates we want:
- to maintain our current EBA and win improvements for our wages and conditions. We don’t want to lose anything
- to win improvements that are fair for us and recognise the important work that we do
- to get more control over our working lives and have a fairer workplace where we are respected for the work we do, and
- a happy and fair workplace that is free from bullying and harassment.
What has happened so far . . .
Thank you to everyone for completing the initial surveys for the 2011 EBA – it is an important part of our campaign for better and fairer wages and conditions.
We have read and analysed all your surveys, and we have made up our log of claims – the list of issues that we want improved – this was endorsed by NUW members at a meeting in early May.
- Our claims have been sent to the company and we are waiting for the company response.
- Our claims are important. They are about fairness for workers at the Reject Shop.
This page will be updated with the progress of negotiations. You can also find any relevant documents on the right hand side of this page.
