No concessions for pay increase at Sunshine Coast Council

 
Members of The Services Union at Sunshine Coast Council can be assured that we hear your cost-of-living concerns loudly and clearly. If you are one of our Union’s many members who have completed our survey – thank you. If you haven’t yet, the good news is you still can here.

Clearly After two full days in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission following Sunshine Coast Council’s application for assistance to finalise your new Certified Agreement, The Services Union has achieved a pay increase for you to consider without trading away your hard-earned conditions of employment.

The proposal comprises the following improvements:

• Pay –
  • 6% back-paid to 1 July 2023.
  • 5% from 1 July 2024.
  • 4% from 1 July 2025.
• Sign-on bonus of $800 upon successful ‘yes’ vote.
• Improved Wellbeing, Health and Safety provisions with Mental Health First Aid/Suicide Prevention training via Mates In Construction.
• Expanded access to Natural Disaster Leave.
• On-Call allowance increased to $60 per day (Mon – Sun).
• First Aid allowance increased to $19.70/week.
• Paid Parental Leave increased to 14 weeks after one year’s service; paid partner leave increased to two weeks.
• One day paid Sorry Business Leave per year.
• One day paid Cultural Leave per year (all cultures).
• One week paid Gender Affirmation Leave during life of CA plus enhanced Equity and Diversity provisions.
• Access to one day’s personal leave per year for proactive wellbeing management (‘One Day My Day’).
• Outdoor supervisor remuneration provision re-worded for clarity.

No Concessions

This is exactly the same package your Field-Based colleagues agreed to, without giving away anything.

The Council’s “Productivity/Sustainability” claims are resolved as follows:

• Overtime Meal Provisions – Redrafted to ensure clarity of interpretation.
• Contracting Out – The Council withdrew its claim to remove requirement to demonstrate unavailability of appropriate internal staff when proposing to outsource work.
• Personal Leave accrual – The Council withdrew its claim to have personal leave accrue over the course of a year – meaning you will continue to be credited 15 days up-front upon each anniversary.
• Supervisor Work Location – The Council withdrew its claim to be able to rotate supervisors through different work locations; the parties agreed to consult via the WCF ‘to implement rotating roster arrangements to facilitate operational requirements and professional development/succession planning’.

While more money would have been a further bonus, we’ve achieved the best negotiated outcome. Getting rid of the onerous trade-offs the Council wanted was a key objective for you. We were also concerned to finalise the negotiation before the matter could be referred for a binding Arbitration as this would have been risky in the current economic environment.

We will shortly begin member consultation over whether our Union will provide in-principle agreement for the proposed CA to go to staff ballot. The Council has agreed to our request for paid-time meetings to allow this to happen. In the meantime, please direct any questions to your Workplace Delegate. If you work with someone who is not yet a member and will benefit from what we’ve achieved, joining is easy online.