eTU online

eTU online is a e-newsletter for members and supporters who have registered their e-mail address with the union. It aims to keep you informed of the latest developments within your Union.

Please forward a copy to other members or print off a copy for the notice board.

Newsletter Archives

In This Issue

1. Austin Hospital Christmas Fund
2. Contracting Rates of Pay from 1st July 2001
3. University of Melbourne Enterprise Agreement Certified
4. Protect Link
5. Nestle Echuca lock out
6. AVCO Financial Services Credit Contracts
7. Uniform Electrician Licensing Across Australia
8. Shop Stewards' training
9. Contracting Apprentices Rates of Pay
10. Occupational Health and Safety Manual
11. Occupational Health and Safety training courses
12. Productivity Leisure Days on Construction Sites
13. Next edition of eTU online

There has been a practice at the Austin Hospital in the maintenance section that redundant materials get scrapped and proceeds are used for end of year functions. The practice was highly regulated with proceeds being receipted and going into a coffee jar kept in the filing cabinet.

The electricians were given approval to scrap some redundant cable leading to the construction site at the hospital. The cable was disconnected and taken away to be stripped at the home of one of the electricians near by.

Some solid citizen called the police to investigate. The police contacted the hospital and the hospital alleged that there was a serious case of theft going on. One electrician was interviewed and fingerprinted and stood down.

At first the hospital denied that any approval was given to remove and scrap the cable. Eventually they had to admit that approval was given by the relevant supervisor and that the electricians were instructed to strip the cable outside of work hours.

The union received assistance in this matter by an accredited criminal law specialist. The hospital were a bit more cautious in its investigations after the specialist was brought in.

The member is back at work and looking forward to the Christmas bash this year.

Jesse Maddison ETU Legal Officer

2. Contracting Rates of Pay from 1st July 2001

From July 1 2001, rates of pay for those employed under the Communications and Contracting Award Enterprise Agreement will have changed.

Your pay packet should reflect that change. The supervised licence-holder hourly level 5 rate of pay should be $21.3158 or $810.00 per week.

The un-supervised "E" class licence-holder hourly level 5 rate should be $22.1053 or $840.00 per week.

Copies of the Enterprise Agreement are available for ETU members from your organiser or the Union office.

3. University of Melbourne Enterprise Agreement Certified

Three years in the making, with a cast of over six thousand employees and a forest of paper the University of Melbourne Enterprise Agreement has been completed and the Agreement certified in the AIRC on June 15 by Justice A.J. Boulton.

As well as the usual benefits the three-year agreement includes:

• Partner leave (one week's paid leave and 51 weeks unpaid leave),
• Continuation of the maximum 17% employer contribution to superannuation.

The agreement also provides processes to deal with long-standing claims on tool allowances and classifications for tradespeople employed at the University.

4. Protect Link

Protect Severance Fund now has a web site for member information.

Contact details are:

5. Nestle Echuca lock out

Organiser Wes Hayes reports on the dispute at Nestle Echuca which normally produces the Nestle brand of yoghurt.

"On 19th June, Nestle Australia locked out 90 maintenance and food workers at its Echuca Site.

This forced lockout was a deliberate and cruel attempt by the company to force union members at this site to accept company demands for an enterprise agreement which are unequal, unfair and less than what the members demanded.

Nestle Australia is attempting to starve members out of employment and their families out of their homes whilst this dispute continues and, as you can understand, if Nestle is successful in this dispute then the ramifications in the region could extend to your workplace.

Rostering arrangements and the expiry date are the two main issues that Nestle claims are the reasons why they have locked workers out of their employment. The rostering arrangements the company wants are seven day continuos operations. Whilst the members have agreed to have seven day operations at the plant, they wish for the seventh day to be on a voluntary basis, paid at overtime rates, not one forced upon them by the company. It seems these big multinational foreign owned-companies not only want to control and buy out any Australian made goods, they also want to control members' lives!

The second issue is the expiry date based on Campaign 2000 which the unions and the members want at 31 March 2003. The company wishes to have a 3-year agreement so as to avoid all of their workplaces having a common expiry date. This obviously makes it easier for the company to lock out workers in the future on a plant by plant basis. This is what they are doing now."

There are other issues related to the enterprise agreement which are still to be negotiated, so if any members wish to have information on this dispute please feel free to ring Wes Hayes on 0417 552 775.

6. AVCO Financial Services Credit Contracts

Legal advice from Maurice Blackburn Cashman indicates that

"consumers who have entered into credit contracts with AVCO Financial Services between 28 February 1985 and 1 November 1996 may be entitled to a partial interest refund. The contracts do not need not be current, they can be paid out or re-financed by a later contract."

Maurice Blackburn Cashman is able to advise consumers on their rights and may be able to act for consumers on a "no-win, no -fee" basis.

Consumers who would like to have their contracts assessed for possible errors should send a COPY of the contract (and any other documentation relating to the contract) to:

David Niven
Solicitor
Maurice Blackburn Cashman
PO Box 523J
MELBOURNE VIC 3001

If you do not have a copy of your contract you may still have a claim. Write to the above address or phone 03 9345 2802 with information about your loan and Maurice Blackburn Cashman will be able to request a copy of your loan contract from AVCO.

7. Uniform Electrician Licensing Across Australia

Australia finally has a uniform set of requirements for licensed electricians that will be applied across the country. The National Uniform Electrical Licensing Advisory Council (NUELAC) finalised and agreed on a uniform set of requirements for licensed electricians on 13th February 2001. The agreement also covers the adoption of a single title of "electrician" to replace the previous electrical mechanic and electrical fitter titles.

This agreement is the culmination of efforts by industry and electrical regulators to reach a common requirement for electrical licensing that is integrated into nationally recognised vocational education and training.

NUELAC membership covers various government and industry interests relevant to the safe and competent performance of electrical work. This includes ETU, NECA, Ai Group, and technical/safety regulators (licensing authorities) of all Australian States and Territories. The New Zealand regulator and the industry training advisory body (NUEITAB) are observer members of the Council.

Training has been strengthened. A set of 66 "essential performance capabilities" that cover the scope of electrical work have been agreed, and these must be covered during training and assessment for an appropriate national qualification and licensing. The overarching objective is that the training for a prospective electrician is to include the 66 essential performance capabilities. In addition, a final 'capstone' assessment (final exam) covering 34 critical items of the 66 essential performance capabilities will be conducted by TAFE's as part of the quality assurance process.

NUEITAB are finalising any necessary changes in the Training Packages (Apprenticeship) to ensure that the 66 essential performance capabilities are adequately identified. The NUELAC agreement requires TAFE's to conduct the approved capstone assessment after the completion of all other assessment requirements of the national Training Package qualification. The purpose of this is to provide assurance to electrical regulatory authorities of the quality of the candidate presenting for an electrician's licence. This is important, as there has been a case in Queensland where two apprentices, trained by hairdressers, after 2 years of their apprenticeship applied for a licence. Luckily the authority rejected their application.

NUELAC is currently reviewing requirements for electrical contractors, with the objective to standardise the requirements across the country. Licensing of Power Industry Workers is also being dealt with, because licensing for the Power Industry happens in SA,NT and QLD.

The Union supports licensing for Power Industry Workers across the whole of Australia, especially with the increase of workers travelling outside their normal work area and the increase in the number workers employed by contractors.

John Ingram ETU National Assistant Secretary

8. Shop Stewards' training

The next level 1 Shop Stewards' training course will be on August 28 - 31.

Call Mary on 03 8341 5555 to reserve your spot.

9. Contracting Apprentices Rates of Pay

Organiser Shaun Leane has compiled the following list of hourly wage rates applying from June 1 to apprentices in the Electrical Contracting industry:

Wages

Conditions

Income protection only applies to those under the ETU EBA Employer Contribution $9.90 per week.

Travel Time per day* under the Award

Travel Time per day* under the ETU EBA

* note: Travel time paid on days at trade school.

Fares per day Award

Fares per day Award under the ETU EBA

10. Occupational Health and Safety Manual

The ETU OH&S Manual is into its Third Edition. Many of the previous topics have been carried over into the new edition and updated to today's requirements.

The Third Edition focuses more on electrical but also covers hazards that have been in the headlines in recent times.

Contents include:

OH&S ACT
Workcover
Electrical Safety legislation
SAA Wiring Rules
Switchboard energisation procedures for construction
Isolation procedures
NO GO ZONES
Heat, cold and inclement weather
SMFs
Asbestos
PCBs
Safe use of ladders
Plant
Legionella
Alerts and policies

The aim of the manual is to make people more aware of the hazards in the workplace and what should be done to look after their health and safety whilst they are at work.

The topics for the manual were selected by our dedicated and hard working OH&S Committee. The information is not designed to make anyone an expert, but to give enough information so that our members are aware of what could be done, what should be done to ensure their safety.

Copies of the manual are available from the Union office or your organiser.

Allan Mulvena ETU OH&S officer

11. Occupational Health and Safety training courses

The next Occupational Health and Safety Training course for those in general industry commences on August 13 - 17 at VTHC Carlton.

Participants in the course need to be elected OH&S representatives. The course fees and the time off to do the course should be paid by the employer. Employers have to permit the employee to take time off work with pay to attend a course on OH&S. Course cost $460.00

Other courses are available August 23 - 27 Frankston and September 10 - 14 at VTHC Carlton.

Members working in the contracting industry need to book through Mary on 03 8341 5555. Cost $350.00.

The next available course is July 23 - 27. Another course is available September 10 - 14.

12. Productivity Leisure Days on Construction Sites

The outcome of the shorter hours campaign in early 2000 was an agreement that covers ETU members who are engaged in the commercial building sector of the Victorian Building Industry. This is delivered via the ETU contracting industry enterprise agreement.

This agreement provides for the introduction of Productivity Leisure Days (PLDs) from January 2001. The agreed position is that there will be 9 PLDs in 2001 and a further 9 PLDs in 2002. PLDs will be introduced in conjunction with the current RDO system.

The parties agreed that from 2003 the number of PLDs will increase to 13. In consideration of this position in 2003 the parties agreed that the increase in wages for 2003 will be 3 per cent or CPI (for the preceding calendar year) whichever is the greater.

Commencing from January 1 2001 ETU members will accrue 0.263 hours for each paid day of authorised ordinary hours of service on Construction sites. Payment for PLDs will be made on the basis of time accrued. Agreement has been reached with NECA that when ETU members solely work on Construction sites they will have the right to have the day paid in full if insufficient time has been accrued. Where ETU members are not on Construction sites full time they will have only the accrued hours from time spent on Construction sites.

The calculation of the hourly rate will stay the same.

38 RDO weekends are fixed weekends on which no work will normally be scheduled. The weekend prior to the PLD may be worked.

Flexibility in taking PLDs may be achieved by the employer, ETU members and the union at a site level agreeing to change their PLDs to another agreed date within the work cycle. Agreement regarding the substituted day should be made at least 7 days prior to the date of the PLD.

The RDO, PLD and Christmas Annual Leave shutdown calendar has been agreed. Contact the ETU office or an Organiser to obtain a copy.

What is an ordinary day of authorised service?

• Normal hours worked on site
• Personal leave ( sick leave etc)
• Annual leave
• RDOs

Are fares and travel payable on PLDs?

• Fares allowance- NO
• Travel time allowance- YES

Site allowance

• Site allowance is not paid on PLDs unless it is an all-purpose site allowance.

What happens if an employee only spends part of the day at a Construction site ?

• The full accruement of 0.263 hours occurs for any time spent on a Construction site

ETU members working on a Construction site permanently

• Where ETU members are working permanently on a Construction site it has been agreed that full payment of the PLD will occur. This includes ETU member's who will not have sufficient time accrued.
• If an ETU member's employment ceases before having balanced the PLD deficit, the employer will be entitled to deduct that amount from their termination pay.
• Alternatively an employer should also pay out any accrued time on cessation of employment.

36 hour sites

• ETU members do not accrue time towards PLDs on 36-hour sites as they will be accruing time towards a 36 RDO. 36 RDO accrued time may be taken in conjunction with PLD accrued time where applicable.

David Mier ETU State Organiser

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