Collective Agreement Negotiations
Union Representatives (Steve Warner, Athol Conway, Peter Nicolle, Jim Ryburn and Derek Best) met with Fire Service representatives (Vince Arbuckle, Russell Wood, Ian Pickard and Bill Butzbach) on 15 and 16 January to commence bargaining.
A Process for Bargaining was initially agreed. Union negotiators put the following items on the table for negotiation:
- 2 year term.
- Additional 28 days Long Service Leave after 30 years service.
- A reduction from 75km to 50km for qualification for provided accommodation for FireService Courses.
- A guarantee of return to work for LWOP if for a period of 12 months or less and return on the agreed date.
- On-call arrangements for Black Watch.
- Leave
Annual and Sick Leave to be expressed as Working Days
Extra weeks leave from 1 April 2007
- Superannuation Enhancement
Ability to contribute and be subsidized at a higher rate for a fixed period before retirement.
- The Total WeeklyWage to become an Annual Salary with Overtime at T1.5 of salary divided by 2080.
- A 3 Phase approach to a Wage Increase.
- An overall increase to be effective from 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2008.
- An increase in the Driver Allowance from 1 January 2007 and 1 January 2008.
- An increase in the margin for both S.O. and S.S.O. ranks
Further meetings have been agreed for 1/2 February and 8/9 February.
Working Parties Arising Out Of The 2006 Collective Agreement Settlements
Union Representatives are as follows:
1. Job Sharing
Boyd Raines, Denis Fitzmaurice, Peter Nicolle
2. Loss of Medical/Physical Fitness
Steve Warner, Derek Best, Jeff McCulloch
3. Meals at Emergency Situations
Ian Wright, Boyd Raines,Mike Powell.
4. Communications Centres
Steve Warner, Derek Best + Rep. from each of the Comm Centres.
5. Implementation of S.M.S.
Peter Nicolle, Athol Conway, Jim Ryburn
6. Black Watch Transition
Derek Best, Jeff McCulloch, Willy Clark
Particularly in regard to the Black Watch Transition, it is expected both as the Working Party (i.e. including the Fire Service), but also seperately as the Union, there will need to be extensive consultation with the various catagories of Black Watch workers.
Please contact any of the Union representatives with suggestions/proposals etc. on any of the topics.
