34
QUEENSLAND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION
Industrial Relations Act 1999, s.156
TAB Queensland Limited
AND
Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union, Central and Southern Queensland Clerical and Administrative Branch Union of Employees.
AND
Federated Clerks Union of Australia, North Queensland Branch, Union of Employees.
AND
Queensland Services, Industrial Union of Employees.
(No. CA504 of 2000)
TAB QUEENSLAND LIMITED - CERTIFIED AGREEMENT 2000
COMMISSIONER BECHLY
6 October 2000
APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION OF AGREEMENT
THIS AGREEMENT, made under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 on this thirty-first day of August 2000, between TAB Queensland Limited, Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union, Central and Southern Queensland Clerical and Administrative Branch Union of Employees, Federated Clerks Union of Australia, North Queensland Branch, Union of Employees, and Queensland Services, Industrial Union of Employees witnesses that the parties mutually agree as follows:-
Certified Agreement No. CA517 of 1997 is hereby cancelled.
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
1.1 ARRANGEMENT OF AGREEMENT
This agreement is arranged as follows:
PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
1.1 Arrangement of Agreement
1.2 Title
1.3 Agreement Coverage
1.4 Date of Operation
1.5 Agreement Posting
1.6 Single Bargaining Unit
1.7 No Further Claims
PART 2 RELATIONSHIP TO AWARD AND OBJECTIVES
2.1 Relationship to Parent Award
2.2 Allowable Matters
2.3 Objectives of the Parties
2.4 Commitment
2.5 Wage Increases
PART 3 COMMUNICATION
3.1 Grievance and Dispute Procedure
3.2 Facilitating Employee Involvement
3.3 TABQ Consultative Committee
3.4 Equity Considerations
PART 4 FLEXIBILE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
4.1 Technicians
4.2 Raceday Control
4.3 Network Services
4.4 Service Support
4.5 Telebet
4.6 Service Centre Officers
PART 5 HOURS AND OVERTIME
5.1 Ordinary Hours
PART 6 ANNUAL LEAVE AND SICK LEAVE
6.1 Excessive Leave Accrual
6.2 Annual Leave Payment
6.3 Flexible Use of Sick Leave
PART 7 WORK PRACTICES
7.1 Notice of Termination by an Employee
7.2 Refund of Study Assistance
7.3 Reduction of Workers’ Compensation Claims
7.4 Telebet Accuracy Benchmark
7.5 Branch Management
7.6 Covering Telebet Absenteesim
7.7 Telebet Operator Incentive Reward Schemes
7.8 Payment of Casual Wages
7.9 Annualising Factors
7.10 Tea Biscuits
APPENDIX 1 WAGES
APPENDIX 2 ROSTERS
APPENDIX 3 PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE
APPENDIX 4 CUSTOMER CONTACT DEFINITIONS
APPENDIX 5 RESERVED MATTERS
1.2 TITLE
This Agreement shall be known as the TAB Queensland Limited Certified Agreement - 2000
1.3 AGREEMENT COVERAGE
This Agreement shall apply to TAB Queensland Limited ("TABQ") and its employees who are employed pursuant to the Totalisator Administration Board of Queensland Employees' Award - State ("the Award"), and to those Industrial Organisations of employees signatory to this Agreement.
1.4 DATE OF OPERATION
This Agreement shall operate and take effect as from the Date of Certification and shall remain in force for 3 years.
1.5 AGREEMENT POSTING
A copy of this Agreement shall be exhibited in such a position as to be easily read by the employees at Head Office and each Branch Office of TABQ where employees covered by this Agreement are employed.
1.6 SINGLE BARGAINING UNIT
A Single Bargaining Unit consisting of officials and TABQ employee representatives from all Industrial Organisations of employees respondent to the Award and TABQ management representatives was formed for the purposes of negotiating this Agreement.
The SBU comprises three (3) representatives of TABQ management, three (3) employees who are members of the Australian Services Industrial Union of Employees or the Queensland Services, Industrial Union of employees plus two (2) paid Union officials.
1.7 NO FURTHER CLAIMS
Apart from any increases that may arise from the application of the provisions, of the terms of the following clauses:
· Clause 2.5.2 GST Clause
· Clause 2.5.3 Accommodating Casual Loading Increases
· Clause 7.9 Annualising Factors
· Appendix 5 Reserved Matters
there shall be no further claims relating to improvements to terms and conditions of employment made or granted during the life of the Agreement.
PART 2 - RELATIONSHIP TO AWARD AND OBJECTIVES
2.1 RELATIONSHIP TO PARENT AWARD
This Agreement shall be read with and operate in conjunction with the Award. Provided that where there is any inconsistency between this Agreement and the Award, the Agreement shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
2.2 ALLOWABLE MATTERS
The parties agree that current award conditions, as they stand at 1st July 2000 with the exception of the Preference Clause, shall continue to apply to employees covered by the Agreement, for the life of the Agreement unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
2.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE PARTIES
The aim of this Agreement is:-
(a) To improve productivity and efficiency throughout TABQ
(b) To facilitate greater flexibility of working arrangements within the framework of an Enterprise Agreement
(c) To use opportunities provided in Enterprise Bargaining to facilitate the success of TABQ's key corporate strategies
(d) To ensure optimum service delivery during operations which span 24hours per day, seven (7) days per week.
(e) To gain a commitment from the employees and unions to support the business directions of TABQ
(f) To ensure that the gains from improved productivity are shared by the employees, TABQ and its customers
(g) To achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction through extending our customer service skills and standards
(h) To improve the competitive position of TABQ and deliver profit growth
(i) To provide the mechanisms for the above to take place.
2.4 COMMITMENT
Commercial Environment
TABQ and the Industrial Organisations of employees signatory to this agreement, expressly acknowledge that TABQ operates within the parameters of a commercial framework and is subject to corporate requirements and TABQ Business Plans. The parties are therefore committed to implementing measures aimed at achieving continuing productivity and efficiency improvements within TABQ and also increased remuneration for employees.
Commitment to Consultative Process
As a result of the above agreement, the parties to this agreement also give a commitment to the continuation of the consultative processes for the life of this agreement, to deal with matters arising under this agreement. TABQ recognises the benefits able to be achieved from equitable, open and inclusive staff relations and will follow the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) standard provisions relating to Termination, Change and Redundancy for notification & discussion of change, including TABQ plans for additional out-sourcing of functions and services.
If during the life of the Agreement, TABQ proposes to outsource a function or service (including contracting out of an entire and/or partial function of service currently being undertaken by TABQ employees in the Award classifications) TABQ will initiate consultation with the relevant unions.
2.5 WAGE INCREASES
It is agreed between the parties that wage increases associated with this Certified Agreement shall be paid in three parts: from the first pay period commencing on or after 1st July in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 - as shown in Appendix 1. Wages.
Such payments shall be an increase of 3.8 % on the existing TABQ base rate for each Classification Level plus the competency based assessment components and shall provide a cumulative increase of 11.8% on existing TABQ base rates over the three year period.
GST Clause
The parties agree to re-open negotiations on a wage increase (if any) to apply during this Agreement in the event that the Brisbane CPI (published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) for the first year of application of the GST (1st July 2000 to 30th June 2001) exceeds the combined effect of TABQ wage rate increase in the first year of this agreement (+3.8%) and GST Tax Cuts for an employee with an annual income of $20,000 (+3.16%), which total 6.96%.
In the event that negotiations are re-opened by the parties, and the parties are unable to reach agreement, the parties will inter alia have the right to take protected industrial action under the terms of Chapter 6, Part 1, Division 6 of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (the Act), provided the grievance and dispute procedure has been exhausted.
Accommodating Casual Loading Increases:
The parties agree to re–open negotiations to determine the means for accommodating a general ruling (if so decided) by the QIRC to increase Casual Loading should that general ruling result in an increase in the hourly rate for Monday to Friday work for Casual Customer Contact Clerks above the current EBA 2 rate of $15.4585 per hour, when determined by the formula
$A x (100 + Percentage of Casual Loading)
119
Where $A = the total of the current hourly Award Rate inclusive of safety net increases up to and including 1999 but no further for Monday to Friday work by Casual Customer Contact Clerks.
PART 3 - COMMUNICATION
3.1 GRIEVANCE AND DISPUTE PROCEDURE
3.1.1 The matters to be dealt with in this procedure shall include all grievances or disputes between an employee and TABQ in respect to any industrial matter, administrative decisions affecting an individual and the behaviour of any employee towards the aggrieved employee.
The procedure shall apply to a single employee or to any number of employees.
(1) In the event of an employee having a grievance or dispute, the employee shall in the first instance attempt to resolve the matter with the immediate supervisor, who shall respond to such request as soon as reasonably practicable under the circumstances.
(2) If the grievance or dispute is not resolved under subclause (1) hereof, the employee or the employee's representative may refer the matter to the next highest level of management for discussion. Such discussion should, if possible, take place within 24 hours after the request by the employee or the employee's representative.
(3) If the grievance or dispute is still unresolved after discussions listed in subclause (2) hereof, the matter shall be reported to the Union and the relevant Senior Management. This should occur as soon as it is evident that discussions under subclause (2) hereof shall not result in resolution of the dispute.
(4) If, after discussion between the parties mentioned in subclause (3) the dispute remains unresolved and the parties have genuinely attempted to achieve a settlement thereof, then notification of the existence of the dispute is to be given in pursuance of the Industrial Relations Act 1999.
(5) Whilst all of the above procedures are being followed, normal work shall continue except in the case of a genuine safety issue.
(6) The status quo existing before the emergence of the grievance or dispute is to continue whilst the above procedure is being followed.
(7) All parties shall give due consideration to matters raised or any suggestion or recommendation made by an Industrial Commissioner or Industrial Magistrate with a view to the prompt settlement of the dispute.
(8) Any Order of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (subject to the parties right of appeal under the Act) shall be final and binding on all parties to the dispute.
(9) Discussions at any stage of the procedure shall not be unreasonably delayed by any party, subject to acceptance that some matters may be of such complexity or importance that it may take a reasonable period of time for the appropriate response to be made. If genuine discussions are unreasonably delayed or hindered, it shall be open to any party to give notification of the dispute pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1999.
Provided that the parties shall observe the following time frames in regard to subclause (1), (2) and (3) hereof unless otherwise agreed:-
Subclause (1) Discussions should take place between the employee and the supervisor within 24 hours and the procedure shall not proceed beyond 7 days.
Subclause (2) Procedure not to exceed 7 days.
Subclause (3) Not to exceed 14 days.
Provided further that it is recognised that an employee has the right to consult with their Union during the course of any stage of this procedure.
3.2 FACILITATING EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
TABQ agrees to facilitate reasonable involvement of employees in the enterprise bargaining process, as part of normal duties and to resource this involvement at a reasonable level.
In regard to employee involvement, TABQ agrees to support staff attendance of up to 1 hour prior to each TABQ Consultative Committee Meeting, allowing staff to be absent from duty without loss of wages for that period.
This commitment is subject to the provision of reasonable notice to their manager of the need for this absence.
In regard to Union involvement, TABQ agrees –
· to advise new employees of the names and addresses of industrial associations to which the employee may make application to join.
· to advise designated union delegates of the engagement of new employees to fill award positions, within 1 week of their commencement.
· to provide the Union with right of entry as provided by the Industrial Relations Act 1999. Access by the union to members outside the hours of 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday will be organised by prior telephoned arrangement.
· to make available an alternative meeting place, on the premises, provided employees are not approached at their work station.
· to continue Payroll deduction as a means of paying Union fees.
In regard to Employee Training, TABQ agrees that employees who apply for training (which is not directly related to the work they perform at TABQ) may be granted roster flexibility or time off without pay to attend such training, depending on TABQ operational requirements.
3.3 TABQ CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
It is agreed that a TABQ Consultative Committee shall be established and shall consist of equal numbers of Management and elected employee representatives. It is agreed that TABQ employees who are Union Delegates shall be elected to some of the employee representative positions by their constituents.
The aim of this committee shall be to facilitate the implementation of TABQ EB3 provisions.
Should there be any dispute between TABQ and those employees who may be affected by the implementation of changes then, as a first step the provisions of Clause 3.1 shall be applied.
3.4 EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS
TABQ and the industrial organisations of employees signatory to this Agreement are committed to the principles of equity and merit and to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991.
It is therefore the intention of the parties to jointly monitor the implementation of the changes as a result of this Agreement to ensure that there is no adverse impact in terms of existing equity protection, or in terms of creating any new situation of inequity referred to in such legislation.