TITLE :
Australia Post Underwood Mail Centre Agreement 1996
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION
Industrial Relations Act 1988 s170MA application for certification of agreement Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia and another and Australian Postal Corporation (C No.40581 of 1996)
AUSTRALIA POST UNDERWOOD MAIL CENTRE AGREEMENT 1996
Various employees Postal Services
DEPUTY PRESIDENT DUNCAN SYDNEY, 4 NOVEMBER 1996
Certification of single business agreement
This is an application for certification pursuant to s.170MA of the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (the Act) of an agreement known as the Australia Post Underwood Mail Centre Agreement 1996.The parties to the agreement are the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union ofAustralia,CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union and the Australian Postal Corporation.The application was heard by me in Brisbane on 29 October 1996. On the basisof the Statutory Declarations filed on behalf of the parties and the submissions made at the hearing I am satisfied that the relevant requirementsof the Act and the Rules have been met.
In accordance with s.170MC of the Industrial Relations Act 1988, the Commission hereby certifies the attached memorandum of the terms agreed upon between the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia, CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union and the Australian Postal Corporation.
AUSTRALIA POST UNDERWOOD MAIL CENTRE AGREEMENT 1996 This agreement shall come into force on 29 october 1996 and shall remain in force for a period of eighteen months.
BY THE COMMISSION; DEPUTY PRESIDENT
Appearances:
D. Callaghan with C. Thiele for the Communications, Electrical, Electronic,Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia.
B. Smith for the CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union.
A. Elder with K. Turley for the Australian Postal Corporation.
Hearing details:
1996.Brisbane:
October 29.
This Agreement shall be known as the Australian Post Underwood Mail Centre Agreement 1996.
The terms of this Agreement provide for changes to the operations of the Underwood Mail Centre which will provide immediate productivity and efficiency benefits, and improve the quality of service to customers.
This agreement is binding upon:
(i) the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal,
Plumbing, and Allied Services Union of Australia, its employees and
those members or employees eligible to be members employed at the
Underwood Mail Centre;
(ii) the Community and Public Sector Union, its employees and those members
or employees eligible to be members employed at the Underwood Mail Centre; and
(iii) the Australian Postal Corporation.
This agreement applies to all permanent full-time employees employed at the Underwood Mail Centre (excludes technicians) by the Australian Postal Corporation.
This Agreement will operate from the date of Agreement is certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission for a period of 18 months.
(i) Building extensions at Underwood Mail Centre have added 400 square metres of floor space. In consultation with the Support Services Group, cleaning work practices and schedules have been reviewed resulting in new work arrangements which enable the additional cleaning to be accommodated within existing staffing resources.
(ii) A Review Committee, comprising an Operations Manager, CEPU representatives and one representative from each shift, has been formed to monitor the alignment of staff to traffic and to recommend timely changes to shift start times and staffing levels which are linked to enhancing service commitments.
(iii) Operational Trainers have agreed to more flexible work arrangements which will enable general and mandatory Australia Post training programmes to be delivered on 6.00 pm and 9.00 pm shifts. This will provide opportunities for all staff to be trained on their preferred shift and afford a greater degree of operational flexibility.
Notwithstanding Clause 34 (b) of the Australia Post General Conditions of Employment (Interim) Award 1995, the parties agree that permanent full-time officers (excluding technical employees) employed at Underwood Mail Centre who are required to work their ordinary hours where the entire shift occurs between 6pm and 8am for a minimum period of one day will become immediately eligible for 30 percent penalty rate.
The payment of 30% shift penalties on a daily basis under this Agreement is estimated to increase labour costs at Underwood Mail Centre by $5234 per annum. The new operational arrangements will deliver cost savings and opportunities for improved service performance.
SUPPORT SERVICES
An additional 400 square metres of operational floor space will be cleaned at
no additional cost through the following initiatives:
* A Support Services Officer will commence one hour earlier to clean the
parcels sorting machine and distribute cleaning equipment to required
positions prior to the commencement of the 6.00 am shift. This shift can
commence cleaning duties immediately, resulting in a one half-hour effective
increase in available daily cleaning hours;
* The Senior Support Services Officer (Supervisor) will undertake a more"hands on" role prior to 9.00 am which is calculated to yield approximately
1.5 hours of extra cleaning time per day.
The earlier cleaning of the Parcels Sorting Machine will enable sorting operations to commence at 6.00 am, 20 minutes earlier than possible under existing arrangements. This equates to approximately 1000 parcels being processed earlier in the day.
REVIEW COMMITTEE
This committee will monitor staff/traffic alignment and provide timely consideration of shift and resourcing changes where these are indicated. The Committee's role is to complement the normal consultative arrangements by ensuring that changes which affect the operations of the Mail Centre are quickly identified and that the established processes for dealing with shift and operational changes are commenced as a matter of priority. This initiative is expected to contribute to more flexible work arrangements resulting in increased capacity to respond to changing customer needs.
TRAINING
The availability of Trainers on the later shifts will avoid the personal and operational disruption associated with temporarily transferring trainees to less critical day shifts. Customer service improvements will accrue as increased staff numbers will be available in peak processing windows. The benefits derived from the improvements to the Mail Centre cleaning arrangemetns and the potential customer service benefits flowing from the process improvements detailed above will offset the modest increase in labour costs associated with this proposal.
In the event of any dispute regarding the terms of this Agreement, the parties agree to apply the consultative processes set out in the Joint Statement of Understanding between the Australian Postal Corporation and the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia (Attachment A).
Should these processes fail to settle a dispute on any matter, the parties agree to refer such matters to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and to abide by the recommendation of the Commission in regard to the dispute.
The parties agree to monitor the operations of this Agreement and determine three months prior to its expiry whether the Agreement should be renewed having particular regard to the workload requirements on cleaning and value of training people on rostered shifts and how well the review committee has worked.
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