YOU'RE NEVER ALONE WHEN YOU'RE A UNION MEMBER

Our weekly Bulletin outlines issues with broad application. But our main work is with individual members in private. For example in the past few weeks we have had issues such as unfair dismissal, unlawful dismissal, performance plans, bullying, redundancy selection, underpayment of allowances, incorrect job classification and wage theft.
Almost invariably, these individual matters are settled "on terms that cannot be disclosed". We are here for members.
You're never alone when you're a union member

OPTUS SHIFT HANDOVER

Optus has responded as follows:

You have raised an issue about whether employees at Belrose have been undertaking shift handovers without payment.
In short, Optus does not agree that employees at Belrose have been undertaking shift handovers without payment. It is clear that the payments Optus makes to our employees at Belrose adequately compensate employees for any handover time.
Relevantly, the Belrose employees work 11.5 hours each shift that they are rostered to work, given they take a 30 minute unpaid meal break in accordance with the EPA. The employees are, however, paid for 12 hours. We also note that the Belrose employees are paid a salary based on them working for 38 hours per week.
If the employees happen to spend a small amount of additional time as part of a handover, this is comfortably covered by the additional payments made by Optus to the employees.
This position is clearly evidenced by the attached anonymised pay slip, which identifies that the relevant employee is paid for 38 ordinary hours each week, despite only being rostered for 36 hours that week, and not taking into account the 30 minute meal break s/he took each shift.
I trust this resolves this issue.

OPTUS SHIFT HANDOVER

The response by Optus will be contested by us. Operational staff are not in a position to take a fixed lunch break and leave the building. Further, the response raises new issues and possible other breaches of the EBA. We are now considering our next steps.
We are also seeking confidential feedback from shift workers re handover and the Optus response.

INFLATION DRIVEN BY PROFITS NOT WAGES

You couldn't make this up. A new report shows that executives at some of Australia's biggest companies have recorded pay increases of 15% over the last year. On top on salaries that already start at well over an average of one million dollars.
These are the very same big business bosses who say workers don't deserve a pay rise that keeps up with inflation. How's that for fairness?
This is just more evidence that working people are bearing the brunt of this cost-of-living crisis.
ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus, was on ABC's Q&A on Monday night, telling it like it is. You know it, we know it, everyone knows it: Corporate profiteering is driving inflation.
The big business lobby tries to blame workers for rising inflation or interest rates. But the evidence is in: the main driver of worsening cost-of-living is profits.