SEPARATE BUNDLE DELIVERY

Members rally with donations

At this stage members in Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia have been stood down. Some have since been redeployed to other work. As of Friday, about 43 employees in Victoria remain stood down and are without pay. These delivery centres are collecting money to assist those members. They are asking for everyone to make a small donation to assist as well. We thank those who are already sending words of support to these members, and particularly for their donations

SBD not delivering results

Despite having an agreed dispute resolution procedure, Post continue to provoke the dispute. Many members are delivering by SBD under protest. Some have been injured and are redeployed. SBD is not efficient but Post is happy to pay additional overtime, at least during this time. One group has already been told to speed up as SBD is not delivering the anticipated results. Apart from the safety issues, it just takes longer overall, and more mail is being returned each day.

Legal Action No 1

There have been two separate legal actions. The first was to follow the course outlined in the Enterprise Agreement - the dispute resolution procedure. That involves Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. Post showed no interest in resolving the matter at Conciliation. Last week we undertook mediation before former High Court Judge, Justice Kirby. This also failed. However Mr Kirby made two (non-binding) recommendations. The first was that the matter was suitable for arbitration. The second was a proposal for the parties to consider. CEPU accepts the proposal. Post has not yet responded. We will now seek arbitration as soon as possible.

Legal Action No 2

Kavina Grant was stood down when she was directed to undertake SBD. She refused because of the excessive reaching, and the effect it was having on her back. We supported Kavina seeking an injunction in the Federal Court to stop Post. The matter was to proceed to final hearing (as an expedited hearing) at the same time as the arbitration proceedings were also to be undertake. The outcome would only apply to Kavina. For this and a number of other reasons, Kavina agreed to withdraw from those proceedings, so that we could concentrate on the arbitration approach - which would apply to all members.

Meeting with Ahmed Fahour

Divisional Secretary Dan Dwyer and Divisional President Len Cooper met with Ahmed Fahour last week in accordance with a long standing arrangement. The meeting was not to deal with SBD, but SBD was discussed. No solution emerged from the meeting but Ahmed did agree to a special meeting this week with our members to hear their complaints and alternative solutions. Discussions with Ahmed's office continue.