2017 Authorised Holiday
They tried it on during EBA8 talks, they tried it on during EBA9 talks — and they just tried it on again.
Australia Post will not be satisfied until your Authorised Holiday is no more.
The latest proposal from Post was to declare the Authorised Holiday on Thursday 28 December.
Effectively, this meant you’d have Monday off for Christmas Day, Tuesday off for Boxing Day, come to work on Wednesday, have Thursday off for the Authorised Holiday and come back to work for Friday.
As a consolation, you would have been able to make application to, with management approval, have the Wednesday or Friday off instead. Failing this, you could, again, make application, to reschedule your day off for another day between January 2 and September 30 2018.
What the..?
Hands off
Members have repeatedly said loud and clear: HANDS OFF OUR PICNIC DAY.
And that is what it is – your picnic day. It is an opportunity to spend an extra time with your friends and loved ones following what is the most gruelling period of the year for each and every postal worker – a period where there is a leave blackout for everyone (except the people coming up with these whacky proposals, of course).
Sanity prevails
Thankfully, following discussions with your Union, Post have come to their senses and the 2017 Authorised Holiday has been declared for Friday, 29 December.
Additionally, the options to reschedule the date are still there. If it suits you, you can opt to take the Wednesday or Thursday instead, or come to work and apply to bank the day for an additional day off between 2 January and 30 September 2018. Just note, both these options do require that you make application for the arrangement and will be subject to management approval.
Importantly, do not accept any pressure from management to apply for the alternative dates. If this occurs in your workplace, contact your Branch Official immediately.
…But it’s not over yet
Post are seeking discussions with the Union early on in the new year to begin consulting on what we expect is another whacky proposal for 2018’s Authorised Holiday.
We’ll just say this; our members work hard and over periods like the peak Christmas period, every operational employee is putting in 110% — which often involves huge amounts of overtime including early starts and late finishes. Our members deserve to be able to make up for time lost over this period with their friends and loved ones.
Post’s argument is that customer demands for this period have changed largely due to the shopping patterns of customers due to the rise of online shopping. We don’t for a second doubt that this has become an issue, particularly over recent years, and that there has been a legitimate necessity to meet emerging customer demands.
However, in saying that, over the years when individual business units have come to us to consult over opening a particular facility on a voluntary basis on public holidays, including the authorised holiday, not once have we objected to this.
More importantly; not once have our members let them down. Why? Because our members care about the company, they care about their customers and they take pride in getting the job done!
The very last outstanding matter dealt with when wrapping up EBA9 talks was the Authorised Holiday. Our members had told us loud and clear that this condition was near and dear to them and was non-negotiable. The EBA9 package was wrapped up off the back of one very senior executive exclaiming “fine – you can have your ******* Authorised Holiday”.
Yet, here we are — and the try-ons continue.
We’ll keep members updated when talks on the 2018 Authorised Holiday commence in the new year.
