ACMA Enterprise Agreement update
The latest meeting in the long-running negotiations for a new Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) agreement was held on Thursday 2 March.
Unfortunately, little progress was made at the meeting. ACMA management says it is keen to make progress in negotiations and to have another vote on an agreement within the next few months.
But at the same time they are saying that the offer that was made in December last year is the best possible given the Government Bargaining Policy (GBP).
As reported in E-bulletin #2, that offer was rejected by a solid majority of ACMA employees.
The CWU and other bargaining representatives have advised ACMA that it needs to change its approach if it wants to get a YES vote up.
We have urged management to go back to the start and revisit the current EA, making only those changes that are absolutely necessary to satisfy government policy.
Negotiators have pointed out that a number of agencies have been able to make Enterprise Agreements within the GBP framework without stripping back key employee entitlements and conditions, the agreements covering air traffic controllers and staff at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) being two examples.
All those involved in bargaining have agreed that they will examine these two agreements prior to the next meeting on the 16 March.
