Silcar Communications : EA update
The last two weeks have seen a further round of consultations between Silcar Communications management, employees and the CWU as part of bargaining for a new Enterprise Agreement.
At the meetings, management explained the new offer that has been developed after employees indicated they were not impressed with an initial proposal put to them last month.
Since then, Silcar has significantly increased the amount they are willing to put on the table to compensate for the changes in entitlements they want.
As reported in earlier E- Bulletins, the company is seeking to buy out certain entitlements which are over and above those that apply to employees in the now amalgamated Visionstream/Silcar operation.
They are also indicating that they are looking at a pay rise in the 2-3% range, depending on the overall results of bargaining.
The message coming back from consultations has been that most employees still aren’t interested in trading ongoing conditions for short-term monetary benefits, especially when they don’t believe they are getting the actual monetary value of those entitlements.
Management has undertaken to consider this feedback and to respond promptly. The company has also flagged, however, that it might test the water by putting an agreement out to ballot before the end of the year, even if there is no agreement with the CWU or with employees as a whole.
