ONRSR to ballot staff on pay offer – November 2017 (PDF version)
The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) has rejected a push by the CPSU and employee representatives for additional improvements to salaries, advising the bargaining representatives that it now intends to ballot staff on a new deal to replace the existing enterprise agreement. ONRSR is yet to clarify with the CPSU the precise timeframe for the ballot, however we expect it to be before Christmas.
Following yesterday’s meeting (27 November), the CPSU wrote to ONRSR to request a marked-up version of the proposed enterprise agreement with tracked changes, plus copies of the agency’s performance management policy and data relating to the possible impact of changes to incremental progression.
In terms of pay, ONRSR are offering staff a continuation of the existing annual 2 percent or Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase (whichever is greater) over the life of a three year agreement. While there may be some additional increases in annual salary through incremental progression, at this stage, the CPSU does not know how many staff may ultimately benefit (ie are currently below the top of their grade), or how performance and behaviour are measured to assess ‘above expectation’ performance.
In other matters, ONRSR has proposed a further amendment to Duty Officer Allowance following feedback from employee representatives. ONRSR will now pay a flat $20 daily allowance instead of the proposed $17.30 plus annual increases of CPI as previously advised. It has been the CPSU’s position to link the allowance to CPI, thereby guaranteeing the real value of the allowance into the future, however, we understand from employee representatives that an overwhelming majority of ONRSR employees favour a flat increase to $20 for the life of the agreement.
Next steps
We have requested a marked-up version of the proposed enterprise agreement and other relevant material by Wednesday, 29 November.
We will then put together a summary of the key changes being proposed and organise a series of CPSU member information sessions. Details will be forward to CPSU members shortly.
All CPSU members will have an opportunity to vote on whether the CPSU endorses or rejects ONRSR’s proposal.
For further information on bargaining, or to unsubscribe, contact our Senior Industrial Officer, Thane Pearce at or our Senior Organiser, Lisa Nelson at
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