Ahpra has now presented unions with a revised bargaining position following the rejection of its proposed Agreement in June.
There have been some changes, but the revised position still does not address many of the issues that staff have told both unions and Ahpra matter most.
On wages, Ahpra has increased the headline figure from 11 per cent across three years to 12 per cent across an extended period – this is yet to be defined, but likely to be close to three-and-a-half years. While this may look like a headline increase, it is actually a reduction in the average annual increase over the life of the Agreement.
Ahpra is also proposing to withdraw the classification restructure contained in its previous offer. That restructure would have removed the two lowest pay points at each classification, and added a new top pay point 3 per cent above the existing
maximum. They have not proposed any new proposal in its place, meaning this proposal leaves you worse off than under the rejected offer. For full-time employees, this means a reduction of between $3,000–$3,500 for every year after this Agreement.
Ahpra has proposed no significant changes to its workload provisions, no change to address the unfair treatment of staff required to working during the end-of-year shutdown, and still proposes removing leave loading and concessional days from future employees.
Bargaining has been underway for nine months. Members deserve a pay rise, and deserve a fair agreement without unnecessary delays.
This is the position Ahpra has put to us. Now, the ball is in our court – we need clear direction from union members about what needs to change for an agreement to be acceptable.
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Authorised by Stewart Little (CPSU-SPSF Group), 160 Clarence Street, Sydney NSW 2000; Annie Butler (ANMF), 1/365 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000; and Alex Scott (Together Queensland), Level 4, 43 Peel Street, South Brisbane QLD 4101.