ASU MEMBER MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2012 AUTHORISED AND PRINTED BY INGRID STITT, AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION VICTORIAN PRIVATE SECTOR BRANCH, LEVEL 1, 117 CAPEL STREET NORTH MELBOURNE 3051

THE UNION DIFFERENCESECURE JOBS, SECURE DATAUNION DELEGATES - OUR VIPs!SMALL CLAIMS - IT’S WORTH IT

2. UNITE December 2012

JTG members speak up What a year for the members at JTG! The customer contact centre, linked to Qantas, have seen it all this year, from restructuring to stress claims and bargaining! In Melbourne JTG have taken off from a handful of members last year to a growing, organised workplace under the leadership of their dedicated union delegates Elaine and Madalaine.

Members have had their first taste of collective action, displaying “Worth More” signs on their desks to support their bargaining team.

JTG reps are still bargaining with the company. The National Negotiating Team has discussed issues staff have had accessing annual leave, and are looking to secure a casual conversion clause to provide more certainty to staff. Wage rates are another key issue given current pay levels.

It has been an impressive effort at building union activity from members at JTG, and we congratulate all members on their work in 2012!

Workplace newsJTG...................................................2

Virgin................................................4

Startrack...........................................4

Oxfam...............................................5

World Vision......................................5

Unite, December 2012

In line with the reporting requirements contained in the Fair Work Act, the ASU’s audited accounts for the period ending 30 June 2012 are available on the ASU website and can also be downloaded at www.asuvic.org/financial-statements

Front artwork & sticker: ASU members were asked “Why are you a union member?” - word size is proportional to mentions. Wordcloud design Copyright 2012 tagxedo.com

EventsBranch Conference...................................6

FeaturesSecure Jobs, Secure Data.........................3

Young Workers .........................................7

Delegates..................................................7

Small claims...............................................8

Stick me up at work! Show your union pride.

Asked “What will you be when you grow up?” Australian children would be expected to reply with any of a number of

occupations; builder, doctor, pilot, teacher. It would be unusual, but far more realistic, for a child to call out “customer service officer!” “business development consultant!”.

The services sector employs more Australians than any other. Filling the offices of city buildings and spilling into suburban office complexes, services workers account for roughly 70% of Australia’s economic activity, and 16% of our exports. They are engaged in collecting, processing and analysing data—the backbone of the ‘information economy’ to which Australia supposedly aspires.

These jobs are just as real, and just as vital to our national interest, as those requiring hard hats and high-visibility vests, but they are being forgotten in the debate over industry policy.

Largely left to market forces by state and federal governments, jobs in the Australian service sector are under threat.

Each year, more than 21,000 skilled services and finance jobs are lost offshore. Australian companies, perhaps hoping for a quick boost to share price, move their data management and customer service divisions offshore, usually to a state-supported services investment hub in Asia. There, firms exploit immense labour competition, cheap access to infrastructure and proximity to the AEST time zone.

To expedite servicing from these offshore departments, firms may also offshore customer details including personal information, financial records and spending data, storing this data beyond the protection of Australian privacy law.

The jobs we are losing are skilled and valuable jobs, often involving data handling and customer interaction. They disappear largely without comment, unmarked by media interest around factory closures, in a constant trickle rather than in floods. But each year Australia loses more office jobs than if five Rialto towers were to close overnight.

The Australian Services Union and the Finance Sector Union, which together have commissioned the only existing research into the problem of services offshoring, report that Australia has lost more than 80,000 services jobs, unknown terabytes of sensitive data and four years since we last raised the issue with government. This October, armed with fresh data, we raised it again.

The loss of 20,000 quality services jobs next year, and the year after that, is avoidable if governments take action to support our service economy.

We need a service sector plan: a strategic approach to develop service skills and business like we have for industries such as manufacturing. Infrastructure including the NBN can form part of that plan, but we must determine how best to leverage this infrastructure to build competitiveness and productivity. Approached without care, technical infrastructure will only serve to disaggregate business

functions and make it easier to offshore jobs.

In the short term, Australia can stem the tide of ‘investor relations’ offshoring—brief, expensive ‘cost-cutting’ experiments in offshoring—by offering a more favourable tax treatment for companies retaining work in Australia. Encouraging business to develop Australian competency will ensure that our skills base is not irretrievably hollowed out over the business cycle.

In light of the data sensitivity of services jobs, Government must also consider ‘country of origin’ legislation, to protect consumers’ right to know where their data is stored. The ‘right to know’ principle recognises that consumers should be alerted in advance when firms consider offshoring services and data, as there can be no consent without knowledge. Particularly where an Australian firm has offshored skilled services and customer relationship jobs to cut costs, consumers are right to question what security precautions have been taken. At the very least, government should be leading the way with a responsible procurement policy.

These aren’t simple solutions, but this is not a simple problem. The skilled, information workforce that we seek won’t simply emerge from the ashes of collapsed factories without investment of time and consideration by government and businesses, and neither is likely to shift from the status quo without the urging of Australian consumers.

We must call on both to invest in a plan for our services industry.

This article appeared in The Age on October 17 2012.

Secure jobs, data or risk missing outIngrid Stitt, Branch Secretary

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“each year Australia loses more office jobs than if five Rialto towers were to close overnight”

It has been a busy year for the growing membership at Virgin. A great majority of staff are now proud ASU members, and are working actively through their delegates for a fairer workplace.

This year, everything has changed for the guest service staff at Melbourne Airport. As the airline switched its business model from low-cost carrier to full service airline, the work demands placed upon staff have increased significantly, and out of proportion to wages and conditions.

ASU members at Virgin are now looking forward to their first EBA negotiation in 2013. Virgin staff in Melbourne are leading the way in EBA organising, and with the support of their interstate colleagues, anticipate a strong push for a good bargaining outcome next year.

Virgin unite ahead of EBA

Startrack members on the right trackIn an announcement late this year, news emerged that staff at Startrack (who were formerly employed by Australian Air Express) will again face ownership changes as Australia Post assumes Qantas’ share in the business.

Staff also have pressing concerns over wages and conditions. At an informative union BBQ in October, many new members joined the already strong membership at the Tullamarine site. ASU organisers will work closely with members over the coming months to consolidate conditions.

4. UNITE December 2012

Virgin unite ahead of EBA

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World Vision is the biggest international development agency in Australia. From a large office complex in Burwood East, its staff work diligently to bring Aid to those in need here and abroad, and to manage the needs of volunteers, donors and child sponsors.

Gordon, the union delegate on site, knows how hard it can be to get his colleagues to think of their own needs as workers while they’re concentrating on fixing the world’s problems. But there are certainly things he’d like to improve at the World Vision office. “I’ve always enjoyed working here, but it’s not quite as happy a place as it used to be”.

“We need to start organising here. We want a new agreement by next year, with vast improvements”.

Gordon has helped members through a number of issues on site, but for now his focus is on growing the membership base. He hopes for a more consultative workplace where staff have a voice in the changes the organisation faces.

“I’d like to see people take some more action [on their own behalf], to speak up. People need…to realise there is an alternative to [current conditions]”.

Gordon is passionate about helping his colleagues find a voice through the union, and he hopes to be able to do more with help. “It’d definitely be nice to have more union delegates to help organise here”.

Looking out for World Vision

After months of negotiation and significant effort by hardworking delegates Bruce Frances and Yvette Petersen, a new EBA for members at Oxfam has now been finalised. Members endorsed the new agreement by a margin of 144 in a vote last month, and it has now been approved by Fair Work Australia.

The new Oxfam EBA has become one of a growing number of enterprise agreements featuring a family violence clause recognising the role of workplaces in supporting workers experiencing domestic violence. We congratulate members on this step to protect workmates suffering domestic violence.

Oxfam EBA finalised

6. UNITE December 2012

Branch Conference

“It’s the workers who have benefited” Kevin Incigneri receives life membership award

At the annual ASU Victorian Private Sector Branch conference in October, Kevin Incigneri, a long time delegate at Qantas maintenance base, was awarded life membership for his services to the branch.

Kevin had worked at the maintenance base for over 25 years when Qantas announced early this year that it would be restructuring its maintenance facilities and cutting over 400 jobs from the Tullamarine site. At Branch conference, he spoke of the importance of union membership to his time at Qantas: “the day the union walked on to site, our lives all changed for the better. Immeasurably for the better”.

As a long time union delegate, Kevin has been through a lot of negotiations and many turbulent episodes at Qantas, but said that it was worth the work. “It’s the workers who have benefited”.

Amongst the changes Kevin’s witnessed, he highlighted job insecurity as a particularly stark change. “When I

started, you thought you were getting a job for life. Now kids start and they have to think ‘what am I going to be doing in 3 years?’”

“I reckon it’s shocking.”

Kevin’s colleagues at the maintenance base endorsed the award. “Kevin has been a fantastic mentor to me over the past 5 years. He always makes himself available to members and has helped so many when they have needed assistance” said ASU delegate Rick Hopkins.

Elected Branch conference delegates heard from a number of speakers at the conference, and discussed campaigns including Victorian Trades Hall’s public sector campaign, the ACTU’s Secure Jobs campaign, and the work of other unions including the TCFUA, NUW and CPSU.

National Conference took place this November in Adelaide. Speakers included Dr Anne Summers AO, speakers from Australian and international unions, and other experts in workplace relations.

UNITE December 2012 7.

It is widely held that young workers are harder to recruit to unions than older workers are. Sometimes this is ascribed to personality traits—Gen Y are too busy playing Angry Birds to concern themselves with worker unity.

But the numbers tell a different tale. Most research studies have found that young workers are at least as likely as older colleagues to join a union. Young workers on average have more positive views towards unions and are less likely to have negative attitudes. Young workers are also statistically more likely than older workers to join a union in an un-unionised workplace.

So why is it that young workers seem under-represented in unions?

Partly, it could be because older workers have simply had more time to find and join the union — they’ve been working longer!

Another part could be the changes in work patterns — young workers trapped in part-time, casual work, and short-term contracts never have the chance to build the relationships at work that help them build experience of the union and its function.

But another factor comes down to us (as more experienced members), and our attitudes to young workers. In an ACTU poll, the number one reason young workers gave for not having joined their union is that no-one asked them to.

Young workers find it difficult enough to learn what the union does. If their union colleagues are afraid to talk to them about joining, they’ll never have the chance to contribute to their workplace!

If there are young workers at your workplace who haven’t joined you in the ASU, consider having a conversation with them about why you joined. Make it a New Years Resolution!

- Keelia Fitzpatrick has joined the ASU as a growth Organiser, and was also involved in coordinating the Young Workers Conference in September.

Are young workers union-shy?

If you already have a union delegate, you know how valued they are by ASU members. Delegates are our VIPs, coordinating communication between members and the ASU, organising the workplace and helping members on the ground with queries every day.

Needless to say, it’s a hard job. It’s also one that our delegates take on without reward, for the benefit of their work mates. But great delegates do gain the trust and respect of their colleagues, and develop leadership skills and experience.

Taking the next stepUnion delegates: our workplace leaders

Could you be a union delegate?If you are passionate about helping your colleagues and improving your workplace, you might be a good union delegate. Talk to your ASU Organiser or the delegates in your workplace about whether you can help!

What do delegates do?• Represent members’ interests in

individual disputes & in collective bargaining

• Build-up union activism in the workplace

• Act as the communication link between the workplace and the union

• Advise the ASU of workplace issues

• Help keep members up to date • Attend union training sessions to

develop new skills

There are new arrangements for Federal Magistrates Proceedings under the Fair Work Act.

A case of underpaymentCatherine*, who works for a very large company, was being underpaid for the significant overtime she worked, but the company claimed that her employment contract allowed for an above-award salary in lieu of overtime payments. While the higher salary did cover the extra hours Catherine worked, it did not compensate her for the shift penalty rates she would have accrued under the Clerks Award for working outside the usual scope of hours.

Catherine contacted ASU Assist and we made our case to the company, but the firm did not agree with our claim.

The amount Catherine was seeking in underpayments was relatively small — a few thousand in unpaid

shift penalties. As Fair Work Australia does not enforce payment of wages owing, the ASU has to use the Judicial Courts to obtain an order for the payments owed. This is a long and potentially costly process. However under new provisions in the Fair Work Act, ASU Assist filed a ‘small claim’ with the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia.

The Federal Magistrates Court small claims proceeding is a no cost jurisdiction, and parties to small claims need not be represented by a lawyer. The proceedings are informal, and the rules of evidence, legal procedure and technicalities don’t apply. As a result, the process is much less stressful than litigation. The claim must be under $20,000 to be eligible for ‘small claims’.

Even though parties aren’t represented by lawyers per se, members who file small claims

aren’t alone. Union members can be represented and supported in small claims by union officials, who in some cases may have legal training. Significantly, the person making the claim can also request that their employer’s lawyers be excluded from proceedings. In a situation where members are making small claims against large, wealthy firms, this levels the playing field significantly.

In Catherine’s case, the company agreed to pay the monies claimed. This is a new area of the law the Fair Work Ombudsman’s office is also using to resolve such problems and the ASU will continue to use the Federal Magistrates Court when the need arises.

*Name changed for confidentiality reasons

Terry O’Loughlin is the ASU’s Industrial Officer

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8. UNITE December 2012