CA22 - UPDATE 8 - BARGAINING RAMPS UP TO DAILY MEETINGS

21 October 2022

As is always the case with enterprise bargaining, things move slowly, and time begins to run out.  The ‘in principle agreement’ deadline (required to ensure backpay of the new wage rates as eventually agreed to 1 July 2022) is 31 October. This means both your union (and other unions) and QFES are keeping one eye on the clock as discussions intensify.

Bargaining meetings now occur every weekday for between 4 and 6 hours per day. Claims are being explored in some detail, with costings from QFES finance beginning to become available which allows the parties in the discussions to refine their claims.

Some specifics from your union’s claims I can provide a preliminary update on are -
• CA22 will be a 3 year term.
• Superannuation changes (due to forced retirement age) and access to VMR are still being sought by your union, but again, these are outside the all of government wage offer.
• Claims around maintaining optimum crewing configuration (1+3) are ongoing and I am pleased to report are being positively considered by QFES.
• Deployment (living in the field allowance) discussions are ongoing, and we are close to agreeing on the criteria for accessing the payment and lifting the rate of payment.
• A permanent solution to the problems associated with how BAO’s are engaged and work is being discussed.
• Claims for fire communication centre members are being considered as a package deal, with the expectation as many as possible will be agreed.
• Claims for our senior officer members are being discussed and again, some good progress is being made for those members on each of the UFUQ claims.

Until the final agreement is reached, all individual matters agreed along the way are pending the final deal, so to be clear, nothing is agreed until it is all agreed.

And I can report that for those members who reviewed QFES claims, QFES are no longer seeking to bargain the following claim numbers  –
7              Excluding 357 matters from the no further claims clause
8A           Review of recruitment standards
10           Consistent start and finish times
11           All 7 Day stations to be 4 x 12
12           Rescue Technician allowance restriction
NOTE: These are UFUQ summaries of what those QFES claims were, and not how they were specifically worded by QFES when they were still being pursued.

As always, if you have specific questions about a particular claim of any of the parties to CA22 bargaining, the ca22@ufuq.com.au email address is the place to send those.

Superannuation changes
I wanted to clear up a point that has been raised by a number of members through their SCM representatives.

The Queensland Government superannuation changes for accumulated benefit are a result of discussions between public sector unions and treasury and other relevant areas of government and those discussions have been going for many months.

Some of you have been asking about the application of superannuation to all allowances (and some have mentioned other public sector unions have announced these changes as a part of their successful bargaining outcomes).  To be clear, those superannuation changes apply to all Queensland government workers and they were achieved and agreed outside of bargaining of any certified agreement.

Further, you may not be aware that your allowances that apply to your base rate (weekend, night and 38 hour week, along with any specific skills based allowance) are ALL included in your superannuation and have been for some time.  All other agencies are catching up to where you and your colleagues have been for many years through the efforts of your union.

The other superannuation change your union is specifically claiming relates to you being forced to retirement at age 65.  Those discussions are ongoing in bargaining.

Defined benefit members remain significantly advantaged by remaining on that scheme and no changes are proposed for defined benefit members, other than ensuring the maximum amount of wages and allowances are payable to all members.

I will keep you informed as we progress towards 31 October deadline. 

John Oliver - General Secretary