CODE 2, VOL 35, NO 26 : 19 july 2021

QFES/SOU 17.5% INJUNCTION – WAS IT ALL OVER BEFORE IT EVEN BEGAN?

At 2PM on Monday 19 July 2021 I received confirmation from QFES that they have decided to extend the 17.5% annual leave loading to all classifications of employees listed in Schedule 1 of CA19.

This means the SOU members get what was originally only intended for actual frontline workers.

Importantly, this offer to settle the matter can only have come after the QFES Commissioner gave that undertaking to the SOU. The SOU have already advised the QIRC that they have withdrawn their application.

So, the case is settled, not with a bang or even a whimper, just a fizzle.

What I did discover in this case, buried in the SOU QIRC documents, is –
- a reference to a ‘preferred resolution’ to the QIRC proceedings being discussed between the SOU and Commissioner Leach for some months prior to the SOU case being lodged, and
- a statement that QFES was committed to achieving an amicable resolution.

I’ll leave you to join the dots as to what the plan was all along and how it all played out.

That’s the end of the matter.

John Oliver - General Secretary