News

Negotiations for a new agreement to cover ESTA operational employees have now been ongoing since February this year, with the current agreement expiring on 30 June 2023. Despite the efforts of the unions, over approximately 20 bargaining meetings, progress toward an agreement remains extremely slow.

Key items that remain unresolved include the following:

Classification structure

A proposal for a new classification structure was submitted for government approval several months ago. ESTA have subsequently missed several deadlines to confirm whether they have received approval for the proposal.

Staffing Review

The unions provided a detailed submission to address the staffing issues at ESTA which led to the crisis in 2021. Unions are pleased with many of the recommendations produced by former Fair Work Commissioner Julius Roe. However, we remain concerned that the recommendations do not go far enough to change the approach to staffing within ESTA.

Rosters

The unions continue to work towards an agreement to provide certainty to members regarding roster patterns. Progress toward this has been slowed by a lack of detail and clarity from ESTA regarding their proposals and the potential impact.

Other claims

The unions maintain a significant number of claims have not been properly considered by ESTA or responded to. In particular, a claim for additional annual leave to recognise the Emergency Services role of ESTA operators and the requirement for additional time off to recover from burn-out.

Next Steps

Whilst acknowledging the efforts of the independent facilitator to progress items in bargaining, the Unions consider the failure by ESTA to provide confirmed responses to key items has created an impasse.

Accordingly, the unions are currently in the process of preparing a protected action ballot application to be lodged with the Fair Work Commission in support of their claims for a new agreement.

The unions will provide a further update regarding upcoming actions in the near future.

Nominate the VAU as your Bargaining Representative

In order for the VAU to represent you at the bargaining table, it is essential that you nominate the VAU as your bargaining representative. If you do not do so you will not be able to vote in a Protected Action Ballot and you would not be able to take protected Industrial Action should that be required to reach agreement.

To nominate the VAU please click this link, fill in your details and click send. If the link does not work for you, there is a draft email at the end of this bulletin that you can copy in to an email and send to ESTA and the VAU at [email protected] AND [email protected].

If you have already nominated the VAU for current bargaining, please do not do it again.

In solidarity