NEA Bargaining Meeting 4
Changes to the draft, further updates, and have your say in union surveys!
Hello,
Thank you all for your continued engagement in what is no doubt a very stressful and uncertain process. We need to make sure that all of our team remain up-to-date and abreast of developments during the bargaining phase. We appreciate that being flooded with information isn’t easy, but it is important that we are able to provide communication that is timely and easy to read.
Apple is pushing ahead with its bargaining process at a brisk pace, having its 4th bargaining meeting only two days after its 3rd. Here is a summary of that meeting.
Clarifications
Firstly, Apple clarified some questions that have been raised in previous meetings:
Apple has confirmed that career experiences will be continuing and that management will not act unfavourably to potential candidates who will be paid in line with the proposed agreement.
Apple has also clarified that the relevant modern awards applying to staff under the agreement are General Retail Industry Award 2020, Business Equipment Award 2020, Professional Employees Award 2020 — no other industry awards apply to Apple staff per the draft agreement.
Apple again reiterated that the timeline given is indicative and remains “fluid” and rejects the notion that the bargaining process is being rushed in any way.
Apple responded to concerns regarding employees leaving materials discussing NEA clauses or inviting discussion, and stated that they are permitted in break rooms and common areas. However flyers issued by and left by third-parties will be removed in line with Apple’s non-solicitation policy — this point is discussed later in the meeting, see below.
Retail store management has received training and guidance around the distribution of employee-created materials and updates have been provided to in-store communications.
Responding to clarification around the definition in §15 of ‘shift worker’, Apple has claimed that they currently do not employee any shift workers under this definition. No employee is rostered continuously 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Changes to the draft NEA
Apple then proceeded to outline a list of changes and concessions to the EA in response to claims logged by bargaining representatives. Those mentioned are below and include whether or not Apple approved or declined to change terms. Apple plans to issue an updated draft of the Enterprise Agreement soon.
Regarding the three-day notice period to rosters and shifts, Apple has indicated that while they do not wish to change this clause at this stage — they will be clarifying the wording of it in the next draft. - SEE NEXT DRAFT
The changes to Time Off In Lieu (TOIL) have been revoked and will no longer be cashed out after 6 months. - APPROVED
In relation to clause 6.4 and Apple being able to force team to take their own accrued annual leave under certain circumstances, including in a pandemic, Apple has removed the specific requirement in relation to a pandemic. This clause will revert to its existing form under the current EA (2014). - APPROVED
Regarding the higher duties clause (4.2), Apple will be amending the wording of this clause so that a ‘written agreement’ can either be in a letter or email. - SEE NEXT DRAFT
Clauses pertaining to alcohol on work premises and the definition of ‘at work’ will be amended. - APPROVED
Additional Claims
Apple then invited bargaining representatives to raise any outstanding additional claims. Josh Cullinan from RAFFWU raised concerns in relation to Apple’s Solicitation and Distribution Policy, notably that the distribution of materials promoting industrial organisations may be prohibited by Apple. Josh advised that the promotion of unions is legally protected under the FairWork Act (2009). Apple responded by saying that it applies its policies in line with Australian law. Apple then issued a correction to its policy after the bargaining meeting via email to all bargaining representatives (emphasis ours):
One issue that was discussed today was union pamphlets in the break rooms. Apple confirms that, as a temporary measure, during the NEA bargaining, any bargaining representative (including union bargaining representatives) may leave printed material, that relates to the bargaining, in our break rooms.
RAFFWU then indicated that they were not prepared to provide their log of claims and will do at a later date.
Further claims were raised by other bargaining representatives pertaining to consecutive rostered days off, guaranteed pay increases for all staff, medical certificate requirements, schedule changes without mutual consent, higher weekend penalty rates, and role classification changes. For a full list of claims logged, please review the meeting summary on PeopleWeb.
RAFFWU expressed concerns that Apple was not providing information regarding entitlements that are covered under minimum standards per industry awards. Apple indicated that it is planning to schedule team members in training sessions which will cover this.
Have your say
Both the ASU and the SDA are running surveys at the moment to gather employee concerns and form their own logs of claims. They encourage all team to complete the survey so that they are able to get a full picture of the workplace and its concerns. These issues will then be consolidated and voted on by members to then be presented to Apple during subsequent bargaining meetings.
You can fill out the ASU’s survey here. This survey will close on Thursday Aug 25.
You can fill out the SDA’s survey here.
We highly encourage you all to share your feedback in these surveys and share them with as many team as possible.
Coming up
Apple’s next bargaining meeting - Aug 25th @ 11am
RAFFWU’s All team meeting - Aug 25th @ 7:30pm - You can find details about this here.
We will continue to keep you updated on the latest bargaining meetings and any other meetings with the unions.
In solidarity,
Apple Together Australia