QUBE Members Enterprise Agreement Update 

 Your bargaining representatives met with QUBE management last Wednesday to continue bargaining for your Enterprise Agreement. A proposal was put to QUBE Management, which they AGAIN outright rejected. The proposal was. 

• 18-month agreement – from 1 April 2023. 
• 7% from 1 April 2023 with back pay. 
• 7% from 1 April 2024. 
• 1.8 for all Overtime. 
• Superannuation – Ex IRA entitlement to remain as is, all other employees to receive an additional 1% on top of the legislated guarantee. 

On top of this, your EA Delegate team provided QUBE with draft clauses to address the following issues: 

• Cancelled Shifts – A Cancelled Shift that is no longer required to be performed by anyone. 
• Available Days – There are less than 38 hours of rostered work, then there will be no Available Days 
• Minimum Shift Length – changes to clarify that Overtime is also for a minimum shift of 6 hours. 

We worked through these clauses in detail and while there has been some movement, outstanding issues remain. We are hopeful that these clauses will be finalised at our next meeting. 

We then proceeded to work through the Posting of the Working Roster provision. 

QUBE stated that they are quite happy to have the Working Roster out by 1600hrs on Thursday but have now introduced an extensive list of reasons why it could be delayed. These reasons include – 

• Emergency impacting the Network.
  o Derailment 
  o Flood 
  o Washaway 
  o Fire 
  o Category A mainline Incident 
  o Unplanned/emergency possessions. 
  o Force Majeure event declared by the RIM 
  
• Customer impacting the schedule 
  o Short notice change of load site, for reasons outside of customers’ control 
  o Port Vessel delayed arrival 
  o Bulk Grain Port block out 
  
• Public Holiday impacting roster preparation 
  o A mid-week Public Holiday delaying Working Roster preparation. 

These exceptions are far too expansive and do not resolve the matter. The Working Roster is a major issue for members, and we have proven to QUBE that Rostering Personnel are abusing the current clause. Out of 115 consecutive roster postings, not once was the Working Roster sent out on a Thursday, unless Friday was a Public Holiday. If they can manage to get a roster out on a Thursday when they get a day off on a Friday, there is no reason why it cannot come out every Thursday. It is essential that members get access to their rosters as early as possible so that they have time to address any errors and can plan time off work with family, something that QUBE don’t seem to understand or care about. We will continue to resist QUBE’s proposal until they agree to a fair and reasonable approach. 

QUBE then stated that they will not discuss remuneration, which includes Yearly increases, Overtime rate and Backpay until all other clauses are fully agreed – a position the Union Has rejected. Our next meeting is on 4 May 2023. Members can expect that your bargaining representatives will continue to push the claim for a short-term EA that delivers fair pay increases and conditions. 

Since our last EA Meeting, we have written to QUBE Management asking about all the changes they made without consultation or discussion. They responded by saying that the changes were included in the explanatory notes for the shoddy Enterprise Agreement that was sent out for a vote. We have reminded them that this does not constitute bargaining. 

Click here to download the Newsflash