TriCare: Offer to go to ballot
Published: 5 August 2011
It has been decided that TriCare’s latest enterprise bargaining offer will go to ballot this month.
At the Joint Consultative Team (JCT) meeting on 14 July, most JCT members agreed that it should go to a ballot of all employees, although not all agreed with the contents of the offer, or that employees who they represent will vote yes for it.
The QNU remains concerned that even if the ballot is successful, Fair Work Australia (FWA) will not approve it because it does not meet the better off overall test (BOOT).
We have repeatedly told TriCare of our concerns around the BOOT, and highlighted these issues again in discussions about the draft agreement at our most recent meeting on 28 July.
Wage offer
QNU members employed at steps 1, 2, and 3 of the TriCare step progression model have recently received a wage rise through the annual wage review, which was a decision from FWA to award an increase in wages of 3.4 per cent to all employees who are on award rates of pay.
This was a legal requirement. Employees at these levels will only receive an additional 1 per cent increase in the first year if the agreement is voted up.
According to figures provided to the QNU by TriCare, this accounts for over 60 per cent of nursing staff covered by the agreement.
The offer for the second and third years of the agreement are for increases of 2.5 per cent.
It is anticipated that annual wage review decisions in the future will be around the same amount as this year’s, so they will probably provide for a higher increase than the TriCare offer.
Problems in the offer
There are several elements in the offer which the QNU believes will cause problems in getting FWA approval.
First, the step progression – and the competency requirements that go with it – prevent nurses from moving through the structure by annual increments.
By contrast, nurses employed under the Nurses Award 2010 who do not have a certificate III move through the pay points annually without having to jump through any other hoops.
This means that if you were employed on the award and you were in your third year of working in aged care you would automatically be on $17.50 per hour, whereas at TriCare you could well still be on step one and earning only $17.09 per hour.
If you had a certificate III and you were on the award, you would automatically be earning a minimum of $18.06 per hour, instead of being stuck on steps 1, 2 or 3 and earning at least $0.50 an hour less.
Other areas where the offer is inferior to the award are:
- Uniform allowance
- Annual leave
- Voluntary extra hours (this should be paid at overtime rates)
- Casual loading
- Meal allowance on overtime not being offered
The ballot...
The QNU’s main objective is always to do what is best for members, and we have fought very hard over the past two years to try to get a decent increase for our TriCare members in EB5.
We still don’t think this offer is acceptable, but members should consider it on its merits and vote accordingly— and if we have to go to FWA to fight it out, so be it!
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