Week 5: 21st May
Summary of the claim elements
The Branch Log of Claims included a specific clause of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, “Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander claims to reach population parity in employment and protect cultural rights.”
In working with our members, this claim was elaborated into a set of proposed changes to the Agreement that would:
- Push management to finalise a policy on cultural safety that was required in the current agreement in the first year of the new agreement;
- Improve leave for cultural, ceremonial, and sorry business (compassionate) leave, as well as making work on country provisions clearer and more accessible;
- Increasing allowances of users of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, and create a new allowances for staƯ using cultural knowledges and skills in their work;
- Develop the target and process for improving employment parity, including elements around reporting, enforceability, and occupational requirements;
- Add in new provisions around cultural and intellectual property protections, and
- Lock in some of the good practices developed in the operations of the First Nations Joint Consultative Committee.
Status of the Discussions
The discussions were collegial and generally positive, with management accepting – in principle and subject to drafting – many of the Unions recommendations.
Two elements of the proposals – important ones – remain subject to further discussion:
- Cultural and Intellectual Property provisions: Management’s response to our suggestions to protect intellectual cultural property and ensure the moral rights of communities who own the content has been referred to the Office of the General Council and we are unsure at this time what their position is, and;
- Employment parity matters were subject to considerable discussion, both in terms of the retention of the current target (3.8%, a national figure) and the NTEU proposed enforceable mechanisms if the target is not met during the life of the new Agreement. These two matters are key: one setting a trigger for additional intervention by the First Nations Joint Consultative Committee, and the other a problem solving mechanism including union and management Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members to press employment rates further up.
All of these matters will return to the Bargaining Table on 3rd of July.
Tone of the meeting
A good and interesting discussion between two groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. It was helpful that we knew the management members of their bargaining team, having known them through interactions in the First Nations Joint Consultative Committee. There was a collegial exchange of information, even where there was not always agreement. From our understanding this was less oppositional than the other bargaining and its good to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people leading the way.
