Victorian disability service providers are invited to join multi-employer bargaining negotiations being undertaken for a replacement enterprise agreement with Jobs Australia, the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) and Australian Education Union (AEU).

Many NDS members have identified the current industrial agreements as reflected in expired bargaining agreements that cover disability support workers as a key issue in the NDIS transition.

NDS has contracted with Jobs Australia to work on the negotiation of industrial arrangements to replace these expired agreements. A number of members have signed up to participate in this work, and there is now an opportunity to join these employers.

Jobs Australia has been meeting with HACSU and AEU over recent months and has negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the unions. The MoU simply confirms shared objectives and sets out basic commitments around union representation and good faith bargaining. It does not affect any separate discussions individual employers may be having with unions at this stage, and the MoU expressly keeps options open for all parties.

It is expected that the MoU will now clear the way to productive discussions at the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The MoU follows on from a constructive initial meeting with the Victorian Government in late 2016.

Discussions with Victorian Government

Discussions with HACSU and the AEU in late 2016 confirmed that the industrial issues for employers covered by the expired agreements for residential and day services are potentially intractable in light of the transition to the NDIS. It is a Victoria-specific problem, and it was therefore agreed to approach the Victorian Government to discuss how they might assist to ensure that the industrial issues do not result in a failure of the Victorian transition to NDIS.

Jobs Australia and employer representatives, together with representatives from HACSU and AEU, met with Ministers Martin Foley and Gavin Jennings on 5 December 2016. The meeting was constructive and the Ministers appeared to understand the issues. Employers and unions sought transitional funding support to help resolve the industrial/NDIS issues, as well as involvement of Government in interest-based discussions at the Fair Work Commission.

NDS and Jobs Australia await further developments on that front and anticipate further dialogue with Government in the near future.

Memorandum of Understanding

Following the discussions with Government, it was agreed that the employers and unions should enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (with accessible version) to clarify our objectives and process. The next step will then be to apply to the Fair Work Commission for assistance to negotiate new industrial instruments. It is hoped that the Victorian government will participate at least as observers to help inform their response to the issues raised with them.

Key points of the Memorandum of Understanding include:

• The MoU applies to the unions and each of the employers listed.
• Any employer can exit the process at any time.
• The MoU does not prevent individual bargaining if that is the wish of employees or an individual employer.
• The employers agree to facilitate reasonable union access to their members and potential members. This is consistent with requirements of the Fair Work Act, but is also intended to signal a commitment to genuine consultation and a cooperative approach. The specific arrangements are to be sorted out locally and take account of operational requirements. Any disputes will come back to the central negotiating group and FWC.
• Acknowledgement that there needs to be some financial transparency to enable unions and government to understand why the industrial issues are a problem in the context of NDIS pricing. However, this does not extend to disclosing commercially confidential material.

Next Steps

The MoU is consistent with the approach Jobs Australia has been advocating from the outset of this process. Once employers accept the document as a procedural step, the parties will be able to progress with the more important industrial issues.

Any employers not yet listed on the MoU who wish to join this process are requested to contact Micheal Pegg at Jobs Australia, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..