20th Big W DC Meeting Held 27 August 2015

January 19, 2017 Big W DC

The 20th EBA meeting was held on 27 August, 2015.

Points of interest:

  • The company put an offer of 2.1%, 2.1%, 2.2% and 2.2% over a 4 year term at the last meeting.
  • This is a very modest increase from where they started at 2% p.a.
  • The company maintains that this offer is above CPI, however it remains unacceptably low to our members who do not believe that the CPI figures reflect the true increase in their cost of living.
  • The SDA put a very reasonable counter-offer to the company (see below).
  • The EBR’s maintained their final position of 2.5% p.a., however made a minor concession on redundancy pay.
  • The other union involved did not put any position, which was a bit perplexing given the importance of the meeting. Their spokesperson stated that their views were irrelevant as the people on the floor would ultimately decide.
  • The company has gone away to consider the SDA and EBR proposals, but probably looking at a shorter period of 2 or maybe 3 years.
  • The company cancelled the meeting scheduled for Friday, 28 August  and will get back to us with a response early next week.

Further points:

  • The SDA put our counter-offer back to the company in good faith, recognising that the company is going through a prolonged difficult trading period.
  • We offered a 3 year agreement with a 2.6% wage increase per annum, in six monthly installments in the first 2 years.
  • The remainder of the SDA claims remain unchanged.

Members will continue to be advised on these important negotiations.

Remember, it’s YOUR RATES and YOUR RIGHTS!