Negotiations began on Tuesday, and we started by all exchanging our log of claims.

As well as officials, the SDAs negotiating team included Gavin, your Delegate, and another member from the floor.

We considered the company’s Log of Claims and gave our initial responses.

Unfortunately we couldn’t find a lot of common ground and many of the company claims were not agreeable.  At the same time the company didn’t agree with too many of the SDA’s claims either.  Never the less we tabled several draft clauses which would benefit our members.

There was broad agreement around the room, for employees to have the ability to access annual leave at half pay, and to be able to purchase extra leave but we could not reach consensus on the specifics.  We are hopeful all parties can come to some agreement so these items can be included in the final agreement .

On Thursday we had the second and final meeting for the week, and there’s still a lot of work to be done.  We will be meeting all parties again on Tuesday of next week, the 9th.

We will continue to press for the best deal for our members and the workers at the BLDC, and continue to fight to protect their rights!