In some great news for ASU members at the CFA, the Victorian Government has approved the CFA PTA Agreement to go to a ballot of PTA staff.
This Agreement is a significant win for PTA staff and has only been achieved because of the persistence and hard work of ASU delegates.
Key changes in the new enterprise agreement are:
- The Agreement to have a term of 3 years.
- CFA to pay employer Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) payments for periods of unpaid parental leave, to a maximum period of 12 months. Payment to be made in arrears when an employee resumes work.
- A new category of leave to cover absences associated with IVF treatments, including the partner.
- Wage increases of 2.0% p.a. for each year of the Agreement, dated from 14/12/2021.
- Reduction in the number of pay points per grade, so that staff will get more money sooner.
- Removal of the current restrictions on Incident Management roles able to be performed by PTA staff, and Incident Management work no longer referred to as “support”.
- The payment of a new hourly allowance for work performed in Incident Control Centres (ICC).
- Increased superannuation payments for duties performed in ICCs.
- Payment of overnight expenses to be made by reimbursement of actual expenditure, supported by receipts (except for incidentals which will continue to be as previous administered). This will only be implemented once CFA establishes a preferred provider list at major regional centres, so that staff will need not be out of pocket.
- Inclusion of the “Gender Equality” provisions contained in the 2020 VPS Agreement.
- Increase of the span of hours from 0800–2000 to 0800–2030. An additional 30 minutes per day, but late work only by Agreement.
- Creation of employment opportunities for disabled workers.
- New and updated provision dealing with Grievance/disputes, meaning disputes will be resolved faster, and access to the Fair Work Commission will be simpler and easier.
- Misconduct and Unsatisfactory Performance clause refined and improved.
PTA staff will have a chance to review the proposed enterprise agreement for a week starting on 6 June, with the ballot of all employees covered by the agreement to follow.
