We have a major win to share with you, and it’s made news headlines! The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has now apologised and acknowledged underpaying current and former staff members, with several years of underpayments to be repaid.
The Australian Financial Review this week ran an article about this, which you can read here.
This win is all thanks to our dedicated FSU reps, who first identified and raised issues last year about how annual leave, long service leave and rostered days off were being paid.
They identified the errors in how benefits were being cashed out – the monetary value of these benefits should have been included in staff pay or paid out when a staff member leaves. These underpayments will have been investigated by RBA and will be repaid to members very shortly.
The RBA has tried to blame these errors on Australia’s “complicated” industrial laws and the interpretation of their own Enterprise Agreement. In other words, our central bank says their persistent wage theft was a mistake because they are unable to manage their own finances. It’s a weak excuse and one we’ve heard many times before.
Our upcoming new Enterprise Agreement is an opportunity
We’ll soon begin bargaining for a new Enterprise Agreement (EA) and this will be our opportunity to ensure we not only secure improved pay and conditions, but push for the things that matter most to us in the workplace.
You’ll be able to tell us exactly what these matters are through our brief survey – keep an eye out for it in our next update.
In the meantime, share this excellent win with your colleagues and encourage them to participate in our upcoming EA negotiations or join our union if they are not already a member.