Tools of Trade Dispute Now at Magistrates Court

Arising out of another pre-determined review last year a number of CPSU members had their Tool of Trade vehicle taken away and the case is now in the Magistrates Court.

WorkSafe has stubbornly rejected all attempts to resolve the matter in a fair and reasonable manner.

A matter that should, and could, have been resolved between the parties, had WorkSafe taken a more sensible and fairer approach, is now in the public arena.

CPSU is confident that the matter will be resolved in the employees favour, and the outcome will be made known as soon as it comes to hand.

ANOTHER E-TAG DISGRACE!

You can always rely on WorkSafe to apply the least sensible, and fair, interpretation of a policy document.

Policy states that when an employee travels to his/her “regular workplace” this is considered to be “private use”, therefore any toll fees will not be paid by WorkSafe.

This is a departure from a long-standing practice, and was unilaterally changed by WorkSafe, and without agreement.

Prior to that change, all travel was considered to be “business use” and fully paid for by WorkSafe, and all Tool of Trade vehicle drivers also made a financial contribution on a weekly basis.

The latest nonsense is that, even when travelling to another site, which is not the usual place of work, employees will be slugged for any costs associated with that travel.

The rationale is that, for the period of the secondment, the new site is now deemed to be the “regular workplace.”

e.g if an employee who usually works at Mulgrave accepts a secondment to Preston, for a short period of time, they will be expected to pay any fees they may incur during that time.

On top of that there is the extra travel time which could be quite considerable, and may not be considered as flex time.

WorkSafe could apply this policy differently, but they choose not to.

There is a clear distinction between “regular workplace” and a temporary workplace, and deeming it as such would remove the financial disadvantage to employees.

WorkSafe says it has a commitment to “providing learning opportunities” to employees, and then does everything it can to put financial impediments in the path of career development opportunities.

How can this be a good thing for either WorkSafe, or the employees it purports to value and support?

Speak to a colleague today about the benefits of CPSU membership and have them contribute to our successes rather than just enjoying the benefits.

 

TOGETHER WE DO BETTER!

http://www.cpsuvic.org/public_docs/Work-Can-Change-membership-flyer.pdf

http://www.cpsuvic.org/public_docs/memform.pdf

 

KAREN BATT
CPSU Victorian Branch Secretary

Friday 25 February 2011