You might remember in our last email that we were meant to meet with Multicap at the end of last month to hear more about their log of claims, you might also remember that in the end they cancelled the meeting.
We finally got a sit down with them yesterday – and now we know why they cancelled the first time!
Seeing what they presented to us, it looks like they’re ready to try and cut your pay and change your pattern of work – we’d be embarrassed too.
What they’re proposing is that you’ll no longer receive penalties if you start work before 7am (they want to change it to 6am) or if you finish after 6pm (instead, they want to change it to 8pm).
Make no mistake, this is a deliberate attempt from Multicap to scrimp on wages.
What they outlined at our meeting sets a dangerous precedent, because not only will you miss out on wages and penalties, but it may also mean that Multicap could change your roster at their whim.
The proposal may also threaten day workers’ pattern of work by having to start shifts earlier or finish later.
Their log of claims also saw reductions in the shift allowance – although Multicap couldn’t even tell us if this was meant to be included in the document or not, so we’re hopeful we can get them to back down on that claim.
In our response, we told Multicap in no uncertain terms that you can’t afford to take any pay cuts with the way the cost of living is rising daily and that what they’re putting forward is a bad deal.
We’ll be meeting with Multicap again in two weeks to hear if they accept your log of claims, and in the meantime, we’ll keep combing through their document to make sure that they haven’t tried to sneak anything else through.
What we do know is that no worker should go backwards trying to negotiate an agreement – and we need your help to make sure that this isn’t the case.
If you’re not a member already, then now is the time to join. This is your agreement, and you should have your say on what wages and conditions you want to see. Afterall, if you don’t fight, you lose.
If you’ve got any questions or you’d like to get involved, make sure you give us a call or send us an email to HACSUassist.