We met with Corumbene management and their industrial advocate about the new agreements yesterday, for the 6th time, and it still remains unclear what the offer actually is.

Yesterday, Corumbene agreed to consider a new sick leave clause and possibly look at a pandemic leave clause consistent with the modern awards because it’s likely they'll be required to address this because of the Better Off Overall Test that Fair Work considers when approving agreements.

Yesterday, Corumbene tabled various figures about their financial position and talked about what each 1% costs them against their wages bill, catastrophising their losse, then finally suggested it may be possible to give members just a 2% pay rise, although they certainly made no commitment to it.

Now they’ve told us it’ll be between 3 and 4 weeks before they provide us with new draft agreements.

Once we get the drafts, we’ll need to meet again to finalise things before a vote on the agreements can happen.

We're extremely concerned that it takes the better part of a month to update the 5 or 6 clauses that need changing – perhaps Corumbene need a better industrial advocate.

If any member needs more information, please contact HACSU on 1300 880 032 and ask to speak to Sharon or Chris.