We’ve been dealing with Regis dragging their feet a lot lately, but now things have reached a whole new level.
 
The first issue is the $35 million in missing wages. We met with Regis recently to find out when they will inform you of how much they owe you. While they were cagey on exact dates, they did confirm that they don’t expect full payment to occur until mid-2023.
 
You read that right – mid-2023!
 
This is outrageous and it’s a testament to how badly the laws in this country are stacked against workers and in favour of bosses. While they confirmed interest will be paid, they still haven’t explained why it should take so long. It looks an awful lot like they are trying to shift the payment until a new financial year so it doesn’t appear on their next annual report in red.
 
You’d think they must be offering you something as in your new agreement to make up for it then? Not exactly.
 
Regis know things are so bad that they can’t attract or keep the staff they need. They also know that they’ve refused to sort out bargaining for so long that without a decent pay rise come 1 July, they will have to give you one to keep you at just the legal minimum!

So they’ve dangled a carrot – an 8% wage rises for RNs on 1 July if their agreement gets up. But everyone else (including ENs) will be only getting 5%. And after next year, you’re all only getting a pay rise of 2.5% until 2025.
 
Meanwhile, given that inflation is 5% and mortgages are going up, we expect the Fair Work Commission to mandate a big rise in minimum wage this July. That means 5% isn’t a pay rise in real terms (you won’t be able to buy anything more than you can now). RNs may be slightly better off but it will still barely touch the side. Plus Regis still haven’t told us why everyone can’t get the 8% pay rise.
 
Here’s what they want for the agreement outside of the pay offer:

• Cut penalty rates for nights from 20% to 17.5%
• Introduce an early arvo shift at 10% penalty, eating into full afternoon penalty rates
• Make it easier to make you work longer at flat rate (undermining overtime)
• Remove the meal break transition allowance completely
• Gut ADOs
• Cut the Foul and Nauseous Linen Allowance
• Make you pay for police checks out of your own pocket (but still expect you have them)
• No more overtime when required to work through a meal break until you can get another one
• Cuts to when Regis has to provide meals on long shifts
• No more timeframes for annual leave applications to be reviewed (could take forever)
• Cuts to annual leave in advance

The list goes on. There are a couple of our claims they’ve agreed to, including improved parental leave and family and domestic violence leave. But they’ve got a long way to go before the list of improvements is anywhere as big as the list of cuts. We’ve told Regis we want to meet later in May so keep an eye out for more updates. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact HACSUassist.