An in-principle agreement has been reached between Toll Group and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) in their enterprise agreement negotiations. The outcome is subject to final drafting and the support of the 10,000 impacted Toll employees.
This agreement would give Toll four years of certainty of no industrial action and four years of certainty about its cost base.
The parties are jointly committing to reviewing more than 100 local agreements, which is said to deliver a further 0.25% increase paid in 2016/17, subject to completion of the review process. This will reduce obsolete provisions and duplication and achieve administrative savings and increased productivity.
Toll and the TWU have taken the important step of establishing an internal dispute resolution procedure on a trial basis for three years, which is designed to reduce the incidence of disputes and enable us to deal with them more efficiently when they arise.
TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said Toll had moved its position following a successful protected action ballot, where more than 85% of votes cast were in favour of taking action.
Key elements of the in-principle agreement to be put to the member-led negotiation team include:
A 15.25% pay rise over four years;
A 1.5% increase to superannuation (with 0.75% linked to joint efforts to raise industry standards);
Site rates in NSW, other states to increase rates to award plus 10%;
Agreement applies to existing Toll transport workers, with TWU to be engaged in process of setting conditions for new work Toll has won.
"Job security and the creeping expansion of casualisation and outsourcing have been the big issues for Toll workers," Mr Sheldon said.
"Last week's overwhelming endorsement of protected action sent a clear message to management that the Toll workforce were determined to fight to secure a fair deal.
"Toll jobs should be good jobs – and that's what this in-principle agreement is about.
"The in-principle agreement means that Toll must provide a level playing field for all its employees, and takes away its incentive to move work into fly-by-night business units.
"Over the coming weeks the in–principle agreement will be discussed at yard meetings around the country by Toll workers."
