ICON’s reps have got back to us with a close-to-final draft of your prospective Enterprise Agreement.
In our last update, we told you we had a few outlier drafting concerns, specifically around the
clauses to do with overtime, delegates rights, and the dispute resolution procedure.
We’re satisfied that ICON have now addressed the bulk of these concerns that we’ve outlined,
and your employer has indicated to us that they’re working to put their offer out to vote at the
start of August.
Here's the timeline they’re working towards:
• 24 July: ICON will put more information to you about the vote process and have indicated
they may also run ‘information sessions’ for you to attend. We encourage you to attend
these and ask questions, as well as ask us about any questions or concerns you may have
too
• 25-31 July: The ‘access’ (the period which you can view the offer before you vote) will
open
• 1-2 August: the vote opens at 12.01am on 1 August and closes at 11.59pm on 2 August,
shortly after this we’ll know if the Agreement was voted up or not
The vote will be conducted electronically by a third-party balloting company CiVS, and the link
will get sent out to all eligible employees – you should all be eligible; you just need to work at
ICON Tasmania and be covered by this prospective Agreement.
The voting is de-identified and doesn’t show who voted for what, it only shows which percentage
is a yes/no. If the Agreement is voted up by the majority, it then goes to the Fair Work
Commission who review it and give it the rubber stamp to come into effect.
In terms of backpay, this is usually paid in the first full pay period after Fair Work approves the
agreement, unless otherwise stipulated.
As we’ve told you, there’s some great wins in this Agreement like better career progression,
purchased leave, clarity around existing entitlements, pay rises, the standing regional allowance
and more.
There are also some drawbacks that we’ve talked about, like the bare minimum entitlement when
it comes to sick leave and parental leave (though there is now some greater flexibility for the
provision of more sick leave in extenuating circumstances, and we’re told a more generous
internal policy being worked on this year for parental leave).
Now it’s up to you to have your say.
Whatever happens we think you’ve done well to advocate for yourselves and your colleagues –
getting on an Agreement and becoming active around your rights and conditions at work is a
huge first step to a better working life.