Working together through the corona crisis
In early March we talked with our electrical contracting team about the ongoing market challenges and the need to ensure we have a sustainable business that can continue to win work and maximise our ability to retain jobs.
They understood the challenge, and we had a vote on a variation to our EBA, to not progress the scheduled 2020 3 per cent increase. This was overwhelmingly supported (80%) and then had to be submitted to the Fair Work Commission to be ratified. There are 65 EC team members covered by that specific EBA. That’s a bit over 10 per cent of our total team. The Fair Work Commission met on April 1st to consider the application. At the moment they have reserved their decision.
After the vote, and after we made our application to the Commission, the government announced the new Jobkeeper Allowance. We’ve applied for that allowance and while we believe we could be eligible the final legislation has not yet been released. If it comes through, we will be able to pay our team members the scheduled increase under the EBA, including backpay. And we’ve told the Fair Work Commission that we’ll do that.
So it’s disappointing that some groups are trying to gain an advantage from this issue, and that they are actively misrepresenting our position on social media and in other communications. The allegation that CV is seeking to profiteer from the Jobkeeper allowance and the COVID-19 situation would be laughable if the situation were not so serious.
We’ve seen a number of organisations (including the Brisbane City Council and even Energy Queensland) talking about pausing pay rises due to the economic situation, so we are absolutely not alone on this.
CV has always, and will continue, to act in good faith in the best interests of our team members. That means ensuring the business is sustainable, and we maximise our ability to offer secure long term employment.
We are sincerely thankful and grateful for the support and loyalty show by our team.