RTBU-PacNat Member's Union Collective Agreement 2006 Update Newsflash! 73

EA Voting Process Information:

Briefing meetings have been arranged at each location in order for employees to be provided with an outline of the terms of the applicable agreement and to be able to ask questions. Both the RTBU and Pacific National Management will be presenting information about the agreements. The briefing / voting meetings are currently being conducted at depots and terminals throughout Pacific National.

All employees are strongly encouraged to attend a meeting scheduled for your location. Employees who attend the briefing meeting in their own time will receive two hours payment at the employee's single time rate.

For those attending the meeting the RTBU will conduct a ballot by a show of hands. Pacific National management will not be present during the vote.

It is also recognised that some employees may not be able to attend a meeting. To ensure these employees can also vote, an absentee voting process has also been arranged. The details of the process for voting are outlined below.

VOTING AT MEETING - PROCESS

Record of Attendance:

All employees who are eligible to vote on the Agreement must complete and sign the record of attendance sheet prior to the commencement of the meeting. The record of attendance sheet must indicate whether the employee was rostered to work or attending in their own time.

Tally of votes:

The vote will be recorded for each meeting in relation to each particular agreement. The tally will record the number of Yes / No / abstention votes. In this way, each individual votes will NOT be recorded.

Both the RTBU and Pacific National will confirm the tally and retain a copy of the tally for each meeting. These will be forwarded to the RTBU national office and Trish Hancock in Pacific National to be included in the final tally for each agreement.

ABSENTEE VOTE

An absentee ballot is to be made available to employees who are unable to attend any of the meetings. When requesting an absentee ballot, the employee must do so through their local manager.

The local manager / supervisor will provide a copy of the postal vote and instructions to the employee. The absentee vote will consist of:

• The Vote Form
• A Ballot Envelope (with the name of the relevant Agreement on it)
• A statutory declaration confirming that the employee has only voted the once
• An Outer Envelope (to enclose the ballot envelope and statutory declaration)

The absentee vote will then be cast and put into a blank envelope and sealed by the employee. The employee will also sign the statutory declaration and will then place the Ballot envelope and the statutory declaration in the Outer Envelope which will be pre-addressed to "the Joint Returning Officers - Pacific National EBA Vote, 83 - 89 Renwick Street, Redfern NSW 2016. The back of the pre-addressed Outer envelope must be signed by the employee and must include the employee's name, classification, location and Business Division printed legibly.

The employee will give the vote to the local manager / supervisor, who will ensure they are sent to the RTBU office prior to the absentee vote being counted.

There will be Joint Returning Officers for the ballots. They will be the RTBU National Secretary and Trish Hancock. All absentee ballot papers must be received at the RTBU National office by the last post of 20th December 2006. Any absentee ballot papers received after the last post of 20 December 2006 will be ineligible to be counted.

Prior to the counting of the absentee votes the RTBU and Pacific National will cross reference the absentee register sheets and the attendance sheets of every meeting to ensure no employee has voted more than once. Following the cross referencing the pre-addressed envelopes shall be opened and the blank envelopes shall be separated into their respective Business Divisions/Agreements. Following this process, the blank envelopes shall be opened and the vote, as marked on the ballot paper shall be recorded. Both the RTBU and Pacific National will be present during this process and the final counting of votes. Scrutineers for both parties can also be in attendance.

If the agreement is approved by a valid majority, Pacific National will proceed to lodge the agreement with the OEA.

Further Information:

Members can expect to gain further information regarding their respective Agreement meetings in the near future through either future Newsletters or through your local RTBU delegate. You are encouraged to speak with your local RTBU delegate if you have any questions regarding the meetings affecting you.

Newsflash!@Home:

If you would like to receive future UCA Newsflashes to your personal home email please email Greg Harvey at gharvey@rtbu-nat.asn.au with your name, your location, your classification and your email address and you will be added to the email list.

Your Rights At Work..... Worth Fighting (And Voting) For!!