Brisbane City Council Bargaining Update: Personal Leave under the microscope

 Discussions for your next Agreement with the Council focused on personal leave at the meeting yesterday. The Services Union has a number of claims concerning this type of leave including a claim to uncap access to carer’s leave and to introduce new types of leave for reproductive related issues and mental health considerations.

The Services Union has also raised concerns about the requirement to obtain a medical certificate after two days of sick leave, because of the difficulty and expense of getting into see a doctor these days. Other Unions raised similar concerns. The Council’s rehabilitation processes were also discussed at length.

The Council has proposed making an additional five days of personal leave available for reproductive reasons in circumstances where an employee has exhausted all their leave entitlements. Our view is that this approach misses the point of the additional leave sought for reproductive purposes. The point is to make available additional leave to cover these issues specifically.

Personal leave is the main agenda item for the next meeting. Unions will be reviewing both the Council’s proposal and the various Union claims to see if the matters in issue can be consolidated and refined. There is no express pathway to negotiating these agreements but we are by your side no matter how long it takes.

If you know colleagues who are interested in ensuring great outcomes at these negotiations, they can just click here.