We held an Extraordinary General Meeting of members this afternoon.
The meeting considered the offer from the company. There were problems with the content of the proposed agreements, and the fundamental problem that they required the union to make major concrete concessions (for example giving up the Security of Employment Agreement as a collective agreement) in exchange for points which would not be finalised at the time of signing.
Members passed the following motion unanimously:
* We reject the company?s offer, and resolve to begin industrial action on 15th September.
* We instruct our reps not to delay the action again.
* We instruct our reps only to call off the action if the company has made an offer that members have indicated they wish to accept, or if that decision is made by a further General Meeting.
* We recognise that the agreements have been drafted in haste, and instruct our reps to work with the company to improve the agreements, and seek our approval for a second version.
Reps will continue negotiations with the company, and the two sides have agreed that if an improved set of draft agreements are produced, it will be brought to a further Extraordinary General Meeting on Thursday 11th September. Reps will hold an initial meeting with the company at 9am tomorrow, to report on the General Meeting.
Posted by IA at September 4, 2003 05:25 PM