We heard that South Eastern Community Care sent an email that has caused some concern – particularly given wording like “your employment with SECC will be terminated” and “employment on substantially similar terms to your current position.”

Seeing in writing that your employment will be terminated is enough to make anyone’s heart jump into their throat, but the reason for this is simply because you can’t be employed by a company that doesn’t exist as of 15 October this year. SECC’s email then explains that The District Nurses are offering you employment from the day after (16 October 2023).

I’ll be meeting up with HACSU members at The Red Square Café in Cambridge Park tomorrow (Friday 29 September) at 1.30pm to talk more about the merger. If you’re available, please come by and have a chat with me! I’ll be there until 2.30pm.

In the meantime, some other things to keep in mind about the merger are:

Your agreement

You will remain under your current workplace agreement until a new enterprise agreement has been reached with TDN. This means your current pay rate, job classification and entitlements will remain the same.

Your entitlements

All the current accrued entitlements you have will transfer over with you – that includes your long service leave, annual leave, sick leave and any redundancy entitlements. TDN will also recognise the length of your existing service with SECC.

Salary packaging

TDN also have salary packaging benefits, although it may be through another company, not Access Pay. You could call Access Pay and ask them what will happen with your current balance once the merger is finalised (they are the best people to advise you of this) and if they are a provider for TDN. If not, you could contact TDN directly and ask them who their provider is.

Evidencing personal leave

The evidence required to take personal leave is set out in your current agreement, which will carry over with the merger. TDN will have separate policies dealing with taking personal leave, but these cannot contradict the requirements in your agreement.

If you have any questions about the bargaining, please come along to tomorrow’s meeting or get in touch with us on assist@hacsu.org.au or 1300 880 032.

The more members we have, the stronger we are, the better the outcome. If you know a colleague who has not yet joined HACSU, let them know that becoming a member is now as simple as a few clicks: join.hacsu.org.au