Well done to all members that responded to the HSU survey following negotiations last week.

Over 80% of respondents want to vote on an Enterprise Agreement (EA) that maintains your increment structure. This has been communicated to your employer – we’ll see how well they listened in the coming days.

What’s next? Lifeblood indicated they’d be distributing a draft Enterprise Agreement to all staff next Monday 6 May in preparation for a vote the following week.

A majority YES vote means the draft agreement goes to the Fair Work Commission to be approved. A majority NO vote means the offer is rejected. However, your employer has indicated they will not come back to the negotiating table with a better offer if the EA is rejected.

What does this mean? If HSU members choose to vote to reject the agreement, we must also consider Protected Industrial Action to pressure Lifeblood to come back to the table with a better offer.

Union officials will be on site at Sydney Processing Centre next Thursday 9 May to hear your feedback and discuss our next steps as a collective. It’s crucial that we continue demonstrate our solidarity – speak to your colleagues about the importance of these negotiations and standing together as one.

Do you have colleagues who aren’t HSU members yet? They can have their say and help build union power by joining us!

New members can join online at www.hsu.asn.au/join or call 1300 HSU NSW to join over the phone.