Volume 48, No. 14, August 10, 2006
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ON THE LOOKOUT: Watch for a 12.6 per cent pay rise with the proposed new Workplace Remuneration Arrangement. Photo of CPL James W Reilly (rear) with LAC James D Reilly.
Photo by SGT Kev Berriman. |
ADF members will receive a 12.6 per cent pay rise over the next three years under the proposed 2006-09 ADF Workplace Remuneration Arrangement (WRA).
No conditions of service will be traded for the increases, according to Assistant Director Industrial Policy Will Van Weerdenburg.
The current WRA expires on November 3 and the proposed WRA will go before the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal (DFRT) on September 27. If accepted, the across-the-board pay increases will be paid in four instalments over three years from November 16, 2006.
Mr Van Weerdenburg said ADF members would be surveyed this month through the chain of command to gauge support for the arrangement.
“Although ADF members do not have the right to a formal vote, the DFRT requires the ADF to demonstrate that its members have been informed of the proposed arrangement and given the opportunity to express their views,” he said.
He said personnel had already provided an encouraging amount of input through the Defence pay and conditions web site and to briefing teams that have visited the major bases in the past three months.
The WRA sets percentage increases that apply to base salary and 16 salary-related allowances but not conditions of service. The salary-related allowances are: adventurous training instructor, arduous conditions, diving, field, flight duties, flying, hard lying, language proficiency, paratrooper, seagoing, separation, service, special action force, specialist operations, submarine escape and submarine service.
In keeping with government policy, the across-the-board pay increases under the WRA will be justified by productivity gains from initiatives already planned or under-way in Defence.
The ADF-specific initiatives include hardened and networked Army, injury prevention and rehabilitation, increased use of simulation in training, increased use of PMKeyS self service, improved ADF mental health management and military justice reforms.
The Defence Minister must agree to the WRA before it is considered by the DFRT.
For more, visit www.defence.gov.au/dpe/pac.
