The Advertiser has published a story today about the industrial action taken by a minor number of our staff, in relation to our new Enterprise Agreement (EA).
The Advertiser provided Bedford until 4pm to provide a statement, but published the story without our comment online at about 2:30pm.
After commencing EA negotiations in November 2020, we have continued negotiations which are drawing to a close. We expect voting to commence on this EA in the coming weeks.
If the EA is voted on successfully, it will resolve a large number of historical wage matters raised in the article, and merge the former Phoenix EA with Bedford’s EA, resulting in one uniform agreement. It also aims to enhance other employment conditions and wage increases for those staff.
The story also contains allegations of bullying and harassment, which we had no prior knowledge of. Bullying and harassment has no place in any contemporary workplace, and Bedford is no exception.
Bedford has strict policies and procedures to ensure that any bullying or harassment is ideally prevented, or if it occurs, is managed quickly and with minimal impact on anyone.