The proposed EB11 agreement outlines your wages and conditions for the next three years. In order to become an agreement, it must go to a ballot (a vote) of all Queensland Health (QH) and Department of Education (DoE) nurses and midwives.

Prior to the ballot, employees covered by the agreement have access to the full agreement for two weeks (consultation period) – this period is running from 17 – 30 October.

Queensland Health:

For QH nurses and midwives, the ballot will be conducted by an independent external provider called GoVote.

Nurses and midwives will be able to cast their vote through one of three channels: online, SMS, or telephone.
 
On Monday 31 October, you will receive an email from GoVote with instructions on how to vote. This email will be sent to the email address you have recorded in myHR. If you have more than one email recorded in myHR, the instructions will be sent to both email addresses (ie: not just your preferred email address).

If you receive two emails because you have more than one email address recorded, you will still only be able to vote once, as you will only receive one PIN to vote.

Hardcopy ballot papers will be posted to the few nurses and midwives who have not provided QH with an email address.

Department of Education:

For DoE nurses, the ballot will be conducted by an independent external provider called CorpVote.

Nurses will be able to cast their vote either online or by telephone. 

On Thursday 27 October, you will receive an email from CorpVote with instructions on how to vote. This email will be sent to the email address you have recorded with DoE. Please keep this email somewhere you can easily access it for when the ballot opens on Monday 31 October, as you will need the information within the email to cast your vote.

The ballot period starts on Monday 31 October (8am) and ends on Wednesday 9 November (5pm). You will be able to vote any time during this period.

GoVote will provide Queensland Health nurses and midwives with all other details about the ballot process, including your 11 digit PIN.
  
While you do not have to vote as soon as the ballot opens, we encourage you to do so, so you don’t forget!

All nurses and midwives employed by QH and DoE are eligible to vote. This includes all permanent, temporary (on contract) and casual staff employed at the time of the ballot. It does not include agency staff who are not directly employed by QH or DoE.

Although voting is not compulsory, we strongly urge you to exercise your right to vote. This is your agreement, which will determine your wages and conditions for the next three years. Ultimately, the outcome of the ballot is determined by those who vote.

A copy of the EB11 proposed agreement (as well as summary information) is currently available at www.qnmu.org.au/EB11

This is your decision. The QNMU strongly encourages you to fully inform yourself about every aspect of the proposed agreement before making your decision. You can do this by reading the agreement and the summary information at www.qnmu.org.au/EB11. 

You can also call Member Connect on 3099 3210 or 1800 177 273 (toll free outside Brisbane) if you need any aspect of the proposed agreement clarified. 

All nursing and midwifery employees of QH and DoE at the time of the ballot are entitled to vote.

Queensland Health:

QH is required to provide GoVote with email addresses recorded in myHR five days prior to the ballot opening. However, if you start working for QH after this date, email addresses can be manually entered, so you can still vote. Contact GoVote via the details above to provide your email address.

Department of Education:

DoE will run an employee report multiple times throughout the ballot period. If any new employees are identified during this time, their details will be provided to CorpVote to ensure those employees receive their voting information.

If you are on leave when it is time to vote on the proposed agreement, you can still access the voting information that will be sent to you via email. You can vote either online, via SMS (if you are a QH employee) or telephone, so you do not need to be at work to vote.

If the majority of nurses and midwives participating in the ballot vote in favour of the proposed agreement (50% plus one of returned votes), then the agreement goes to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission for certification (approval). Normally, this process takes a few weeks. 

Once the QIRC has certified the agreement, QH payroll will take steps to implement the increases to your pay and allowances. They will also commence the process of calculating and processing the back pay of wages and current allowances to 1 April 2022. (Note: increases to new allowance, such as double time Sunday penalty rates and NP allowance, will not be back paid.)

QNMU members will be advised of the timeframes for these payments after the agreement is certified.

If the majority of nurses and midwives participating in the ballot reject the proposed agreement, the QNMU bargaining team will return to negotiations with QH and DoE.

If this occurs, however, there is no guarantee any future offer from the employer will include the existing pay offer, entitlements, operative dates, or any other enhancements to conditions. Essentially, everything is back on the negotiating table. 

Prior to recommencing negotiations, the QNMU would consult with members regarding the outstanding issues, as well as what actions you are prepared to take to support your claims. This is important as members will need to demonstrate their concerns by engaging in industrial activity (such as rallying outside work hours, distributing flyers or running petitions) or industrial action (such as bans on low-priority work or safe stoppages of work) if we are to have a chance at improving the offer.

Queensland Health:

If you have not received information from GoVote on how to cast your vote once the ballot opens (31 October), you can contact GoVote directly:

• Call 1800 919 553 to speak to a GoVote operator
• Email [email protected] 
• Visit https://secure.govote.com.au/code=1690 

To verify that GoVote has received your vote, go to https://secure.govote.com.au/verify.php and enter your receipt number.

Department of Education:

If you have not received information from CorpVote on how to cast your vote once the ballot opens (31 October), you can contact CorpVote directly:

• Call 1300 710 950 to speak to a GoVote operator
• Email [email protected]

Once the ballot closes (5pm Wednesday 9 November) and the votes are counted, a result will be announced shortly after. The QNMU will communicate the result to members once we are informed of the outcome.