Hi Paul,
In my current employment, I am a tradesman and we have a level system in place where the employer upskills and pays different rates depending on what level you sit at (this is called the trades model).
A few years ago, I entered into an agreement to undertake a technicians program, on entering this program we were made to sign an agreement and were going to be paid an allowance accordingly (TPP payments).
In this agreement, there are a few key clauses:
"Any training undertaken in the technicians program will not be considered for the purpose of reclassification in the tradesmodel"
"That throughout my participation TPP payments (allowance) shall continue so long as I:
Continue to progress at a satisfactory rate in the program
Do not withdraw from the program
Am prepared to move into a staff technician role as and when required by employer
Remain a wages employee"
"That the TPP payments are based on my trade or apprenticeship classification rate at the date of signing this agreement and if I am reclassified while participating in the technician program my TPP payments will be adjusted and I will be provided with an updated attachment to this agreement, which will then apply."
So my situation is now the employer had offered me a staff technician role, this role is a big pay drop! so naturally I voiced my concerns and said I can not afford to take the role.
The employer came back to me and said, "well if you don't take this offer, we will keep you on wages, but we will not let you progress in the trademodel for 2 years for the training you gained through the technicians program".
Now the part I need to know is if I am correct in arguing. When I signed the technicians agreement, the tradesmodel was very different and did not contain any training that was also in the technicians agreement, and when the tradesmodel was changed I was never provided with an updated agreement.
Thanks
