Some important stuff with no mention of babies and then, when you least expect it ...

Local Government (State) Award discussions to start in March

The LGSA and the three local government unions are gearing up for negotiations which will result in a new 2010 State Award to apply from 1 November 2010.

Traditionally, these discussions lumber on at a glacier-like pace and then the agreement is reached for a bit of tidying up, maybe incorporating some new industry standards and an economic adjustment-based wage increase -usually with the assistance of the Commission in September or October.

This year the LGSA is drawing upon the collective wisdom (sic) of their Human Resource Managers’ network and because we intend to start negotiations in an open-minded way, accepting that we are all imperfect human beings and that forgiveness is a lovely human quality, no uncharitable observations will be made. We will happily wait, in a non-judgemental way and without any prejudiced expectations based on our generally bad experience of this lot, to see what this caring brains trust will come up with.

For our part, we have historically taken the view that we are better off with a few important claims than tens, or even hundreds of minor ones. We are not going to get a block of units in Tasmania or two more weeks leave, so we might as well focus on things that are achievable.

The Committee of Management started developing our log of claims at the November meeting. It will include an appropriate way of dealing with the increased accountability, training requirements, costs and the general impact of any accreditation regime (think special allowances and obligations on councils to train, pay fees etc), an approach to training generally, improve parental leave for us all (okay, that was almost mentioning babies), an option for employees to take annual and long service leave at half pay and an ability to salary sacrifice pay to buy additional leave etc.

The Committee meets again on 19 February and because sometimes the best ideas are those that are rolling around in your head at this very moment, why don’t you e-mail to jan@depa.net.au what you would like to see included in our log. Can we still suggest that you “strike while the iron is hot” to encourage you to do it now - or are we all a bit confused because Tony Abbott reckons that an iron is only ever wielded by housewives?

We will give a truly significant prize (okay, it’s a bottle of wine) to the best three suggestions. They don’t need to be entirely serious. The suggestion made some years ago to the LGSA HR Conference that there should be a quota set for all local government employees which would work on the basis that once you have exceeded the number of “difficult people” (a polite way of describing the type of person the quota would apply to) for the day set in your quota, you could go home, is specifically excluded.

 BPB version 3 consultation about to close

A reminder that if you haven’t done so already, comments on BPB version 3 for the accreditation of council employees closes at the end of this week.

We will be making a submission in which we suggest that now they have accepted there should be parallel systems for local government and private sector employees, that system should continue either indefinitely or, alternatively, for three to five years and then be reviewed. Because we know councils have significant lines of supervision and accountability, we are confident that a review of this arrangement in the medium term would confirm that there is no need for a more rigorous accreditation regime. You could suggest something similar if you need a suggestion.

At our meeting with BPB Chair Sue Holliday and CEO Neil Cocks on 17 December 2009 we arranged that we would meet with them again after submissions had closed for further consultation.

We expect to do that in March.

 A reminder about access to industrial tribunals for Senior Staff

When the Local Government Act was made in 1993, section 340 was intended to expressly exclude senior staff (as defined under the Act) from access to industrial instruments (like Awards and Enterprise Agreements) or the tribunals of the industrial Relations Commission. It has been the last refuge of the scoundrel with councils using it to preclude senior staff taking important issues about fairness at work and in termination to the tribunals.

depa has run a couple of disputes for senior staff – where the Council agreed to allow this to be done and on one occasion, at Blue Mountains, where they were all a bit slow picking up that they could use a jurisdictional argument to stop us.

Late last year, depa filed an application under section 109 of the NSW Industrial Relations Act (the unfair contracts provisions) for a member who occupied a senior staff position at a council which we agreed in a Deed of Release that we would not identify. The application sought appropriate orders for better behaviour by the employer.

A precedent was set in a decision of His Honour Justice Haylen in 2005 in a case brought by the ex—General Manager at Moree Plains Shire, when it was found that the Commission did have jurisdiction, notwithstanding section 340 of the Local Government Act, to make orders under section 109.

This is just a reminder that if you are in a senior staff position you continue to have rights under the industrial tribunals. Our section 109 application was not challenged on the grounds of jurisdiction and a suitable agreement was reached.

No developments (as far as we can tell) on secret superannuation merger plans

Things have been all quiet after the Energy Industry Super Scheme was exposed to secretly plotting to merge with Local Government Super - apart from a creative treatment of the story in the Herald Local Government page on 2 February 2009 (link).

But just because we haven’t heard anything from EIS (they still keep refusing to provide copies of documents that we believe they prepared and provided to Treasury) that doesn’t mean that the Machiavellian machinations are over or that the cheats, villains, political animals and coal-burners on the EIS Board are content to rely on the undertakings from the Treasurer that no merger will proceed without the support of both boards.

Let’s face it, we had no idea there been up to no good for most of last year, so not knowing what they’re doing now doesn’t mean they’re not doing anything.

That makes it all the more important that as many people as possible sign the petition being circulated by the USU. We encourage you to do so and as soon as possible.

depa Golf Day on again this year – and not just for golfers

Last week we emailed members to advise that the depa Union Picnic Day Golf Day was on at Blackheath again this year on Friday 12 March. A technical problem meant that the email could be easily missed.

This is a reminder that all members are invited and this is the day for people who equally enjoy a walk in beautiful surroundings and hitting a few free balls into the bush, a creek or a lake.

Email your interest to jan@depa.net.au

Oh no, here it comes... introducing Ben Douglas Robertson

Having been Secretary of depa and its predecessors now for more than a quarter of a century, having known many of you for decades, recognising that in a small organisation you do develop close relationships with members and having had lots of you asking about my recent parental leave, surely it’s not quite so self-indulgent to introduce my brand new son?

Here he is, born on 23 January:

 

 

Even Ben wonders about the usefulness of the BPB

 

And just to make things fair with equal access for everyone

How do we miss things that are so obvious? Who would have thought that over all the years of depaNews and Bulletins, we haven’t published one photo of a baby? It’s time to get more in touch with our parental side.

And because we believe in equal opportunity, we invite you all to bombard us with photographs of recently born babies and we can do a special section in our March issue of depaNews.

There are two conditions. Firstly, babies must be born after 1988 (so I can’t put pictures of my other kids in, because that would be self-indulgent) and secondly, all photos must be accompanied by an appropriate (or inappropriate but publishable) caption about one of the stories in this issue.

Start thinking now and send your entries to jan@depa.net.au.

 

Ian Robertson

Secretary