News Flash

In late 2012, the Public Service Association (PSA) wrote to the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Russell Wortley MLC, to seek agreement on a number of key principles prior to the negotiation of a new Enterprise Agreement. These matters are considered to be threshhold items and the PSA required advice from Government, prior to the commencement of negotiations in 2012.

The Minister for Industrial Relations has now provided a response and the PSA is pleased to note some positives contained within the letter. These are:

• The Government supports a single agreement approach and is not persuaded that there should be separate Enterprise Agreements. This reflects the position put by the PSA. This also does not preclude specific clauses for different groups of members being incorporated into any new Agreement.
• Confirmation of the No Forced Redundancy policy for the term of the Government, acknowledging however that security of employment is a key concern of the PSA.
• The Minister states the Government has no intention to introduce legislation that would have the effect of diminishing a condition of employment.
• Confirms in principle that the agreement needs to be enforceable and include a remedy for any breach of the agreement. Again, this was one of the key framework principles the PSA put to the Minister.

See a complete copy of the exchanges of correspondence here.

An initial claim has been lodged with Government. See PSA News Flash here. Formal notice of the commencement of negotiations by the employer is required under the Fair Work Act and a Single Bargaining Centre(SBC) will be established where negotiations will commence. A PSA Worksite Representatives meeting will be held prior to the SBC.

25 January 2012