News Flash

On Tuesday 21 September 2010 the Public Service Association (PSA) Senior Industrial Officers Dolly Costello and Sue Cummins met with Etienne Scheepers (Executive Director of Workforce Development) and Michael Francese (Acting Manager Workforce Operations) of SA Health regarding members concerns with the translation job matching process.  Particularly in relation to:

The inconsistency of official letters to staff, members received letters at different times or not at all.

The Preference Form requested to be completed provided only one box for Country Health SA.  This is a vast area and clearly employees would have regional preferences.

The timing of the Expression of Interest Process did not give staff enough time to raise any queries they may have had regarding the Work Group they had been placed in.

The Work Groups consisted of a variety of classifications and it was not clear what impact this would have for members.

The HR Principles did not appear to be adhered to.

Lack of clarity around the composition of the Assessment Panels and the  independence of those panels.

Potential loss of Salary Sacrifice (this was explained in the Q&A No 26, namely it will not change if you are currently accessing the $17,000 'Grossed Up' Fringe Benefit Tax exemption, you will be able to continue to do so, unless there is a change to your role or the location from where you work, which may impact on your ability to access this exemption.)

The lack of transparency in relation to the translation of senior positions.

The lack of independence and clarity around the Grievance Process

The PSA raised all of the above matters and as some staff did not receive their letters initially, the FOI closing date has now been extended until Friday 1 October 2010.   If you have still not received your letter then you either contact your manager and/or Michael Francese via email urgently, with a cc to sc@cpsu.asn.au

The PSA is concerned about the combining of the two translation processes, 3.1.1 (Unchanged Positions) and 3.2 (Defacto-the-same positions).  It clearly states that the Defacto-the-same positions will be reviewed and classified appropriately.  The PSA understands that there is a 2 day Workshop being held early next week for the Workforce Staff.  If PSA members are still not satisfied with their placement after the Workshop you are urged to lodge a grievance as per Clause 6.2 of the HR Principles.  The PSA will support members through that process.  The PSA is also seeking further clarity in relation to the apparent lack of independence of the Grievance Appeal Panel, especially in relation to SA Health Care Act Employees.

There is a further consultative meeting scheduled for Tuesday 5 October 2010.