PSA MEETS WITH MINISTER HOLLOWAY 28 June 2010

Public Service Association

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PSA MEETS WITH MINISTER HOLLOWAY

Senior PSA officials met with The Minister Assisting the Premier on Public Sector Management, Hon Paul Holloway on Friday, 25 June 2010. The PSA was represented by President Lindsay Oxlad, General Secretary Jan McMahon and Chief Industrial Officer Peter Christopher.

At the meeting the PSA raised a number of concerns and also sought to clarify the Minister's role, particularly in the context of much public sector policy being driven by Treasury and the Sustainable Budget Commission process, with Agencies focusing on how to find savings.

The PSA identified that members are experiencing significant problems as a result of a Treasury dominated agenda.

The PSA's concerns included:

Horrendous workloads
Inability to take time off and refusal of leave
Entitlements not properly paid, particularly for overtime and on-call provisions
2 year rule across the public sector (permanent appointment if acting in excess of 2 years)

The PSA had also met previously with the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment and advised the Minister that it had raised the need to ensure consistency of application of employment conditions across the public sector. The PSA supported the issuing of enforceable Commissioner's Determinations which could include, but not be limited to, the following:

Higher Duties allowance
Sick leave
Access to Special leave
Paid Maternity and Adoption leave
Allied Health Professional structure, including peer assessment process
Meal breaks
Redeployment

In addition to the above the PSA identified concerns with the outsourcing of some functions and with Shared Services, advising that if not for PSA bans to enable organsiation of workload, even basic pays would not have been processed on time.

The Minister advised of his willingness to meet on a regular basis.

(Peter Christopher, Chief Industrial Officer on pgc@cpsu.asn.au)

28 June 2010