Council amalgamations provide “a good night out” for old folks

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Published: Wednesday, 26 October 2016 10:06

When NSW Premier Mike Baird announced a commitment to improving activity levels as part of a health and anti-obesity initiative, no one picked that the public consultation process as part of the Fit for the Future amalgamations was part of that wide-ranging and comprehensive initiative.

The meetings attended around the state, and demonstrations intended to oppose the amalgamation of some of the smallest local government areas in the world, have really got the oldies off the lounge, away from the TV and out to meet with other old folk to natter, have a cup of tea and listen to the self-important, other retirees and superannuants and current and ex local government politicians.

It’s been hard to spot anyone under 60 at any of the meetings or demonstrations organised over the last month and a half. Impossible, really. (Personal disclaimer: Not that the over 60s don’t have an important contribution to make – all that history and expertise!)

Is the opposition to the amalgamation rollout limited to this demographic? If it’s only the retirees, the self-interested and clapped out local politicians, why would the Government pay any attention?

“Come on Barry, give me a cuddle”

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Published: Wednesday, 26 October 2016 10:01

We don’t really care how much cuddling goes on between LGNSW and the dilettantes at LGM/PA unless they start to dabble in employment issues. Because, let’s face it, neither of them have the expertise or commitment to look after the employment interests of workers in the industry - and LG M/PA is not even a registered industrial organisation. And will never be.

LGM/PA has also had a bad history when it has had the chance to do something to protect senior staff. In the Standard Contracts Working Party, the unions argued for the removal of term contracts for senior staff so the people couldn’t simply be sacked with 38 weeks’ notice when they had been doing a great job.  But when it came to the crunch about the future of term contracts, the unions were not supported by the dilettantes at LGM/PA.

Let’s be broadminded about these things, whatever sordid or fascinating plans these people have, LGNSW President Keith Rhoades reported in his weekly missive to “Mayors, Councillors and General Managers” that “this week LGNSW’s chief executive Donna Rygate met with LGPA (sic) to talk about ways to strengthen our working relationship”. Ooooo Donna, the mind boggles.

While we try to work out exactly what LGM/PA does, their website tells us that today they had 799 members. That means the organisation is smaller than even the smallest of the local government unions; more than half of their members are actually employed under the Award, despite the hostility of LGM/PA to the State Award negotiations in 2014; and the remainder may well be substantially senior staff, and that means they represent fewer senior staff than the unions do.

The unions have more senior staff as members than LGM/PA. That puts the issue in context. What is it then that LGM/PA does and what are they there for?

Now we can all be miners, NSW Government announces

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Published: Wednesday, 26 October 2016 09:34

NSW Premier Mike Baird today announced the New South Wales will rely on a mining-led economic recovery. The Premier announced that while Western Australia and the rest of the world were struggling with the slump in mining, the collapse in the price of iron ore and other minerals and the bottom falling out of the price of coal, New South Wales saw opportunities.

“Now with giant fines and penalties for environmental vandals, Luddites and miscreants who don’t see the benefits of mining, the sky’s the limit. Not only will we now be able to jail irritating grandparents with their knitting, Lock the Gate do-gooders, opponents of economic progress, NIMBYs, Wallabies and others with distorted priorities or who’ve fallen for the alarmists’ propaganda about water supply, the environment or the planet, everyone can be a miner.

“Dig up your own backyard, dig up someone else’s backyard, and some giant multinational can come crashing in and take it away from you. It doesn’t get much better than that in the State of New South Wales. And now, no one is going to get in the way or we’ll cart them off to jail.”

The Premier also announced a range of coal-based initiatives. “We’ll have a lot more people going to jail now it’s easy for people to be criminals by being a bit too prissy about the environment, or having fresh water, so are going to need more jails. Jails are real boost to the economy and in responding to two economic necessities we will now build them with coal.

“Everyone loves a dry stone wall if Edna Walling built it, wait until you a see what Edna couldn’t imagine because of her naturalist limitations, real good looking coal walls which will be a real thrill to a community with a new jail built entirely from coal.”

Sick of politicians? We are …

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Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 12:50

Special quarantine issue:

No politicians, no pretenders, no disappointers, no fizzers, no grubs, no spivs, no opportunists, no careerists, no misspeakers (no one saying “I misspoke”), no liars, no wankers, no rent seekers, no payment-for-comment dopes, no snouts in the trough parasites, no born to rule fantasists, no living high on the public purse abusers...

Just some good old-fashioned news.

Get ready, we’re about to start negotiating the 2017 State Award

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Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 12:50

The three local government unions – the USU, depa, and the LGEA (left to right pictured above) - and LGNSW on behalf of councils across the state, are about to start negotiating the 2017 Local Government State Award. Yes, we know it seems a long time before the next pay increase, when it would normally apply, from 1 July, but this is a process a bit more complicated than it looks.

First, LGNSW drags through a festering group of HR Managers, some GMs, some Directors of Corporate Services to see what they would like to have negotiated in the next Award. This can’t be a pleasant experience for them, and collectively, our hearts go out to them. There will be slashers and burners aplenty in this exercise - some still smarting from not being happy about the potential to take a couple of days from sick leave for the health and well-being, or time off to try and find your natural parents if you’re a closed adoption, “will anyone have any time for work?” (two of our claims from the last award negotiations) and they will want to go hard again. Strip it back, back to the 50s.

And the unions have canvassed their members (thanks to those members of ours who responded to the invitation) and a timetable has been set by the President of the IRC (probably one of the last things he does before he ascends unto the Supreme Court with a heavenly chorus) and this will see the employers’ organisation and the three unions exchanging logs of claims on Monday 12 September.

This time, the three unions will consolidate claims that we have in common to make the process a bit more efficient and effective and, as always, we have tried to be realistic in developing our own log of claims. After all, the State Award was made by agreement between the parties in October 1991 and, apart from a little bit of private arbitration and pressure exercised by members of the Commission to get us to reach agreement on different bits and pieces, the successor awards over the last quarter of a century have all been made by agreement between the parties.

Here is a link to the claims signed off by the depa Committee of Management to be part of the joint unions’ claim or, if we’re the only ones interested in them, to be pushed by us alone. I would expect, because if there’s one thing a union official knows about it’s the concept of solidarity, we will provide a united and compelling front on our claims.

The timetable set by the Commission will have the logs exchanged next week, a listing for a report in the Commission the following day; a deadline of 10 October for the parties to exchange amended logs of claim; a report back on 13 December and then a series of compulsory conferences in March and May to resolve any outstanding issues. This is a program that should allow plenty of time for us to consult with members about what we end up with in the negotiations to continue our long and proud history of an agreed approach between the unions and the employers in the industry.

Government picks up the pace on dismantling IRC

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Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 12:50

On 1 September we were part of a deputation of affiliates of Unions New South Wales to be consulted by bureaucrats from the Department of Industrial Relations and Justice on the government’s decision to dismantle the IRC - splitting it in two and sending the Industrial Court and the current President of the IRC off to the Supreme Court. We covered this in our last issue.

(Be patient, we’ll get to Humpty Dumpty in a minute.)

The meeting was opened by the Director-General of the Department of Industrial Relations who described the Brief to Stakeholders on the integration of the Industrial Court into the Supreme Court as a “proposal”. This was a surprise to everyone as the word “proposal” didn’t appear anyway in the brief and we all understood what we were being presented with was a fait accompli, that it would happen whether we liked it or not, that it would happen whether it made any good sense or not, and all they really wanted from us was seven answers to seven specific questions about functional and machinery issues to try to make the transition easier.

We hate the idea of breaking down an historic, venerable and respected institution and fear for the longevity of the remaining five members of the Commission and their staff. We know, in a digital age, that a group that small can pretty much be bundled up, metaphorically and literally, and sent anywhere. And as many of us occasionally work from our cars, we may see them driving around in a Tarago or some other suitably sized people-mover in the years ahead.

We hope not.

Here is a link to the submission we lodged on 5 September. The Government provided less than a fortnight for anyone with an interest to make a submission and, really, why would they dignify a process which is nothing more than telling us what they’re going to do, like it or lump it?

It was acknowledged by the bureaucrats on 1 September that Cabinet had already decided to do this, although they were coy about responding to our questioning of when it happened. We reckon it happened a year or so ago, but they told us Cabinet confidentiality meant they couldn’t tell us. Clearly that’s a furphy, we can understand that they can’t tell us what happened in Cabinet, but should be able to tell us when Cabinet decided to do something. Shouldn’t they?

We were inspired in preparing our submission by Humpty Dumpty’s famous line from Through the Looking Glass, “When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.” It’s not really a question of integrating the Court, it’s a question of disintegrating the Commission.

And phew, that must’ve come very close to breaching the quarantine.

What are “workplace representatives” for on Consultative Committees?

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Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 12:50

Who’s pulling these clowns’ strings?

The State Award provides that all councils have to establish a consultative committee and that the committee must have minimum representation from the three unions party to the Award. An opportunity exists for agreement to be reached locally for a Committee to be expanded to ensure that it is “representative of the employer’s workforce” and sometimes that agreement has been reached locally, and sometimes it hasn’t.

The Unions have historically been opposed to non-union members being represented (they don’t want to participate in the regulation of the workforce anyway) and often councils have claimed that the union representatives don’t properly represent the workforce but haven’t been able to establish whether that is true or not. Usually, it’s just said to allow councils to find some compliant people who won’t be any trouble.

One of the problems with the potential election of people as a “workplace representative” who may not be union members is that they have nowhere to get advice on the complicated and vexed issues that are the staple diet of the consultative committee. And if they don’t have friendly union officials to ring for advice, what do they do? Well, what they usually do is ask the boss, or HR, or suck up to the GM or something like that, and that doesn’t make an effective workplace representative at all.

The three unions have now reached agreement on a Joint Statement to assist our local delegates make a judgement about whether or not they should agree to expand membership of the committee because someone reckons that it’s not properly “representative” of the workforce. Let’s face it, there is not one job in local government, where the employee can’t belong to one, or sometimes more, of the three unions.

The provision of the Joint Statement will make it easier for our local representatives to say no. And it squarely puts the onus on the employer to establish that the existing union representation is not representative.

Government to dismantle Industrial Relations Commission of NSW

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Published: Thursday, 25 August 2016 12:17

Well, we told you so. In October last year we predicted “NSW Government to shut down Industrial Relations Commission”. None of this Nostradamus stuff or crystal ball-gazing for us, we had reliable sources and as close as a confirmation as you can get from a Government busy trying to keep it all quiet.

We predicted that the integrated roles of the Industrial Relations Commission and the Industrial Court would be split - with the Industrial Court being folded in to the NSW Supreme Court - a court more familiar with commercial and criminal matters and no real experience in employment and industrial relations. We also predicted that the remainder of the Industrial Relations Commission, what they like to describe as the “non-judicial functions”, like settling disputes, would be transferred off to NCAT.

But, for reasons we couldn’t disclose, this didn’t happen at the end of the year. We still can’t disclose them but on 23 August the Government, through a joint initiative of The Treasury and NSW Justice distributed a “brief to stakeholders” titled “integration of the Industrial Court with the NSW Supreme Court.” All we got wrong was the timing.

But the proposal to split the Industrial Court and slip it into the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court was not accompanied by a proposal to stick the remaining roles of the Industrial Relations Commission into NCAT. Instead, on the face of it, the Government is proposing the addition of another Commissioner and a tribunal which will be run now by a Chief Commissioner. That will be five commissioners, including the chief.

But, like all takeovers of businesses, once the asset-stripping begins, where does it end? Once the Court is gone, the Commission will remain with only five members quite capable of being bundled up, both physically and metaphorically, and sent anywhere.

It’s no coincidence that the Government this week announced a facelift for the Macquarie Street precinct which, at the same time, ropes in those beautiful sandstone buildings in Bridge Street - including the building occupied by the NSW Governor and the Industrial Relations Commission on the corner of Macquarie and Bridge and the offices of the Department of Education and the Department of Planning running down the hill.

Commercial real estate interests, hoteliers and others must be drooling at the prospect of getting their hands on these magnificent Victorian buildings. Maybe even bloody Packer. We know that the Government has already measured up the premises with a potential move of some cabinet offices but, as with everything else with the Baird Coalition Government, commercial interests will win out.

The Departments of Justice and NSW Industrial Relations will consult with key industry stakeholders about the proposed changes. Consultation closes on 5 September, so anyone with an interest in the smashing of the integrated approach to employment management in New South Wales had better be quick. Here is a link to the “Brief to Stakeholders” for those who may be interested.

We will put in a submission. We are quite used to making submissions to Government that invariably fail to change Government plans, but it’s important that history shows that we did.

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has operated seamlessly since 1901 - a respected and venerable institution with a proud history of protecting and advancing the rights of workers and employees generally. The Commission over that century and more has made a major contribution through test cases prosecuted by the trade union movement to improving standard conditions of employment and entitlements which have regularly flowed into the Commonwealth jurisdiction and the other states. Employment conditions in Australia would not be the same without that century of activism.

The detail of the proposal will see the current President of the IRC Justice Walton transfer across to the Supreme Court in a way which protects his salary as a personal occupant only and his seniority from the date he was appointed a judge - a transitional arrangement that will be the envy of many involved in mergers, acquisitions and restructures.

While most of our work is in the Commission, we have used the Industrial Court on a number of occasions. There was always an attraction in the integration within one tribunal of all those aspects of employment. We have filed successful applications for prosecutions of Marrickville and Bankstown for breaching provisions of the Award and we have filed successful section 106 Unfair Contract applications at Bankstown and Mid-Western. And all the time, the Judges within the Court were highly skilled and experienced specialist industrial relations practitioners.

We can’t be confident we’ll get that level of experience and expertise in the Supreme Court where any judge can be appointed to deal with these employment matters. The Sydney Morning Herald covered this story on 23 August, quoted one senior associate in a big industrial relations practice as saying that she was “concerned, access to justice would diminish under the new arrangement”. She believed that the Supreme Court was “more intimidating and costly” to start litigation. She’s right.

She was also right when she observed “I think there is a psychological barrier just associated with the name of the Supreme Court”. And she picked up the issue of the low-fee or no-fee jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Court and the “comparatively high fees” of the Supreme Court. Pursuing prosecutions of councils and unfair contract applications could now be much, much more expensive.

Unions NSW Secretary Mark Morey

Unions NSW Secretary Mark Morey said the Baird Government was removing an institution that specialises in industrial relations law. “Instead we will now see industrial matters dealt with by judges who are more used to dealing with commercial or criminal matters” and that “it will be slower, more unwieldy and, ultimately, more costly.”

And in what may prove to be a remarkably accurate prediction, NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, while lamenting this would affect public servants seeking legal remedies to workplace disputes because this was “killing a specialist industrial tribunal through death by 1000 cuts”, said “I think it’s time we had a new employment workers compensation and employment discrimination tribunal as a division of NCAT (NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal).”

Adam Searle on a happier day

The NSW Opposition shadow for industrial relations Adam Searle said the change was “just another step towards diminishing an important institution that has protected working people in this state for over a century. The Supreme Court and its processes are more formal and legalistic and intimidating. Abolishing the Industrial Court and placing its work into the Supreme Court will make justice less accessible to regular working people.”

The immediate impact on us is that some industrial disputes are held by the President and this won’t continue. The IRC President also managed the negotiations of the 2014 Local Government State Award and the President has retained an application before the Commission for the 2017 Award where a timetable was set. This will need to be referred to one of the commissioners.

Our predictions last year were met with significant derision. Mostly from those who would like to distract us from revealing something that was about to happen about which none of us, and certainly none of the key stakeholders now being consulted, had been briefed. Bagged as rumour-mongers and Nostradamus, sometimes the rumour mongers and those who predict the future do get it right.

“What have the Romans ever done for us?”

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Published: Monday, 11 July 2016 14:44

“All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us”

What have the unions ever done for us?

Workers compensation

Occupational Health and Safety protections

Compulsory superannuation

35 hour week

RDOs and flexible working arrangements

Paid annual leave

Penalty rates/shift allowances

Overtime

Parental leave

Equal Pay

Paid sick leave

Public holidays

Long Service Leave

Redundancy protections and pay

Unfair dismissal protection

And yes, a few things from local government:

Councils pay for BPB accreditation

Protected leaseback cars

Obligations to introduce flexible work for parents/family

Obligations to consult on workplace changes

Protections in disciplinary procedures for both performance and behaviour management

Obligations to provide training

Obligations to provide reasons in writing for unsuccessful applicants

Protections against term contracts

Not a member, but would like to join? We have a delegate at every Council who would be delighted to assist or you can use this link.

Mid-Western Council receives ICAC report

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Published: Monday, 11 July 2016 14:44

GM Brad CAM and the grumpy old bastards

Mid-Western GM Brad Cam was not a “person of interest” in the ICAC investigation, which began with a raid on the Council’s offices and the Mayor’s home in May 2014. This was an investigation affecting our members and which, amongst other things, saw the GM sack two of the directors and the subsequent departure of five of the senior people in the planning and environment area, as if from a sinking ship.

The ICAC has now decided that it will not go to public hearings. Instead, as they are able, they have provided a report to the Council under section 14-2 of the ICAC Act, and the “persons of interest” and it will be considered by the Council in closed session tomorrow. That section also requires that the report be provided to the relevant Minister, in this case Local Government Minister Paul Toole.

Mid-Western Regional Council will meet on Tuesday, 12 July to consider the confidential report, but the Notice placed in the paper by GM Brad Cam says only that the closed meeting is for “Consideration of Governance Matters relating to Council”.

The Mudgee Guardian hasn’t shown much interest in these proceedings and no interest at all in pursuing the unfair sackings, the way that the GM has accounted for the costs of the sackings and the significant legal costs, nor the departure of other staff to safer places but on this occasion the Guardian published that “council will discuss a report from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) at a closed meeting on July 12. General Manager Brad Cam said that the councillors will consider a submission in relation to a potential report under section 14-2 of the ICAC Act.”

A little bit more specific than the obscure public notice.

But the meeting must start in open session before the councillors resolve to close it and the meeting is obliged to consider any submissions that may have been made before they do so. So, we made one and also sent it to all the councillors, the Office of the Minister for Local Government and to the Mudgee Guardian, just so they knew that there were reasons why the meeting should be open to the public and the Council should decide to release the ICAC’s Report.

Communities with councils that are undergoing an ICAC investigation deserve to have the ICAC’s final report published. To do otherwise hides behind an unacceptable cloak of secrecy and a restriction on good governance that only protects the guilty.

And if one or more of the three “persons of interest” is in the clear, why wouldn’t they want it published?