And now back to the 19th century when mothers knew their place

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Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 14:37

Getting hot under the collar is the wrong response

We’re not going to identify the Council at this stage, nor name the Director pictured above, because we are hoping for the best and we have a member returning to work after parental leave in a hostile environment anyway. But how about this...

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From one GM with poor HR to another...

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Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 14:37

Our second dispute with Bankstown City Council (whoops, now the secrets out, it’ll be another contempt allegation against us) about the inadequacy of their investigations policy and processes came before the Industrial Relations Commission on 10 February.  Initially filed out of frustration because GM Matthew Stewart kept ignoring our requests to renegotiate their procedures, our fundamental problem is that Bankstown doesn’t accept that employees should be able to see and understand any findings that are made against them.
 
Investigations are conducted by external investigators who produce a report with findings and explanations but where the employee who may be adversely affected, whether they are found guilty or not guilty of the allegations, is not allowed to see it.

This is worse if the employee is found guilty, because they don’t get to examine the evidence or the reasoning but it is a problem too for employees found not guilty because the Council’s management/HR people are able to verbal the employee, develop their own conclusions based on their understanding or misunderstanding of the report to all say whatever they like because no one can check. The way Bankstown handles it means that being found innocent may not be enough.

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Tamworth and GM Paul Bennett humiliated in IRC

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Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 14:36

GM Paul Bennett, “have I got something on my face?”

Yes Paul, you do.

When Tamworth GM Paul Bennett decided not to contest the position of President of the LGMA for a second term, we thought we had seen the last of his clumsy forays into HR and industrial relations.
 
As President of LGMA (alright then, let’s call it by its proper name when Paul was in charge, the Local Government Poseurs Association) he crashed into the negotiations for the 2014 State Award, bagging the agreed settlement to both LGNSW, which had agreed to it, the Minister for Local Government, who was irrelevant to it, and offending both the employers’ organisation, the unions and the President of the IRC who had conciliated to finalise outstanding or unresolved issues and then made the Award by the consent of the parties.

It wasn’t just the content of the correspondence that offended either. LGNSW President Keith Rhodes was addressed as Keth, a woman’s name in Denmark, and we’re not sure what to make of that. At least he didn’t conclude his letter telling Keth to get back to ironing her husband’s shirts. On the LGPA’s website, his letter to the Minister for Local Government was available by clicking on “Letter to Minister Tool”  – it’s Toole, Paul, a name which, without the final “e”, could be intended to offend. Still, if LGPA wanted to call the Minister a tool, why not. It wouldn’t be our first policy difference with them, but we think he’s a terrific bloke.
 
And in case you need a reminder, one of the issues the LGM/PA in the Bennett era was most upset about was the clause going into the Award that chronically ill employees could, with the agreement of their Council, take their sick leave at half pay. It was Paul’s approach to employing people which, for the first time, earned LGMA a nomination in our worst HR Awards last year.

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NSW election on Saturday 28 March

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Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 13:31

On 28 March everyone gets to vote for the least worst option.
 
Pardon our cynicism, but Labor has had a tainted past, a dozen or so Liberal/Nationals were demoted as Ministers, or resigned  from Parliament after seeing what some Labour politicians had done and, driven by competition, couldn’t let Labour get away with something so entrepreneurial when they always believed that they could do that sort of thing so much better.
 
depa will be writing to both sides with a number of critical questions about the issues that will affect you in your working life in local government. Are they really Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or Tweedledum and Tweedledummer? We’ll write to the Greens too, because they often look like a more active opposition in NSW.

And we’ll publish their answers, unedited, next month.

Who wouldn’t like to hit a ball into this beautiful lake?

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Published: Tuesday, 24 February 2015 13:29

Last chance. We have 12 teams already signed up for the Union Picnic Day Golf Day at Blackheath on Friday 13 March, but if you get your fingers out, we could fit in another couple.

Let Margaret know on by Friday 6 March or miss out.

Special: Welcome to 2015 issue, three disputes already this year but we won't mention *********

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Published: Wednesday, 21 January 2015 12:12

Fit for the Future, or some other F word?

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Published: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 15:02

Well, the pressure is on this year. Councils floundering around about whether they will satisfy the NSW Government’s guidelines on fitness or whether they will be unable to get over the bar.

depa has always been enthusiastic about reforming the historic local government boundaries to develop stronger, better resourced councils more capable of paying market rates, providing family flexible work and proper training. We’ve seen too many councils simply incapable of funding their training needs, and ignoring the interests and welfare of their employees, to let the current arrangements of little organisations effectively trading insolvent, to continue.

Questions about the government’s commitment to boundary changes, an impending NSW State election and the nagging feeling that whatever happens, what you, or we want, is probably not going to be a major consideration, will make this an interesting year.

Anyone for golf 2?

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Published: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 14:59

You can’t say we didn’t warn you, we raised this first back in the November issue.

On Metropolitan Union Picnic Day on Friday 13 March, the depa Union Picnic Day Golf Day will be held again at Blackheath golf course. For members who haven’t attended this great event, words can’t convey what a fabulous and rewarding experience this is.

The Union Picnic Day Golf Day was first held in 2004 and over the years has been won by Blacktown, North Sydney twice, Penrith, Bankstown twice, Leichhardt and Canterbury. Won’t it be embarrassing if Bankstown wins again this year because on the last two occasions the Mayor has provided a nice sandwich lunch for members to allow the presentation of the impressive depa Cup.

The first response to the November issue was from Willoughby Council who will have a team of four. The EDAP group is also sending a team of four who would happily travel to attend and participate. Most of you will know that EDAP is a professional group that in the olden days took over from AIBS and AIEH in that big Western wedge of the state using Penrith or Blue Mountains as the start and fanning out to the South Australian border. Well done, EDAP see you there.
 
Shoalhaven this week advises the sending a team and now we call generally for those of you interested in getting a team together at your Council to let know you are interested and will be attending.

Remember this day is free (we get sponsorship from LGS, even though they are now pro-nuclear) and even if you can’t get up a team from your Council, you can come as part of a composite team with people you know from other councils or happily turn up by yourself and we will allocate you into a team.

Look how nice the place is! This is the 17th green.

Don’t forget our commitment to helping councils provide family friendly work

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Published: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 14:52

It’s hard to imagine anyone in local government is unaware of the enhanced commitment to developing and implementing family flexible work which found its way into the State Award in June last year.

Every week or so we have a member with a difficulty returning to work because Council has been less than accommodating to their requests to balance the needs of their family and, especially the new baby, with their return to work.

The old regime of ancient men bombastically rejecting reasonable requests from mothers (in particular) returning to work no longer holds sway. And just as the old regime was overwhelmed by the Enlightenment in European history, we are many, many years post-Enlightenment now. The parties to the Award are committed to building modern workplaces in local government in New South Wales, whether the old blokes like it or not.

Need help? We love doing things like this. Our third dispute this year was all about this.

How hard is HR? Part 2

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Published: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 14:49

There is a high correlation between being nominated or winning our Worst HR in Local Government Award and improved processes, some derailed career paths and even some people being moved out to try their luck elsewhere. Some councils try harder. The Awards are intended to be rehabilitative and encouraging of change rather than simply punitive. There is no progress or improvement if things are punitive only. Philosophically, depa believes everyone is capable of learning and improving.

One of our nominees last year has already made an effort to improve and two of our nominees are the subject of new disputes with us filed this year. Clearly we weren’t just sitting around at the beach.

Because we always like approaching a new year with enthusiasm and optimism, let’s deal with the good effort first.

Our winner last year, Shoalhaven, responded to the award with a commitment to try harder next year. That’s all well and good, because the proof of the pudding is always in the eating, but when payroll gave bad advice to a member of ours about her entitlement to progress on the trainee scale (incorrectly saying that time on paid leave delayed her annual progression - durr) General Manager Russ Pigg stepped in immediately and fixed it. We like to give credit where it’s due, so good one Russ. One small step …

But two other nominees haven’t fared so well. And one of them, we don’t dare mention. But we can mention Sydney, or the City of Sydney as they like to be acknowledged but, for reasons we will explore below, we can’t mention Bankstown.

Sydney was nominated because they are just so hopelessly slow. We committed to helping them with a timeframe in two areas in 2015 - the development of a proper policy on section 353 Other Work, that they agreed they would redraft a year ago and a review of term contracts.

So, we wrote to the Council on 14 January 2014 asking for them to commit to a timeframe for both of those things to be completed and nominating Friday last week as a deadline, just to help them with their motivation.

But they are very busy at Sydney. For a Council with high environmental credentials, building a sophisticated city with a vibrant and safe nightlife, accessible by public transport and bikes, committed to renewable energy and sensible waste disposal, a fabulous small bars program that has transformed the city at night, fabulous quality food from food trucks and brilliantly conceived and executed seminars on Small Business 101 that on a monthly basis attract more than 160 people to assist small and medium business getting what they need from the Council. But down in the body of the beast, things work very, very slowly.

Sure enough, the timeline sought of the review of term contracts was not responded to at all and on the development of their Other Work policy, the best they could do was send to the three unions a copy of their most recent attempt at reviewing the policy dated August 2014, and something which we had responded to at the end of the year. None of the proposed changes had been adopted and they continued to spell Human Resources as Hunan Resources, raising issues about whether they were thinking about contracting work out to China.

So we filed a dispute, which was listed in the Commission on 21 January to set up a timeframe for the resolution of both of these issues. Wouldn’t you know it, the city has other priorities, can’t make anyone available for the date set and have asked us to delay it a week!

We rejected the request and when it was made to the Commission, they rejected it too.

When the dispute came on before Justice Boland on 21 January, the Commission was convinced sufficiently about the need for some sort of hurry up to be applied and Justice Boland made recommendations on both matters.

The Commission recommended that there be an agreed policy between the Council and the unions by 10 March 2015. The people we deal with in HR couldn’t get a lunch order in by that date but if there is no agreed policy then we go back to pursue the matter further. We hope, because the recommendation also included reference to the City receiving assistance from LGNSW, that we can reach agreement by this time. It’s not that hard.

In relation to the Council’s commitment to review their policy on term contracts, the Commission recommended, again with the assistance of LGNSW, that the City and the unions have an agreed policy by 21 April - three months away.

These are reasonable timeframes which any competent organisation could comply with. The grumpy advocate for the Council may not like them but we could happily sit down with the him and develop an appropriate policy, even based on the dog’s breakfast prepared already over almost a year.

Maybe the solution is simply to leave the City and its astonishingly busy managers and executives out of it. Too much managing, too many meetings, not enough doing.

They could contract it out to Grumpy and me.

But at some stage the City has to put some people into HR who are not constantly at meetings and can allocate sufficient time and energy to get these relatively simple things done.
The State Award has ruled out term contracts in particular circumstances now for more than a decade. Term contracts are simply inappropriate for employees who are doing continuing work. The 2010 Award, with no disagreement between the employer representatives and the unions, identified those areas where term contracts were allowable and these provisions were, again with no dissent or concern, continued in the 2010 Award. They have prevented councils putting people on term contracts which industrial tribunals would subsequently find unacceptable.

Bankstown GM Matthew Stewart

We don’t want to mention Bankstown Council because they found their nomination and the commentary too distressing for words. So, because we don’t gratuitously offend or distress people and because we have started the year flowing with the milk of human kindness, we have decided to edit the story in a way that contains no offence.

Bankstown was so distressed with depaNews they had their solicitor email the office (after we had closed for the year) making a whole range of allegations, demands and generally derogatory observations but most importantly claiming that the commentary may have been contempt of the Commission - an offence, not really provided for in the Industrial Relations Act and certainly not something that has been an issue at all in modern times.
 
It is, after all, all around the world, an issue these days of freedom of speech.

They then wrote to the Industrial Relations Commission suggesting that we may, yes may, be in contempt. No assertion of confidence about the offence, if it is one at all, but prevarication, uncertainty and, maybe, confusion. What, no better advice than dunno?

We’ll let you know how it all pans out later.

The council really does need to have a look at how they deal with organisations representing the interests of their employees. General Manager Matthew Stewart ignored a succession of emails over a number of weeks inviting the Council to develop an investigations policy in conjunction with the unions and suggesting, because this exercise had already been done in a cooperative way with Campbelltown, with the assistance of the IRC, then the Campbelltown investigations policy would be a good start.

But they can’t keep ignoring us because the Industrial Relations Act allows employer and employee organisations to seek their assistance to make things happen when one of the parties is reluctant to negotiate.

So, we filed a dispute which is listed in the Commission on 30 January.