Just as well we can play a long game

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Published: Monday, 17 February 2020 12:55

2020 and its connotations of perfect vision remind us how we see things. For us, there are the new things, like our negotiations for a new 2020 Award, and a new dispute with Sydney City just to start the year, but there are the old and the continuing things as well - what’s happening with planning, the accreditation process of local government employees, and on and on.

The cartoon and the headline above were published in the last issue of the Health Surveyors’ News (one of our historic names) in May 1987. We were already fighting off the introduction of term contracts in the industry - allegedly to better manage performance as if continuing and permanent employees can’t be performance-managed, but really to make it easier for a Council to sack employees without the checks and balances provided by the Industrial Relations Act. The Council simply decides not to renew the contract...

It’s been a long history, not to be repeated here in this issue, but as we enter 2020 we remain committed to removing terms of employment for senior staff other than general managers, and even for GM’s to provide checks and balances, to ensure that a newly elected council can’t decide, as part of flexing their political or lack-of-intellectual muscle, to terminate their contract regardless of the GM’s performance. A waste of public money and poor treatment of a good employee.

We are immobilised in our section 106 with Narrabri Council/GM Stewart Todd as the Supreme Court considers Todd’s challenge that the Court doesn’t have jurisdiction to deal with contractual issues for senior staff under the Local Government Act. We can’t wait, there are only two alternatives here, Todd loses and senior staff win, or Todd wins and senior staff lose. Either way, the issue will be resolved.

And that’s it for us this year

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Published: Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:18

The depa office will be closing on Friday 20 December and reopening on Monday 6 January 2020 and we’ll be back with full services sometime after that in January.

The Committee of Management and Margaret and I in the office wish you all a happy, restful, rewarding Xmas/New Year with friends and loved ones, and a joyous and energetic return in 2020 - just like we can guarantee you.

Bumper holiday reading - 2019 depa awards for the Worst HR in Local Government

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Published: Tuesday, 17 December 2019 09:18

This is the eleventh year that the prestigious and envied Golden Turd will be awarded.

How's HR been this year?

A bit of everything really:

We’ve seen it all, poor management and HR driving people from jobs; a lack of imagination and support for staff; micromanagement; quashing new ideas; failing to consult and being made to do it all again properly, particularly on organisational change, and consistent with clause 39 of the State Award; conducting investigations that shouldn’t have been conducted; some more wage theft, a couple of attempts at time theft at a couple of councils; bloody mindedness; senior staff sacked all over the place under their unfair contract, and possibly more blood to come.

One of our big issues is supporting flexibility at work for parents - something boasted about as a commitment by many councils but not always provided. Some rigid mindedness from bosses who really mean “the bloke goes to work, the sheila stays at home, just like I did, and my dad before me, and his dad before him”. Leaving aside the inherent misogyny and sexism, we’ve even seen a lack of imagination and support for mums, with one Council, demonstrating why 75% of workers who leave their jobs do so because of their bosses, and not the position itself.

Read more ...

Premier to announce “the simplest and most effective planning system in Australia”

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:32

We woke to the news that Premier Gladys Berejiklian was announcing yet another review of the planning system in a speech sometime today to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia – whatever that is. We will try to restrain our cynicism that references to things like “including reducing assessment timeframes” means little more than unchaining the monsters and you lot, professional planners, protectors of the environment and building regulators, and the communities and their interests, can just bloodywell get out of the way.

It could be a lovely idea. It could be another boring review achieving nothing (always reminding us of David Shoebridge’s comment years ago that the government, on planning reform, was like a dog returning to its own vomit) or we could be very afraid.

A word about wage theft

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:32

Recent months have seen an unprecedented level of exposure of dramatic underpayments by what had previously thought to be respectable institutions - Woolworth’s had admitted it underpaid about 5700 staff up to $300 million and this followed Qantas, the Commonwealth Bank, Bunnings and the empires of the famous chefs Neil Perry and George Colombaris.

The immediate response by those who did know better was that the award system was too complex for major corporations who, at the same time, were quite capable of handling millions of customers and turnover of billions of dollars. This included the head of the Business Council of Australia who described this theft as “inadvertent payroll mistakes” because the industrial relations system was “too complex”, with “122 awards, multiple agreements, multiple clauses”. This was supported by the head of the Australian Retailers Association ripping into the “lack of flexibility in awards when interpreted literally”.

This is all a hoax. A cover up. How can it be that there are never “inadvertent payroll mistakes” of this magnitude where employees are overpaid?

In local government we see less dramatic examples regularly. Councils asserting that there is some kind of loading on a rate of pay for forfeiting overtime, or working reasonable additional hours but then they can’t justify it by demonstrating how much it is, or how it sits properly on a salary system rate of pay. Only this week, in fact.

In a great article in The Conversation on 11 November, Professor of Workplace Law at RMIT University Anthony Forsyth defended the system as not as complex as employers claim and that businesses have made things more complex for themselves by trying to annualise salary arrangements to incorporate overtime, penalty rates and a variety of loadings.

And even though the practice is nowhere near as prevalent in local government, employees are entitled to be sceptical when the boss comes along offering a rate of pay said to include a market component, something in lieu of overtime, something for forfeiting RDOs etc.

Sound familiar, need some help? Give us a ring.

Supreme Court reserves its decision on Narrabri’s jurisdictional argument

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:31

As you know, we filed a section 106 Unfair Contract application in the Supreme Court after the sacking of a senior staff member of ours by Narrabri GM, and President of Local Government Professionals, Stewart Todd, and that Narrabri’s first argument was that our application be quashed because the Supreme Court didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear it.

This would be an argument despite a history of regular section 106 applications from local government in the Industrial Relations Commission, and after the Court function was transferred to the Supreme Court, in the Supreme Court. And significantly regular applications, and regular settlements.

On 15 November, Associate Judge Harrison heard the Council’s argument and our response. A decision is reserved but not likely before the end of the year.

Plenty of time for bloodshed under the standard contract in the meantime.

Public Accountability Committee’s first report makes 17 recommendations

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:31

The Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Regulation of building standards, building quality and building disputes handed down its first report on 13 November. There are 17 recommendations including addressing the issue of flammable cladding, strengthening the Building Commission as an independent statutory body “with broad powers and sufficient resourcing and funding to oversee and regulate the building and construction industry”, and more.

Here is a link.

Next month

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:31

depa’s highly respected and authoritative HR awards will be announced next month.

Local Government Super appoints a new Chief Executive Officer

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:48

LGS has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Phil Stockwell. Phil is a highly regarded person from financial services with whom I had the pleasure of sitting on the Regnan board a decade or more ago. Welcome Phil.

In the last issue we expressed our surprise at a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, ostensibly to announce the appointment of an independent Chair of LGS, that said “the $12 billion fund amended its constitution in June to make board changes following a probe into its governance by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)”

A probe? This was a surprise, given the careful language we needed to use trying to explain to members why, despite our historic opposition to the concept of “independent” directors, LGS had decided to do it. Apparently it was the Herald’s word, it wasn’t provided in the media release by LGS.

In June, unknown to us, LGS in an earlier media release announced they were going to reduce the size of the board and appoint an “independent” Chair and two “independent” directors “to more effectively meet APRA’s requirements around superannuation governance”. The media release acknowledges “APRA’s recent guidance and expectations”.

Well, that was more than I could tell you. And I couldn’t tell you that I had carefully drafted advice to members seeking the approval of the  █████████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ before ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████, ████ ██ ████ ███ ██████, ███████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ █ ███ ███████. 

Or anything else about the regulator, whether they have done anything, or haven’t done anything, ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███, one dare not speak its name.

Local Government Super appoints a new Chief Executive Officer (2)

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Published: Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:48

LGS has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Phil Stockwell. Phil is a highly regarded person from financial services with whom I had the pleasure of sitting on the Regnan board a decade or more ago. Welcome Phil.

In the last issue we expressed our surprise at a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, ostensibly to announce the appointment of an independent Chair of LGS, that said “the $12 billion fund amended its constitution in June to make board changes following a probe into its governance by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)”

A probe? This was a surprise, given the careful language we needed to use trying to explain to members why, despite our historic opposition to the concept of “independent” directors, LGS had decided to do it. Apparently it was the Herald’s word, it wasn’t provided in the media release by LGS.

In June, unknown to us, LGS in an earlier media release announced they were going to reduce the size of the board and appoint an “independent” Chair and two “independent” directors “to more effectively meet APRA’s requirements around superannuation governance”. The media release acknowledges “APRA’s recent guidance and expectations”.

Well, that was more than I could tell you. And I couldn’t tell you that I had carefully drafted advice to members seeking the approval of the  █████████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ before ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████, ████ ██ ████ ███ ██████, ███████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ █ ███ ███████. 

Or anything else about the regulator, whether they have done anything, or haven’t done anything, ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███, one dare not speak its name.