✊All Member EA Update: Enterprise Agreement Negotiations formally underway, first meeting held today

The first formal meeting for all parties to the salaried enterprise agreement was held today, 9 September 2024. 

The meeting was scheduled following the PSA’s formal request (here) that negotiations for a successor enterprise agreement begin as soon as possible.

The first meeting is traditionally a scheduling and scene setting meeting. 

The PSA, represented by General Secretary Natasha Brown, took the opportunity today to set out the priorities that the PSA will be pursuing for our members, as defined in the ‘What You Have Told Us – 2024’ document (here).

When questioned by the PSA about their intentions, the government negotiators stated that the government did not have a formal agenda of its own at this point and that they did not have authority to negotiate at this point in time.

PSA General Secretary Natasha Brown’s statement to the meeting is below:

I am extremely pleased to be here today representing PSA members to formally start negotiations for the next salaried enterprise agreement.

We appreciate the government agreeing to the PSA’s request to meet on the first day available under the terms of the current agreement.

As the principal public sector union in South Australia, the PSA is ready and prepared to negotiate in good faith with the aim of reaching agreement within a reasonable time frame.

The outcome of this agreement will affect the lives of more than 40,000 workers in this state. Its significance cannot be overstated.

The PSA has been consulting widely with our members about their enterprise agreement and will continue to do so. Our members have told us the most important things to them in these negotiations are:

1. Wages

2. Job Protection

3. Workload

4. Improving Conditions

Overwhelmingly, and not surprisingly, wages is the biggest issue which affects all of our members.

Since the last salaried enterprise agreement was struck, our members have experienced a social and economic whirlwind, which came on the back of an extremely challenging global pandemic – a pandemic during which many of our members held the fort on the frontline of public services.

Public sector workers are resilient. They are dedicated, and they care deeply about the work they do. But they have a limit.

Let me be clear with our intentions. That means dollars. It means fairly compensating public sector workers for the work they do – it means committing to competitive wages and benefits so that the public sector is an employer of choice in a competitive labour market. It’s about making an investment to attract and retain the best and brightest.

There is a lot of ground to make up from the economic free-fall our members have experienced in recent years. Make no mistake, the PSA takes this opportunity to put the government on notice that we expect a significant wage package in this enterprise agreement that brings South Australia’s public sector wages back into competition with other states and the private sector. Our members serve government and our state well. Now it’s time for that effort to be properly recognised and compensated.

Since the COVID pandemic, South Australian public sector workers have experienced unprecedented real wage losses. Conversely, private sector workers have seen their wages nearly return to pre-pandemic levels.

South Australia is in a strong economic position. The State Government enjoys a diversified, stable, and strong fiscal situation. Our state bounced back from the deficits created by the pandemic very quickly. Revenue growth for the state has significantly out-paced expenses.

Affordability is simply not a reason for the government to deny properly remunerating our members.

The government is in a very strong position to afford to pay proper pay rises to public servants, and has a responsibility to do so.

Other states have already acknowledged that public sector workers must be adequately remunerated. Victoria’s nurses and midwives recently secured a 28.4 per cent pay increase over four years. The Victorian Government knew that if it was to attract and retain a top-class workforce, they needed to pay competitively. We expect the South Australian government not to be out-classed by another state.

The wages issue is real and important, however there are conditions matters which need addressing in conjunction with the wages to make working in the public sector attractive again.

We are well aware of issues affecting members in all classification streams, including our ASO, Allied Health, Correctional Officer, Dental Officer, Professional Officer, Legal Officer, OPS, Medical Scientist and Technical Officer members, as we head into these negotiations. PSA members across the full range of our membership have identified improvements to conditions as a priority for them.

Some of these improvements are specific to their occupational or professional groups, some are more broad.

We will be seeking to reduce inequities between classes of employees, especially those public servants covered by other agreements. For example, our AHP members see inequities in pay and conditions every day when working in multi-classified positions. Different groups of employees working beyond 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, have different annual leave entitlements, some have four, some five, some six weeks. This is both in comparison internally in the salaried agreement and externally, for example, nurses and police.

We seek improvements to conditions dealing with cost of living, attraction and retention, current labour market pressures, equity with other workers, workloads, recognition of skills and experience, vacancy management, shift penalties, rostering issues, leave, maintaintenance and recognition of professional qualifications, classification and progression. Our members across the public sector need improvements in these areas as the government asks them to do more and more with less in more often than not increasingly challenging environments.

These are a summary of broader issues across the service — we will also be pursuing issues for specific groups of workers, some of whom work in specialised areas.

We expect to see improvements in these areas for our members.

Today, we bring a clear message from our members that they want a fair wage that enables them to keep pace with the cost of living, live their best lives and do the best job they can for the communities they serve.

The PSA and our members are united in our pursuit to achieve an enterprise agreement that meets these needs and expectations.

PSA Organisers are attending worksites to provide more detail on the results from the PSA’s enterprise agreement survey and the contents of the subsequent ‘What You Have Told Us – 2024’ document (here), as well as our next steps from here.

Members are strongly encouraged to familiarise yourselves with the contents of the ‘What You Have Told Us – 2024’ document, and to attend the meetings being held at your worksites.

The PSA Council has endorsed these priorities as underpinning the PSA's negotiating position for a new salaried agreement.

The PSA will continue to consult with members and draft proposals based on these priorities.

Defining our priorities, while very important, is only one element in achieving the best possible enterprise agreement.

Our continued preparation and work together, at our worksites and from the PSA office, will determine our success in achieving an enterprise agreement which addresses our members’ priorities.

With the commitment of every member, we will be successful.

Encourage any of your colleagues, who are not currently PSA members, to join and add their voice to your next agreement.

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

We all know that PSA members working together can improve outcomes for public sector workers and the community. You and your colleagues have the power to make a real difference. But we have to be in it together to make that difference.

Ask those yet to join you in the PSA to join online today.