Salaried EB Negotiations: Government tables RRR proposal

Negotiations at the EB General Meeting held today focussed on the government’s proposal for Appendix 1: Retraining, Redeployment and Redundancy (RRR, the job security part of the salaried enterprise agreement).

The government has now moved from its original ideologically extreme and hostile position on Appendix 1.

The PSA welcomes the government’s improved position on job security – which is a direct result of PSA members standing firm for job protection.

1. The PSA has always maintained that, during the life of the current agreement, Appendix 1 has served both the government and PSA members well.    

2. Appendix 1 has provided for basic case management and basic vacancy management, which should be unremarkable minimum standards for a responsible employer, and for competent HR and IR practitioners.

3. Based on overwhelming PSA member feedback the PSA’s highest priority has been to protect our members’ job security. This remains one of a number of the PSA’s key objectives for these negotiations.

The PSA has analysed the government’s proposal and believes the proposal retains the integrity and content of the current Appendix 1.

The same processes, responsibilities, requirements, time frames and amounts of the current Appendix 1 are retained in the government’s proposal for those declared excess.

The principal proposed change is in relation to the process before declaring an employee excess. The government’s proposed Appendix 1 would apply only to those formally declared excess.

Under the government’s proposal the processes for those under consideration of being declared excess would be outside of Appendix 1. It is the PSA’s expectation that not one single employee should be declared excess without a very thorough process of consideration before that declaration. Regardless of the outcome of these EB negotiations, the PSA will continue to advocate strenuously for members in this regard.

Other amendments include most references to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment (CPSE) being changed to refer to the declared employer, which is now defined. The CPSE is not now the declared employer as was the case when the last agreement was negotiated. A number of separate dispute clauses have been consolidated into one. "Excess employee" is also now defined.

Retaining the content and integrity of Appendix 1 is a step forward in these negotiations and represents a significant change in position from the government. However, it is a change from an ideologically extreme position that the government should never have adopted

While the PSA acknowledges the proposal from government as a welcome step forward there is still a long way to go with the EB negotiations before we secure members’ objectives for a new agreement.

An enterprise agreement is a whole package. There are many more matters – both from the government and the PSA – that need to be resolved through the negotiations before we achieve that complete package.

The PSA will continue to consider the government’s proposed Appendix 1 in the context of the entirety of proposals (ie the full package) for a new agreement.

Members will be kept informed as negotiations progress.