CSPU fact sheet: EL TOIL and pay outcomes for SLOs and PAOs
24 February 2012, 10:52am
There are two outstanding issues that will need to be finalised before we can proceed to a vote.
CPSU is deeply concerned about any further delays to bargaining. We regard
reaching a quick and fair settlement as a key priority. We are continuing to
wait on a draft EA from FaHCSIA to move to the next stage.
CPSU wrote to the APSC on Friday 17 February to try to resolve these issues
quickly. Regrettably, the APSC told us on Tuesday 21 February that they were
unwilling to satisfactorily address the issues. CPSU will now seek the
assistance of Fair Work Australia to help resolve the issues as quickly as
possible while FaHCSIA finalises the draft EA.
What’s at stake?
There are two outstanding issues
EL TOIL
a fair pay outcome for Senior Legal Officers (SLOs) and Public Affairs
Officers (PAOs)
Executive Level TOIL arrangements
CPSU brought to the table a number of clauses to find a fair and unambiguous
solution for EL TOIL arrangements. After FaHCSIA and CPSU came close to reaching
an agreement on an ‘hour for hour’ proposal, the APSC advised that the solution
would not be acceptable.
CPSU carefully considered the comments of the APSC on the question of EL TOIL
arrangements at our recent meeting. Following that meeting, the CPSU met with
FaHCSIA and reached what we understood to be an agreement over key elements of
Executive Level TOIL arrangements to be applied in a new FaHCSIA EA.
CPSU proposed a set of clauses that guaranteed a minimum of day off a month
for EL employees, who had put in the hours, and that no reasonable request for
TOIL would be refused. This agreement was based in part on elements of the
arrangements settled in the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water,
Population and Communities EA (Environment EA).
FaHCSIA has now advised the CPSU that the APSC now objects to this form of
words for the FaHCSIA EA. Again we are concerned about consistency and the
practical difficulties that the APSC approach is creating when it comes to the
difficult work of settling bargains that are mutually acceptable.
The APSC justified its position by claiming that the previous Environment EA
had contained flex time access for EL staff. This is not the case and the APSC
is well aware, in fact the matter of EL TOIL had not been dealt with in
Environment agreements until the current Environment EA commenced operation.
We have requested that the APSC apply a consistent approach to this question
and withdraw its objections, which are interfering in the settlement of this
enterprise agreement.
Pay outcomes for Senior Legal Officers and Public Affairs Officers grades
FaHCSIA has advised us that the APSC is objecting to pay increases above 8%
for approximately 45 FaHCSIA staff - Senior Legal Officers (SLOs), Deputy Branch
Manager Legal Officers (DBMs) and Public Affairs Officer grades (PAOs).
It is our strong view that these staff should be able to share the same 9.2%
outcome that’s been achieved for other FaHCSIA staff. It’s clear that
affordability is not an issue and we know that passing this increase on to all
staff equally can be done while meeting the Government’s position on AAWI.
The APSC’s position is unfair and completely inconsistent. We can’t
understand why the APSC is trying to deny this pay outcome to one relatively a
small group of staff, when it is approved for other FaHCSIA staff. The table
shows how the SLOs compare with colleagues in other Departments. With an 8%
outcome, SLOs are worse off and their pay falls even further behind.
This outcome isn’t fair and we don’t understand why the APSC is targeting
this group of workers in this way.
