August 23 2016
    Canberra Times

Massive public service strike looms


Tens of thousands of federal public servants are set to walk off the job early next month with no end in sight to their three-year dispute over wages and conditions.   

Officials from Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support, the Tax Office, Defence, Agriculture and Water Resources, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet will strike for 24 hours on September 9, according to their main union, the CPSU.

Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood says the Coalition wants to take the public service back to the bad old days with its new reforms.

Border Force on-water units began rolling stoppages on Monday but no repeat is planned of the recent airport disruption, caused by striking Border Force, Immigration and Agriculture officials.

The union concedes that disruption to frontline services is likely during the September action, but  has appealed for support from the public in what it calls a "fight for a fair deal" for frontline public servants.

More than 100,000 public servants are yet to sign on to new enterprise agreements offered under the Abbott-era public sector bargaining policy, while about 50,000 government workers, in about 54 agencies or departments, have signed on to the new deals.

The federal election was expected to act as a circuit-breaker in the dispute, which has rumbled on since 2013, but public service minister Michaelia Cash last week instructed agency and department bosses that no compromise was permitted on the tough terms of the policy as talks with their workforces resume.


Senator Cash has been dismissive of the unions' efforts in the wake of the election and says the the CPSU itself is the greatest barrier to its members receiving long-delayed pay rises.

The minister's office did not respond before deadline on Monday to a request for comment.

CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood said the new round of strikes were designed to send a message that resistance to the policy remained strong, despite the re-election of the Turnbull government.

"The purpose of the strike is to show the Government how determined CPSU members are to find a fair resolution to this long-running dispute," the union leader said.

"Their frustration continues to grow over the Turnbull government's  three-year attack on their working rights and conditions, particularly the family-friendly rights that should define a modern workforce."

The union, which must still secure Fair Work Commission consent for the planned action, said the recent census failures were the direct result of Coalition policies toward the public service more broadly.   

"The Turnbull Government's mean-spirited and unfair treatment of public sector workers has now stretched for 1000 days," Ms Flood said.   

"It's part of a broader agenda to undermine and run down the public services that Australians know, trust and rely on.

"The repercussions are becoming increasingly clear, with the recent census debacle just the latest example of what happens when public institutions and the people who work in them are run down."

Ms Flood acknowledged that there may be disruption to service as her union members protested.

"They are conscious of the potential temporary disruption caused by this strike, but are urging the general public to support their important work and their fight for a fair deal," she said.


   

we should have a nation wide strike , minus the grubby sycophant rtardz of course

You are now seeing Shorty and the Unions (Labor) Party swinging into action with their secret weapon INDUSTRIAL ANARCHY!!!!

This is all union brown noser Shorty knows, this is what he built his dubious "career" on as he brown nosed his way up thru the slime covered walls and halls of the unions until he was promoted to above his ability as the "leader" of the Unions (Labor) Party.

Thank Goodness, slippery Shorty and the grotesque Greenies did not get in and proceed with their continuation of the reducing of Australia to a 4th world country like Lower Slobovia.


Unelectable Slippery Shorty, when will Labor replace him ?

Union mad Lefty Public Servants have no concept of the grave state of the National Economy and are just puppets manipulated by Bill Shorten's corrupt Commo unions.

It is traditional that a Lefty Labor Govt bloats the Public Servant with union members to improve the unemployment figures without regard for where the money is going to come from to pay them.

So it is just as traditional that a Righty Govt has to trim this Lefty dross from the Public Service to reduce Govt costs.





Cash orders no compromise on public service pay
Noel Towell AUGUST 18 2016

The Coalition government has ordered public service bosses not to compromise with their workforces in the disputes over pay and conditions that have entered their third year.

Departmental secretaries and agency heads were told late on Wednesday that the re-elected Turnbull government would seek to impose the conditions of the Abbott-era Public Sector Bargaining Policy, which have been rejected by about two-thirds of the Australian Public Service's 150,000-strong workforce.


Employment Minister Michaelia Cash.

Wednesday's edict by public service minister Michaelia Cash ends a period of confusion with departmental bosses stalling on negotiations, pleading they had not been given a policy lead from their political bosses.

But Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd confirmed on Thursday that departmental secretaries were advised within an hour of Senator Cash's press release on Wednesday, with the Commissioner insisting there was "no confusion in this matter."

"The 2015 Workplace Bargaining Policy remains unchanged," the minister said.

"Agencies will continue to be able to offer wage increases averaging up to 2 per cent per annum, with costs to be met within existing budgets."

The ban on back-pay, for workers who last had a pay rise in 2013, and the insistence on funding pay rises through "productivities" remains.

The minister added that the Public Service Commission had given its stamp of approval to a new batch of agreements which would be soon put to workplace ballots, but did not say which agencies or departments would be voting.



Australian Taxation Office negotiators got the message from Mr Lloyd while in the midst of a two day bargaining session with union, but the resolution came too late for any progress to be a made.

The Australian Service's Union's Jeff Lapidos, who was present at the talks, greeted the news with dismay.

"The Prime Minister has lost an important opportunity to support the public service by allowing us to negotiate fair and reasonable Enterprise Agreements," the union official said.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/cash-orders-no-compromis...

aqua,

you should replace unelectable slippery Shorty as leader of the Unions (Labor) Party.

Which century is the Canberra public service living in ?

Now they want those in their later years to be able to wander off at will!!!!

An invitation to invoke redundancies if ever there was.




Public service must embrace part-time hours, telework to attract older staff: PwC report
Markus Mannheim AUGUST 18 2016

The bureaucracy must become more open to part-time hours and telework to entice ageing staff to stay, a global consultancy warns.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has urged the Australian Public Service to lead the country by building flexible workplaces and overcoming biases that prevent older people from winning jobs and promotions.


APS staff aged 45-64 are the least satisfied with their job's flexibility and work/life balance.

The firm says that means trusting public servants to do their jobs out of the office in the hours they choose, and even allowing them to work for multiple employers.

However, its new report, 1-2 skip a few 99-100, suggests the APS has far to go: it highlights its ongoing poor performance across several work measures.



Federal public servants are less likely than other Australians to have part-time jobs.

Very few work from home, even occasionally: only one in 10 did so in 2013, when telework data was last reported, compared with one in four workers across all industries.

The PwC report cited recent research findings that staff "who worked from home at least once a week were 48 per cent more likely to rate their job a 10 [out of 10] on the happiness scale".

Canberra-based PwC partner Nick Myburgh said flexible workplaces required smarter ways of managing staff.

"There's a very traditional view here [in government] of 'unless the employee is sitting at the desk where I can see them, they're obviously goofing off'," he said on Thursday. "That mindset has got to change."

Mr Myburgh said the challenge was to change the bureaucracy's rigid approaches to managing people so as to keep staff happy, productive and wanting to stay.

"If someone can work from home – or even work for a number of different employers at the same time – we should be trying do that ..." he said.

"We've now got tremendous ability to hook up via video conferences and Google hangouts. If you're a sceptical manager, you could still call them up, right?"

Public service leaders have warned for years that departments must adapt to employees' changing preferences.

In 2013, then Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet head Ian Watt said managers needed to regard flexible work practices as "a positive part of our workplaces rather than a grudging concession".

"No position or level should be deemed off limits to someone interested in flexible working arrangements," Dr Watt said.

In 2012, then prime minister Julia Gillard set a target of increasing the share of APS staff who teleworked at least once a week from 4 per cent to 12 per cent by 2020.

However, the government scrapped the national telework website last year and stopped reporting on the APS' progress two years ago.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/public-service-must-embr...

Now the union mad Public Service bosses plead that they don't know what to do as the CPSU stirs the pot to try to get their members to go on STRIKE!!!

Shorty's secret weapon of INDUSTRIAL ANARCHY at work trying to bring Australia to its knees.




Public service bosses in dark on pay policy
Noel Towell AUGUST 18 2016

Public service departments are stalling on wage talks with their workforces while they wait for a clear lead from the Coalition government on its workplace bargaining policy.

Confusion deepened on Wednesday with the public service minister declaring the government's position clear, after its workplace authority confirmed departments had not been advised of the government's position.


Australian Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd has declined to respond to the Community and Public Sector Union attack. Photo: Jay Cronan



But departments have conceded they are still waiting for the re-elected government to brief them on its policy approach and the federal workplace authority, the Australian Public Service Commission has confirmed it has not briefed its agencies and would not say when the advice would be issued.



The Community and Public Sector Union has lodged another attempt in the Fair Work Commission to secure an order against public service minister Michaelia Cash over her handling of the dispute, with the minister dismissing the union's action as a "stunt".

But face-to-face talks between unions and departmental officials are beginning again, with the Tax Office negotiations underway in Melbourne on Wednesday and Thursday, despite departmental negotiators operating in a policy vacuum.



Public Service Commissioner John lloyd was unable to shed light on when the government's positions might become clear.

"Advice will be provided to agencies on bargaining in the near future," he told The Canberra Times.

In a press release attacking the CPSU and published on Wednesday, public service minister Michaelia Cash said the government's position was clear.

"The Government's position is clear," Senator Cash's press release read.

"The 2015 Workplace Bargaining Policy remains unchanged.

"Agencies will continue to be able to offer wage increases averaging up to 2 per cent per annum, with costs to be met within existing budgets."

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/public-service-bosses-in...

Aqua,

until the Unions (Labor) Party get rid of the Shorten boat anchor round their neck dragging them down to Opposition for the next 20 years they will continue to thrash around in meaningless circles.

Shorty is a union brown noser promoted to above his ability and knows only sick union corruption.

Now if YOU replaced unelectable slippery Shorty the Unions (Labor) Party would rocket to the top.