DEWR staff make a point

BY PAUL OBOOHOV

CANBERRA — Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)
staff voted July 19 by more than 90% to reject a management draft industrial
agreement.

The draft included a pay rise of only 6.5% over two years (low by public
service standards), proposed cuts to remote localities allowances and travel
provisions, and banned workers' recourse to the Australian Industrial Relations
Commission (AIRC) for dispute resolution.

DEWR management, led by new secretary Peter Boxall (infamous for moving
most staff in the finance department onto individual contracts), tried
to convince DEWR staff to vote for the management draft by emailing them
a personalised statement of how much extra pay they would receive.

Commenting on the outcome of the ballot, Community and Public Sector
Union section secretary Jenness Gardner said: “You would have to say there
is not a lot of grey area in this result. We are hopeful that DEWR management
will get the message.”

Management has now written to the CPSU seeking negotiations on a union-negotiated
agreement. The CPSU is demanding costings on management's proposals, suspecting
that some of them will actually cost the department more, such as cutting
involvement of the AIRC in dispute resolution. Other issues include how
staff will be represented and whether the union negotiating team will be
booked off work and be resourced.

From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.

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From GLW issue 503