Public service anger over performance pay bonuses
By Phil Shannon
CANBERRA — Staff in the commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care will soon be voting on their next certified agreement. An unpopular attempt to introduce performance pay bonuses looks set to give the "no" campaign a boost.
Management has insisted from the beginning of negotiations that performance pay bonuses be introduced in lieu of wage rises.
Its original ambit claim for a full-blown performance pay model was met with such widespread incredulity and disgust that it has had to water down the proposal. However, management's final offer of a 4.5% wage increase over two and a half years, plus an additional bonus pay element of 2%, is well below other commonwealth departments.
Performance pay is seen by the great majority of staff as unfair, subjective and subject to external factors beyond the control of the individual. A fixed distribution of ratings will ensure that at least 10% of staff will not receive the bonus, through no fault of their own.
In a desperate attempt to bribe enough staff to vote for the agreement, management is offering a sign-on bonus of $500.
Management's attempt to further intensify work by introducing performance pay is not, contrary to the department's propaganda, required by the government's wages policy parameters. Rather, it is a result of management's own ideological blinkers.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) section council in Health and Aged Care is calling for a 10% wage rise for all. Attempts by the department to split the union and non-union "staff representatives" over performance pay have not been successful.
The CPSU section council is recommending to members' meetings that it run a "Vote No" campaign. This will build on staff disgust at management's attempt to undermine decent and equitable wages, its lack of attention to the serious problems with overwork in the department, and its lack of imagination in rejecting numerous union proposals to improve the quality of working life.
The last agreement scraped through by fewer than 40 votes. The performance pay proposal will ensure another close vote.
[Phil Shannon is the president of CPSU Health and Aged Care section council.]