POVB Benchmarking update - Public Service Association

POVB Benchmarking update

POVB Benchmarking update – January 2018 (PDF version)

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that the festive season was time for you all to be with family and friends.

We have started the New Year running again.

In the last two weeks, we have been to Cessnock, Mid North Coast and Goulburn – all to do with benchmarking.

Cessnock

Jason, Darren, Dave McCauley and myself attended the final Cessnock benchmarking staff meeting and union meeting. There have been some issues with their proposal but a 3 week extension was given and Dave McCauley and myself are heading back there today to assist them further.

Mid North Coast

As you all should be aware, we are before the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) re benchmarking and other issues. From our last IRC appearance, it was agreed that we would attend Mid North Coast and in the future a small centre to assess the roles and responsibilities that SCOs will be doing under benchmarking.Depending on the outcomes of these meetings we could be seeking remuneration for the extra responsibilities.

Natalie, Julie Bond, PSA Senior Industrial Organiser and I attended Mid North Coast last weekend. I would like to thank the staff, including management, for giving us a full tour of the centre and for being positive throughout the process.

Due to this we were able to gather both positive and negative feedback about the centre which has gone live under benchmarking.

We still have to tour a small centre and after that we will put out a full bulletin with the information received from both.

From the weekend visit we did get approval for a delegate from South Coast Correctional Centre to attend with a member of the State Executive to see how Mid North Coast are running under benchmarking. It is felt that any information that the delegate from South Coast can get from staff at Mid North Coast can only be of benefit to them as they are now live also.

Goulburn

The whole Executive attended Goulburn Correctional Centre on 23 January, 2018. Goulburn is to be benchmarked on 28 February, and 1 March, 2018.

There has been rumours that the centre could be turned into a B classification which has caused much unrest with members feeling vulnerable to large job losses in a country town.

After the meeting, I was able to get clarification on this rumour and received confirmation from Mr Severin that the centre will remain an A classification with the same role and function as it currently has.

This has gone a long way to alleviating some concern for the sub branch. The Executive will work closely with the membership moving forward to get the best possible outcomes.

 Benchmarking dates for future centres

Oberon CC – 13 February, 2018

Lithgow CC – 14 February, 2018

Kirkconnel CC – 15 February, 2018

Bathurst CC – 16 February, 2018

Goulburn CC – 28 February, 2018

HRMU CC – 1 March, 2018

As yet we do not know the date for the MRRC which will be the final centre to have their initial benchmarking meeting.

Casuals

After attending the Goulburn sub branch meeting there has been some confusion or miscommunication about casuals and who represents them.

At the last Delegates to Management meeting in November 2017, it was put to delegates as to whether casuals could have their own sub branch and delegate.

The Management Committee decided against this due to casuals only being employed for an 8 hour period. Casuals do not get detached duty and how do we get all casuals to meet in one location, when we have casuals all around the state.

It was then decided that one member of the State Executive would be the person for casuals to go to for issues. That person is Darren King. This does not mean that casuals cannot go to the union delegates where they may permanently be based.

We would like casuals to contact Darren with their issues or the local delegates so Darren can collate the information to assess whether it could actually be a collective issue rather than just an individual issue.

Darren and I will be meeting with Governor John Buckley in February to discuss the Casual Policy and deal with collective issues.

CSNSW have given us a draft policy for casuals regarding higher commencing salary on Assignment to Ongoing Custodial Correctional Officer Policy. We have given them feedback as to where we feel that it is not addressing issues that have been raised to us by many casuals who have been made permanent.

Once we have more information from the above two matters we will put out a bulletin.

Transfer at Grade Policy

There is a meeting organised in February to address the issues that members have raised regarding the transfer at grade policy. After this meeting we will put information out to the membership.

Nicole Jess
Chairperson POVB

Contact Details

  • Nicole Jess – Chairperson
    0427 609 199
  • Jason Charlton – Vice Chairperson
    0401 500 976
  • Thor Sutherland – Country Chairperson
    0447 633 476
  • Natalie Howes – Secretary
    0407 011 441
  • Darren King – Assistant Secretary
    0407 935 039

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