Merry Christmas and Happy School Holidays
The PSA General Secretary, Delegates and staff would like to congratulate you on the work you have done this year.
It’s been a huge year! Everyone in schools has continued to deal with uncertain and challenging circumstances and all of you have done an amazing job supporting students and your school communities.
You are all due a very well earned break over the next few weeks. Enjoy it – you’ve earned it.
LTT Conversion Campaign Win – 100% Permanent
As members would know, the PSA was successful in extending the opportunity for long-term temporary (LTT) employees to express interest in conversion to permanent employment under the current arrangements until the end of this term. These arrangements will remain in place right up until 26 January 2021.
The PSA has supported a large number of people to submit an Expression of Interest. In many schools, this has resulted in LTT SAOs and SLSOs who meet the criteria being converted to permanency or part permanency by their Principals.
Members who have been employed continuously for more than two years may be eligible for conversion and the PSA is here to support you.
New recruitment procedures
Under the new School Administrative and Support Staff Award the Department and PSA was required to consult about the development and implementation of new appointment and recruitment procedures.
As members would appreciate, discussions were delayed due to COVID-19. This extended the timeframe for consultation. Throughout the consultation the PSA strongly advocated for the best possible outcome for our members.
In the new merit-based appointment and selection procedures, Principals can recruit and appoint staff to vacant permanent SAS staff positions using either an external merit selection process or the Department’s revised process to convert suitably qualified long term temporary employees to permanent employment.
The PSA has successfully negotiated some improvements to the procedures and acknowledges that they will assist in addressing some of the recruitment issues in the future, however they fall short of dealing with a number of long running issues in schools.
The PSA will continue the fight for permanency in the new year as part of the Worth 100% Campaign.
New DoE Behaviour Strategy – 100% Protected
Earlier this year the PSA prepared a submission in response to the new Student Behaviour Strategy, which has been publicly released for feedback.
You can read the PSA submission HERE.
BM transfer
Some current Temp GSE Business Manager (BM) members who will transition to the School Administrative and Support Staff Award have raised concerns with both the PSA and DoE in relation to their entitlements pre and post transition date which is Day 1 Term 1 2021.
This transition date enables affected BMs to decide if they wish to access their accrued leave over the vacation period, including flex leave. Members are advised to communicate with their Principal about taking accrued flex leave.
Any untaken leave, except flex leave, can be paid out at the rate it was accrued. The PSA advises all members to exhaust your flex leave prior to the transition date.
These arrangements can be viewed HERE.
Any further queries from BM members should be directed to EdConnect as the best point of contact for individuals seeking advice.
SLSO SHS Transfer
The Department has advised the PSA that in early 2021 consultation will begin on the transition to the SLSO SHS role. The union will keep members up to date on these discussions as they progress.
Have a happy holiday break. You are Worth 100%-Paid, Protected, Permanent.