POVB member update – August 2017 (PDF version)
This week has been an extremely hectic one for the state Executive and the week has not finished as yet. The week has transpired as follows:
Monday – St Heliers
Monday started with benchmarking at St Heliers. This centre’s benchmarking is:
- Loss 1 MOS
- Gain 4 SASs
- Loss 3 ASs
- Loss 1 SCO
- Gain 4 COs
- Loss 1 SOS
We will continue to work closely with the delegates and members at St Helier’s in regards to the proposal and the risk assessments that will need to be conducted. Several of the State Executive had not been to St Heliers and they were impressed by the centre and its location.
Cyclic rostering
Straight after the meeting on benchmarking with St Heliers, the Executive met with Kevin Corcoran, Glen Scholes, Matt Jones and Gary Stokes to discuss cyclic rostering.
Firstly, let me state we have sought legal advice and cyclic rostering comes under managerial prerogative so there is no legal avenue that can be taken to stop cyclic rostering. Going around the centres there is a varied opinion on whether cyclic rostering will be good or bad for members.
At the outset of the meeting Mr Scholes stated that he wanted POVB to be included in the process or formulating the business rules for cyclic rostering, which we accepted. This committee will discuss all issues and included in these discussions will be how Easter, School Holidays and Christmas will be done under cyclic rostering. We will keep members updated as these meetings take place.
Some points that were discussed are as follows:
- Ellipse will no longer support CSNSW past 2019. Current system will not integrate to SAP which all government agencies will be working under
- Booked leave can be moved and, if under the 30-day cap, it can be cancelled
- Leave can be accrued over the 30 days if approved for special reasons, such as an extended overseas holiday or caring for a relative
- Swaps can be done on a phone, laptop, computer at home and will not have to go through managers. If the swap meets the business rules it will just go through
- No longer stretches of nine or 10 days straight
- Staff can swap a line for a month
- Staff can swap a day off from one month to another month.
There will be presentation to each centre in regards to this topic and a member of the POVB Executive can be present for all of them.
If you have any questions that you want put to the committee when meeting on the business rules please email them to the Executive.
MyPerformance
This meeting was conducted after the St Heliers meeting also. Many members would know about MyPerformance and would be taking part in the trials. Trials have taken place in the following locations:
- MNCCC
- South Coast CC
- Wellington Cluster
- Macquarie CC
- Parts of Cessnock
Since being elected as yet we have had no complaints re MyPerformance.
MyPerformance is a legislative requirement:
GOVERNMENT SECTOR EMPLOYMENT ACT 2013 – SECT 67 Performance management systems
67 Performance management systems
- The head of a government sector agency is responsible for developing and implementing a performance management system with respect to employees of the agency.
- The government sector employment rules may deal with the core requirements of any such performance management system.
It was made clear to the Executive that CSNSW wanted this to be a positive process for staff and that staff have their work goals met. If a staff member doesn’t want to progress to a higher rank that is fine, they just have to meet the mandatory training requirements.
Julie Bond requested a review committee be formed to go over the centres that been in the trial. This was agreed to so further information will be given after these meetings.
CSNSW also stated that from this process and through the centres that have been trialled they were able to get $50,000 for training that has been shown is required and wanted by staff members
The Executive did raise that there was concerns that nepotism would come into play and only opportunities in training and career advancement would be for certain people. It was pointed out by putting staff goals on this computer system it will hold managers and directors responsible to just this issue.
The Executive is happy to work through any issues that members may have with MyPerformance and any questions you may have please email us with them.
Tuesday – tour of the Hunter
The Executive, Non-Custodial representative Scott Chapman, POVB Industrial Advocate David McCauley and PSA Senior Industrial Advocate Julie Bond toured the Hunter Rapid Build.
The centre is basically identical to Macquarie centre in Wellington.
However, the portholes for the disbursement of gas is in different locations (basically this change is due to different builders, but poses no issues) and the gate house is different.
We were informed there is a greater interest in staff wanting to go to the centre and CSNSW have got a good understanding of the staff who want to go. There will be opportunities also for casuals to convert to permanent positions at this centre also.
Members of the Executive and Mr Chapman then toured Cessnock ¾ as they had not seen it and were able to get a better understanding of that centre.
As with Macquarie Centre we will work through any issues that may arise when both centres become operational.
Wednesday – benchmarking Cessnock
We attended the presentation of Cessnock benchmarking and unfortunately the presentation only confused members and the Executive. This was due to the presentation showing figures as if Cessnock ¾ and Cessnock ½ were still aligned. This will not be happening under benchmarking so members were not able to see what effect the figures will have on the centres once they are separated.
The Cessnock complex has further builds happening on the complex. Those figures were also given and again confused the issue.
The Executive will work closely with the delegates and all issues will be addressed as we have done with the other centres that have gone through the first phase.
Thursday – workers compensation (individual issues)
Jason and myself attended a meeting at Henry Dean with Senior HR Advisor WHS, Helen Curic, HR Advisor WHS – Injury Management Coordinator, Daniela Badurina, and Senior HR Advisor Industrial Relations, Christopher Powell.
We will issue a further bulletin on this due to the complexities and the current length of this bulletin. It will be out next week.
John Morony
Jason and David McCauley went to a meeting in the afternoon yesterday at John Morony. It was a HR meeting to discuss options for staff around the state. This is for when the centre changes operations.
It was stated that approximately 49 First Class Correctional Officers will be affected and will require placement to other centres. The POVB Executive will be working closely with the members and we have requested to part of the process for transparency. This has been agreed to. There is another meeting for John Morony today and this meeting will discuss the future of the centre and how it will be managed under the new practices.
We will issue a bulletin next week in regards to this meeting.
Nicole Jess
Contact details
If anyone has any questions please contact one of the Executive:
Nicole Jess – Chairperson
0427 609 199
Jason Charlton – Vice Chairperson
0401 500 967
Thor Sutherland – Country Chairperson
0447 633 476
Natalie Howes – Secretary
0407 011 441
Darren King – Assistant Secretary
0407 935 039
David McCauley – PSA Industrial Advocate POVB
0419 022 767