Office of Environment and Heritage member bulletin - Public Service Association

Office of Environment and Heritage member bulletin

Office of Environment and Heritage member bulletin – August 2017 (PDF version)

On Monday 14 August 2017, the PSA Organiser for OEH, Latu Sailosi and the PSA Delegate for Heritage Division (HD), Stuart Read, attended a consultative meeting with Pauline McKenzie, Executive Director HD, on the Heritage in Transition (HiT) restructure proposal.

The PSA raised a number of key members concerns:

  • designated Aboriginal roles are identified in the organisational structure before recruitment/assessment action commence
  • reduction in the number of EO 14 (4 to 3) positions/roles will have direct impacts on existing staff at grade and a cascading effect on staff below (esp. EO 14 position)
  • a planned mitigation – i.e. managed approach is adopted to dampen negative impacts such as workload issues – is built into the restructure plan
  • completed Role Descriptions are provided to the PSA and to staff before recruitment/assessment action commence
  • an appeal/review process is included, to provide an opportunity for unsuccessful recruitment/assessment outcomes and individual grievances to be reviewed
  • Heritage Division will provide an opportunity for incumbent staff with capability, skill, and experience gaps to meet the requirements of the new roles with ongoing training and development for a defined period, where possible.

We can report Ms Mckenzie is favourable to the majority of the concerns raised by the PSA, although it remained unmoved on its decision not to identify the designated Aboriginal roles in the structure before recruitment/assessment action commences.

The PSA understands Ms Mckenzie has invited all Heritage Division staff to attend a number of briefings next week on the HiT processes and time frames. The first meeting will be on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 August 2017 at the Heritage Division’s Parramatta office. This will be followed by a HiT staff brieffing in Dubbo, on Wednesday 23 August, and a HiT briefing to staff on, Thursday 24 at Queanbeyan.

  • PSA Organiser, Latu Sailosi will attend Mondays HiT briefing at Parramatta
  • PSA Delegate, Stuart Read will attend Tuesdays HiT briefing at Parramatta
  • PSA Regional Organiser, Belinda Pearce will attend HiT briefing at Dubbo

The PSA’s role, throughout these consultative meetings, has been to strongly advocate for our members and compel HD, where possible, to ensure staff are provided adequate information, adequate safety nets for affected staff and mitigate against problems which may impact staff in the new structure.

As you may be aware, Heritage Division has the right to reorganise the organisation to align with the Government’s priorities and business function. As with most restructures, some positions/roles have been directly affected (redundant) to the organisations programs and priorities. Similarly, new roles will be created to reflect new programs and operations.

The PSA welcomes all members wishing to raise issues and concerns to do so by email contact with Stuart Read and Latu Sailosi.

Lastly, it is important we work together and maintain the effectiveness of our position by ensuring all Heritage staff are members of the PSA so we are more able to collectively negotiate favourable outcomes. Join the PSA and fight to maintain your work rights!

Related Posts

Back To Top