FACS bulletin – PSA notifies dispute over OneFACS change plan
FACS bulletin – OneFACS change plan – 22 July 2015 (PDF version)
The PSA has lodged a dispute with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), amid concerns the Department of Family and Community Services’ change management plan for non-executive Central Office and Corporate Services staff will lead to unnecessary job losses and redundancy. See our dispute application of 16 July here
As part of the Department’s consultation process, the PSA was invited to provide written feedback on the agency’s draft change plan. On 25 June, we wrote to the Department requesting:
- An agency wide freeze on the external advertisement of non-front roles
- A voluntary redundancy program
- Priority placement of ongoing staff in roles in the new structure
- A closed recruitment process for residual roles including eligible temporary staff
- Job/voluntary redundancy swaps between equivalent employees; and
- Other additional information including current and proposed staffing establishment data, new role descriptions and other matters relevant to the change proposal.
Click here for a copy of our submission.
On 14 July, the Secretary of FACS wrote to staff to advise them that new structural arrangements would commence implementation from 21 July, including the direct appointment of an as yet unknown number of staff to an unknown number of roles in the new structure. Also absent from the Secretary’s communique were new role descriptions, a final change management plan or a detailed comparison of existing and proposed structures (all currently features of the relevant public service policy setting – see D2011_014 Agency Change Management Guidelines for further detail).
Shortly after lodging our dispute application, we received a response from the Department [here] to our earlier letter and again met with agency representatives on Friday afternoon 17 July.
While the Department appear willing to entertain some restrictions on the external advertisement of jobs for the duration of the restructure (which is a genuinely positive development), many of the reasonable suggestions we have made to improve transparency and employee outcomes remain contentious for the agency.
Our dispute application will be heard by the IRC on Thursday afternoon 23 July, and we will provide further updates over the coming days.