Our regular Joint Consultative Committee with icare is on this Thursday 27 August 2020. Last week the PSA submitted the following to icare for consideration at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC).
In light of the recent media attention on icare and the associated negative impacts on staff wellbeing including a loss of trust in executive management, PSA members have raised the following concerns and requests of icare management:
- The attendance of Don Ferguson at the next JCC
- Engagement of PSA delegates in any consultation about rebuilding the culture of icare, as well as involvement of Award staff members who are not people leaders
- An open acknowledgement and apology for the hypocrisy demonstrated by the Executive through the recent attempts to reduce and restrict conditions of the Award and Flex agreement due to budget blow outs while members of the Executive knowingly accepted bonuses. This was despite evidence of under-performance in recent years, inadequately disclosed conflicts of interest, failure to comply with Government regulations and demonstrated a lack of willingness to disclose their salaries to the L&J Committee (a failure to demonstrate icare values)
- Confirmation that all staff members, including the Executives, are required to have a KPI related to demonstrating icare values
- An apology to all staff from the Board about the reputational damage done to icare through the actions of key Executives and Board members
- A full disclosure of the number of staff members who are on Award compared to those on contract or IEAs
- An open information session about the relationship between Executive/Senior Leader bonuses and KPIs to ensure there is absolute transparency about organisational drivers and business objectives including information about how many people are eligible for bonuses and why
- Information about recruitment processes for Executive Talent, including information about past processes and any plans to change processes in the future
- Transparency about what scheme pays for what staff, as funding is drawn from three different sources
- Transparency regarding the intention to privatise.
In addition to issues related to recent coverage of icare in the media, members are also concerned about:
- The continued push for RTO when other Government sector agencies are not pushing for this
- Why it is not made clear in Information for People Leaders that Christmas Closedown is encouraged but not mandatory. People should be informed that they do not have to go into leave debt if they do not have sufficient leave for the closedown. The work-from-home set-up makes the ability to work over closedown possible for the few who are affected, as there is no need to open up office space to accommodate workers over this period
- DDC staff members who have to work from the office are still being denied access to Flex Time despite high workloads associated with major restructure and business as usual.
A full report back will be provided to members following the JCC meeting.
Personal Injury – Proposed operating model changes
The PSA has been provided with a briefing on the proposed restructure for the personal injury section of icare.
The consultation period nominally closes on 24 August 2020 and the PSA Industrial Officer has spoken directly with several members affected by the proposed changes. If any other member in Personal Injury have any concerns with the proposed restructure please contact the Industrial Officer by email prior to the 27 August 2020.
Dust Diseases Care
Following the restructure of Dust Diseases and Care the PSA is aware of a number of issues. The PSA is looking to meet separately with DDC management to raise these matters.
Access to Flexible Working Hours Agreement
Following our dispute on this, the PSA is happy to see that the approval of Flex Time has been transitioned back to people leaders from the group executive.
The PSA is still aware of a number of issues and as we remain in a transition phase between working from home and return to the office, members are encouraged in the first instance if they have any concerns to discuss these with your people leader.
Failing that, members can always seek the support of the PSA to assist negotiations with management.
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