ITSR PSA member bulletin transition to ONRSR

ITSR member bulletin – transition to ONRSR July 2015 (PDF version)

Thank you to all ITSR staff who attended the information session on 21 July 2015. It was a useful forum for the PSA to let people know how the transition to ONRSR will work and to listen to members’ concerns

One-on-one meetings

There was a great deal of anxiety about ONRSR’s plans to hold one-on-one meetings between individual ITSR staff and the relevant ONRSR Executive Director. The PSA has clarified the purpose of these meetings, which is to provide staff with a proposed ONRSR positon description and organisational chart. The PSA has received assurances these documents will now be provided prior to any meeting and that meetings are optional and can be initiated by staff if they have any comments or questions.

Feedback can also be provided through the PSA, although we are not expecting the new position descriptions to be surprising or controversial.

However, the PSA has requested a copy of all of the new position descriptions.

Transition to ONRSR

As discussed at the information session, when ITSR transfers to ONRSR, all ITSR employees will be covered by the same terms and conditions of employment (called a ‘copied Award’) unless ONRSR makes an application to the Fair Work Commission to vary this. This can be done before or after the transfer.

If no application to the Fair Work Commission is made, the copied Award lasts for five years after the transfer, or until a new Enterprise Agreement including transferred ITSR staff is made.

We have been told ONRSR wants the conditions of transferring ITSR employees to be largely the same as that contained in the ONRSR Enterprise Agreement. On 24 July 2015, the PSA wrote to ONRSR’s CEO, Sue McCarrey, to ask that she put the details of the transition proposal for ITSR staff in writing.

We also informed her our members regard the conditions contained in the ONRSR Enterprise Agreement as inferior to those in the ITSR Award, and that our members would like to retain the copied Award.

Ms McCarrey has advised she will respond to our letter within a week.

At a meeting between the PSA, ONRSR and ITSR on 27 July 2015, the PSA sought further information about ONRSR’s proposal and an agreed process of consultation about it. The parties agreed to have further discussions about this after the letter from Ms McCarrey is given to the PSA.

The meeting was attended by a PSA advocate and two representatives from your endorsed bargaining team, who are:

Natalie Clark                       Don Casey
Cathy Dowe                         Ian Cochran
Janet Peters

Please contact one of your team members if you have a question or comment about the negotiations.