POVB bulletin – 22 September 2017 - Public Service Association

POVB bulletin – 22 September 2017

POVB bulletin 22 September 2017 (PDF version)

John Morony

John Morony is progressing. First Class staff been told where they are going and in what time frame.

SCOs have been informed if they are staying. We now have the task of finding placements for the SCOs who are not staying at John Morony.

Casuals have been made permanent for this centre also.

In the coming weeks, we will organise interim delegates for the sub-branch there and organise union training for staff.

Prison Officers of Australasia Conference

Jason, Natalie, David McCauley and myself attended the conference which was held in Darwin last week. This is a gathering of all unions that deal with prisons coming together to discuss issues that are happening nationwide and includes New Zealand. We did a tour of the new Darwin facility, which by my estimates, is probably on and a half times bigger than Nowra. An extremely large gaol that has significantly less staff. The centre has a large number of Indigenous inmates and is overcrowded also.

Overcrowding is across all states/territories and New Zealand. When discussing awards/conditions, I found most states are on enterprise bargaining agreements and there is no consistency between the agreements. I am endeavouring to get all the agreements together to do a spreadsheet and highlight differences and for us to compare. When this is finalised I will forward to members.

Kempsey/Dillwynia/Wellington/John Morony Award

When John Morony was agreed to go under the Kempsey/Dillwynia and Wellington Award it was agreed in principle between COVB and POVB to move Chiefs and Principals to the COVB. When benchmarking is finalised it will only be Principals. This was decided, as for years, there has been complaints from these various sub-branches that having managers in a union meeting makes it very difficult for staff to discuss issues they may be having.

To make the change nothing had to be altered in the award as it is a change to the POVB Rules and COVB Rules. This was passed in the PSA Executive and then in Central Council.

This means that Chiefs and Principals now come under the COVB and will have to form a sub branch and elect delegates. Greg Deleprado – Chairperson COVB and his Executive will assist those members in those locations in this process.

I would like to apologise to Gavin Hughes, Chairperson MNCC, the Chiefs and Principals in Kempsey as there was miscommunication between the PSA/POVB Executive and they were unfortunately not informed officially of the process. The other centres have been and we have had no issues raised from the discussions. This was purely miscommunication. This was not done out of malice. The outcome is the best for the POVB. I understand that some are upset and I will take that on board for the future.

Benchmarking

The next round of benchmarking will begin next week. Long Bay Hospital 1 and 2 will meet combined but we have asked that the presentation clearly articulate the staffing for each location. This did not happen at Cessnock and it created confusion at the initial meeting. The same will occur for MSPC as that has 4 different centres in it.

I am hearing some grumblings about why we have not had industrial action over benchmarking. The time for industrial action was when benchmarking was first implemented and when this team got elected we were already near the final completion of the three-month phase for the first centres being benchmarked.

We sought legal advice and took the issue to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC). All aspects were looked at and addressed including the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act. CSNSW are allowing us to have input into the risk assessments. These assessments have been beneficial in us retraining and keeping some posts throughout the process. These assessments have clearly shown that we need them for safety reasons. We will support each sub-branch as they go through the process. If they think they require more staff and can clearly show that we will not move on until this is addressed.This has been proven at South Coast Correctional Centre.

Delegates to management meeting

Confirmation of actual dates for November will be put out to delegates this Friday. Detached duties will be sent to the Department.

All agenda items/motions can be forwarded to Natalie Howes – Secretary and myself.

Nicole Jess
Chairperson, POVB

Contact details:

Nicole Jess – Chairperson
0427 609 199

Jason Charlton – Vice Chairperson
0401 500 976

Thor Sutherland – Country Chairperson
0447 633 476

Natlie Howes – Secretary
0407 011 441

Darren King – Assistant Secretary
0407 935 039

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