PSA Members SafeWork Inspectors Bulletin – Update on s.19 Award review and s.130 Competencies Dispute
The PSA along with your Delegates appeared in the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) on Tuesday 1 October 2019 on two matters that are currently before the IRC.
- 19 Award Review
This matter was before Commissioner Webster. At this time, the PSA has a very clear position as to what we can and can’t consent to. For a copy of the PSA’s current consent position on s.19 please click HERE.
The Department has indicated that it still wants to pursue changes to some conditions of the Award.
To progress this matter which has now been before the IRC for over a year the following has been agreed to:
Two versions of a marked up award, one with the agreed to provisions by PSA and Department of Customer Service and the second to include any other proposed provisions that have not been consented to, will be filed by 29 October 2019.
Both parties will then have four weeks in which to respond and make submissions in reply by 26 November 2019.
The Commissioner has also listed a date for a hearing (if required) on 10 December 2019.
- 130 Competencies Dispute
This matter has been referred back to Commissioner Murphy to assist with further conciliation. Following the last report back to the IRC on 3 September 2019, the PSA SafeWork Inspectors Vocational Group Delegates have met with members and developed a ‘Merit Selection Transparency Framework – Proposal’ as a position to put forward to the Department. (click HERE for a copy)
This was provided to the Department on 24 September 2019 and at the conference on 1 October 2019, lengthy off-record discussions with the assistance of the Commissioner were held with the Department.
While the Department acknowledged that it could work with a number of aspects of the proposal (most notably, the Inspector Classifications columns and that it was not opposed to allowing internal applicants the same opportunity to achieve competency within a 12 month period) they were not overly convinced into adopting a ‘weighting or score’ approach as proposed by the VG.
It was never an expectation that this would be resolved at this latest conciliation conference. It was agreed that the Department will provide a formal response to the proposal to the PSA on or by 29 October 2019.
The PSA will then review their response and communicate with members regarding the next steps.
The matter has been stood-over, with both parties having access to re-apply to the IRC if required.
Your PSA SafeWork Inspectors Vocational Group Delegates are: