The PSA resumed its regular fortnightly meetings with the Department on Thursday 23 January 2020 as a number of Restructure Management Plans (RMPs) and realignments resulting from the Machinery of Government changes in 2019 are continuing.
These meetings are attended by senior staff from Employee Relations who meet with PSA Delegates and industrial staff.
RMP and Realignment updates
Office of the Secretary
The restructure was currently at stage 3 & 4. They are now starting to look at declaring staff excess in line with the Managing Excess Employees Policy.
People and Culture
This is at stage 4 and has reached the point where all staff who need to be assessed have been. There have been some early takers for voluntary redundancies and letters are about to go out for other staff. This RMP included the integration of the SNSW Corporate staff, which was done by way of a Transition Management Plan (TMP). The TMP still continues to be of concern to the PSA as we see it as effectively a wage freeze as affected staff will not receive any pay increases until such time as CPI increases reach parity between their Service Award rate and the Crown Employees Public Sector Salaries Award.
SIRA Realignment
The final review was announced on 28 November 2019 and there have been no other developments since that time.
BRD Realignment
The Deputy Secretary has since this meeting released the final drafts for consultation on the BRD realignment and separate communications have been sent to members in relation to the short time-frame for consultation and requesting an extension to that.
Prior to that announcement at the RJCC the Department reported the following to the PSA, “SEB1 Directors have now been all assigned to roles in the new BRD structure, which is not yet effective. Each of the 6 functional streams are currently finalising detailed organisational charts. Once these have been finalised, we will commence consultation with staff on the proposed structures for each area.”
The PSA confirmed at the meeting that nothing has been finalised in relation to structures below the SEB1 level and are aware that Managers across BRD units have been in active discussions with staff around these.
The PSA has made some representations on behalf of SafeWork NSW Delegates who have raised concerns as to the level of consultation.
As there are no expected job losses from the BRD realignment, at this time it is not anticipated that there will be an RMP. However, the PSA will continue to raise concerns if members feel that they have not been properly consulted as to the proposed changes.
Following the Deputy Secretary’s announcement, a number of issues have been raised with the PSA which will be discussed at the next RJCC on 6 February 2020.
If members have any concerns with the current final drafts for consultation they are encouraged to raise them with their local management, delegate and the PSA.
Governance, Risk and Performance
The final RMP was announced on 28 November 2019, stages 1 and 2 have been completed and are currently in stage 3.
Digital Middle Office
The PSA acknowledges the efforts of members in the DMO who raised concerns with the initial draft and the proposed deletion of critical roles within the structure. The PSA is pleased to report that in response to those representations by our members, significant changes were made to the final RMP resulting in a number of roles being retained within the structure.
Reviewable Decisions
The Department released a draft repoint for Reviewable Decisions on 7 January 2020. The PSA has met with members and made representations on their behalf and is in ongoing consultation with the Department over the proposed changes.
Customer Engagement Integration (CEI)
The Department released an FAQ to staff on 13 January and roadshows have now commenced. This will be a major change and will require a Transition Management Plan (TMP) as staff from identified areas will eventually be moved from the Crown Employees Public Sector Salaries Award onto the Service NSW Salaries and Conditions Employees Award.
The Department has stated that the current TMP that has been used to transition staff from Service NSW Corporate Services into DCS Corporate Services is the minimum benchmark.
The current TMP for those staff who were transitioned from Service NSW Award to the Public Sector retain their current salary however, the PSA acknowledges that the current ‘salary maintenance’ for those staff is a ‘salary freeze’ as they will not receive any salary increase until such time as the Crown Employees Public Sector Salaries Award reaches parity through CPI increases.
The PSA is looking into whether there is any potential legal remedy that can be sought to address this.
4PSQ
Staff in the existing Parramatta buildings will be moved before the end of February, as these buildings will need to be vacated. The remaining staff should all be moved in by mid-March. Until the final occupancy is established staff who wish to work flexibly from 4PSQ will be classed as a visitor and will need to be pre-registered to gain entry to 4PSQ. Staff whose home base is 4PSQ for three or more days per week will be allocated a locker.
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