Your union and delegates attended the weekly restructure meeting on 17 September 2024 to discover that, although Employee Relations was in attendance, no one from the business area had turned up.  Rather than have your issues addressed on the day, they had to be taken on notice and should be addressed at this week’s meeting.  We have advised Employee Relations that if this happens again we will be lodging a dispute in the Commission.

On 20 September PSA and VG delegates met with Minister Cotsis to discuss matters of concern regarding SafeWork Inspectors.  This was a positive and productive meeting. Matters discussed included:

Independence of SafeWork

We were advised that once legislation goes through Parliament in 2025 SafeWork will become stand alone.

Support of Inspectors, Body-worn Cameras and Guidelines for the provision of ex-gratia legal assistance

PSA talked about aggression and obstruction and the need for Inspectors to protect themselves. We advised Minister Cotsis of the lack of documented processes in relation to complaints against Inspectors and complex customers.

Our view that the wearing of body cameras could be achieved under s165(i) (c ) of the leglisation was something the Minister took onboard and committed to discussing with the Attorney General’s department.  We understand that there has been some movement on this matter this week already.

The lack of timeliness and process difficulties in relation to supporting Inspectors through legal challenges incurred while carrying out their duties was a matter of concern for the Minister who undertook to look into this further.

We raised concerns that DCS can’t deal with WHS complaints raised by its own employees.  The Minister was unaware that the Regulator is unable to deal with WHS matters referred internally by DCS employees.  The regulator is under-resourced and cannot regulate itself and so is unable to deal with these matters which means DCS employees do not have the same level of support from the regulator as others do.  Minister Cotsis took note of this for further discussion with the Secretary of DCS.

Restructure

The Minister has agreed to talk with the Deputy Secretary about PSA concerns around the restructure.

We raised concerns about the lack of reduction in SEB roles and whether there will be an increase by stealth when the corporate services come in.

We continue to raise issues about the EOI process in the restructure and what is happening with the vacancies created by not filling roles in the EOI process.

PSA will continue to meet weekly with management to progress member concerns.  Please continue providing these to your delegates or contact quoting reference number 222675.