As a result of the serious and imminent risk posed by participants being supported or transported to attend day programs, the union advised its members on 31 March 2020 of their right to cease unsafe work. You can view that bulletin HERE.
Many members have proceeded to lodge cease unsafe work notifications with Northcott.
The union is the elected representative for the members who lodge the cease unsafe work notifications. As their representative we have sought the involvement of SafeWork NSW.
A SafeWork Inspector has been assigned and last week issued Northcott with a Section 155, notice under the Work Health and Safety Act. This notice requires Northcott to produce information which shows how Northcott has assessed the associated risks and sought to manage the risks. Northcott is required to produce this information by Thursday 9 April 2020.
Northcott and the union have met since the SafeWork NSW inspector has been assigned. Northcott has maintained it is meeting all its legal obligations in having the staff support and/or transport the clients to attend the day programs.
If you have not placed a cease unsafe work notification, and have a reasonable concern that the transporting and/or supporting of clients to attend day programs poses a serious and imminent risk to their health safety, the union encourages you to complete and sign the cease unsafe work template and send it to Northcott.
Creation of the Department of Regional NSW (DRNSW)
Members would be aware of the NSW Government announcements on Thursday 2 April creating the Department of Regional NSW and the subsequent movement of staff again via Administration Orders and Machinery of Government changes (MOG). For some staff this will be fourth or fifth such move in the past 18 months. Each and every one of those movements was designed to provide better public services but there has been no transparent review on how this was done.
What changes & why now?
Those agencies under the coverage of Deputy Secretary Gary Barnes will be picked up and dropped into DRNSW. That includes the Department of Primary Industries, Local land Services, Resources and Geoscience, Regional NSW Group, Regional Growth & Development Corporation, Cross-border Commissioner, Drought Response, Regional Youth, Co-ordinator General and the NSW Resources Regulator.
It is interesting to note the urgency required to administer DR NSW considering the drought has lasted since 2018 and the bushfires having been devastating regional communities since August last year. A cynical reasoning might include political machinations rather than service delivery priorities.
With respect to Corporate Services staff, who stays and who goes?
Corporate Services staff have just come together and now some will be flagged to move to DRNSW. DPIE has an obligation to consult on the changes in work practice that immediately are not being met.
But I’m not in regions?
In the end, this is the decision of Government on how it intends to ‘cut the pie’ on the Ministerial overview. However, the irony isn’t lost when employees representing Regional NSW will be administering activities such as Fisheries compliance on Sydney Harbour or Botany Bay.
PSA representation
Your representation will not change. However, there will always be internal discussions on how to best represent members. The PSA will embark on a process to bolster those on the ground resources with the assistance of the membership.
A mandate – now do something
From the announcement of Government and reports in the newspapers this morning, it is clear the Deputy Premier has a mandate to administer regional public services outside of Justice, Health, Education, Water and Roads. The PSA says it’s now time to stop the merry-go-round and focus on the delivery of service to those communities that have been most affected by the series of disasters.
This is done by providing:
well-resourced land/resource management and regulatory agencies
up-to-date and well-thought-out Legislative reforms
employment of ongoing public servants in secure roles
a commitment to funding programs so that agencies aren’t constantly putting their hands out (begging) for grant funding as consolidated revenue plummets
a commitment to, and delivering on past election promises
a commitment to work with and assist those struggling agricultural industries that are working tirelessly to put food on the table of the people
a commitment the Government’s own ideological funding cuts to agencies dressed up as efficiency dividends are ceased.
Maintaining good public services are at the heart of strong and resilient regional communities. That’s how the Government will help regional NSW grow and prosper.
It’s now up to the Deputy Premier to administer his prescription for regional communities as DR NSW.
Know someone who’s not a member? In these times it is vital your workplace is united and strong, ask them to join today at www.psa.asn.au.
You may be wondering what’s happening to training in the age of COVID-19. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our face-to-face courses for the time being in order to keep all of us safe and stop the spread. If you were enrolled in a course due to run in April, you should have already heard from us. If not, please get in touch.
It’s not all bad though! We are working hard on adapting our most popular courses into online workshops so we can come to you, wherever you are. You will have to register online again, even if you’ve already registered for a course before. You can do that on our website HERE.
Things to note:
The workshops are half day. This means you will be released on Special Leave for half day only.
You will need access to an internet connection, a device with audio and video capabilities (phone, laptop, desktop computer), and Chrome or Firefox as a browser on a computer. If you are using a phone, you will need to download the 3CX app. We will provide more instructions in emails closer to the course date.
Thank you for your patience and support, and especially for those of you taking the plunge into online learning with us for the first few courses.
As always if you have any questions or thoughts please email us at .
In Unity (from 2 m away), Mary Jo, Suzanne and John PSA CPSU NSW Educators
The PSA has been in touch with many members over the last few weeks to check in on how they are going. We have heard many stories of community services members helping each other during extremely difficult circumstances.
Your safety
Your employer is responsible for the safety for all staff. If you have concerns for your health and safety, such as unsafe work practices, absence of PPE, please raise them with your supervisor, manager or team leader.
If the concerns are not addressed, please lodge an incident report through SAP immediately and contact the PSA if no prompt action is taken to address your concerns.
Member Support Centre 1800 772 679
As a general rule you should follow all social distancing and hygiene measures outlined by NSW Health. You can read up on these and other information HERE.
Working remotely
The NSW Government has told us to stay home, to work from home and only go out to perform tasks that you can’t do remotely.
Even though Community Services staff are considered essential, it does not mean that you can’t do a large portion of your work from home. Speak to your manager about this and if you have any problems please contact us.
If working from home, usual payment arrangements and conditions apply.
Working at the office
Managers and staff should take a flexible approach, only requiring attendance in the workplace if this is absolutely necessary and allowing for employees to return home at the conclusion of any required attendance.
Managers should ensure social distancing recommendations are adhered to in the workplace. A flexible approach to hours and duties can assist to minimise the need for large numbers of staff to attend work locations together.
Where possible, arrangements should be made for employees who have to attend DCJ offices to be given access to available car parking to minimise the need for employees to use public transport.
Flexes
The provisions of the flexible working hours agreements (i.e. Field Flex Agreement) continue to apply while employees are working remotely. Employees should continue to record hours and breaks as they would if working from their normal location.
How does the Special Leave apply?
The PSA advises all community services members to discuss your personal circumstances with your Supervisor as soon as possible so that they can be taken into account.
If viable, you should continue to work for as long as possible.
We are not sure when the current situation will change or how long the pandemic will last. It is important members do not pre-emptively access their Special Leave.
Some further information on when you can access COVID-19 Special Leave is below:
Paid special leave of up to 20 days for people who need to be excluded from workplace/placed in quarantine
Paid special leave of up to 20 days for people with caring responsibilities* or who have transport disruptions (without needing to exhaust other forms of leave first)
For people who are sick – they apply for sick leave as usual, if they exhaust sick leave they can apply for special sick leave
Provision to work flexibly/remotely/at other locations where at all possible.
In the event that your workplace is shutdown there is no requirement to apply for any form of leave, you will continue to be paid.
Staff who are well, required to isolate and/or be at home to care for family members and able to work from home, and can balance caring responsibilities with their ability to undertake productive work, can do so.
If you have any questions about the application of Special Leave contact the PSA Member Support Centre on 1800 772 679.
Do you know someone who is not a member?
You can support the work of the PSA and delegates to get better outcomes for everyone just by asking your colleagues to JOIN.
The current pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for members working in many roles across Youth Justice NSW. Every member should be congratulated and rightly proud of the work they have done in the face of these challenges. You provide a critical service to the state, even if it’s not always as visible to the community as your colleagues in other emergency services.
Command Post
PSA Industrial Staff and your delegates liaise with the Command Post, including involvement in the daily briefings and teleconferences. Matters should be raised at the local level in the first instance where they not being addressed adequately on a local level then they can be escalated to the command centre .
Social distancing and work practices
Youth Justice has an obligation under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, to keep its staff and young people safe and to minimise the risk of COVID-19 exposure to staff and detainees.
At this time you are not working in a business-as-usual environment and social distancing still needs to be practiced as much as the environment allows. Your work still needs to be done but adaptations need to be made to minimise the risk to yourselves and others. For example, this might include reducing the number of people together in a room at any one time, which would impact how programs and classes are delivered. Every centre is different and we encourage you to work with your fellow members, your local delegates, and local management in addressing these issues appropriately. Per below, feel free to pass on feedback to your local delegates.
Work from home/at-risk members
The PSA is aware that a number of members are more at risk than others due to issues such as health, age, and risk category of dependents. Your union can assist members in accessing suitable arrangements if you are in this category.
Every reasonable effort should be made to provide working from home arrangements for those members. To make this happen as efficiently as possible, you will need a current medical certificate detailing, as clearly as possible, your specific medical risk in continuing to perform your duties at your centre.
Any member requiring individual assistance on this or other matters should contact the PSA’s Member Support Centre in the first instance on 1300 772 769.
The PSA continues to strongly advocate with your senior management for working from home arrangements more broadly where possible with a common sense approach. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all space across the Youth Justice workforce at different centres, so this will inevitably be somewhat ad hoc based on the differing needs of the centre. You are encouraged to have these conversations locally and seek assistance from the PSA where there are unnecessary roadblocks.
EPA continues to push through changes during the COVID-19 pandemic
The PSA is extremely disappointed with EPA management’s decision to push the realignment through at this historically challenging time. Despite the suspension of restructures in other NSW Government departments, the EPA has continually refused to postpone the implementation of this restructure despite the concerns of our members not being adequately responded to.
The PSA understands from members that there are still major failings with the realignment, such as role confusions, equity of division of reporting and uncertainty concerning specialist and generalist roles.
Management has also provided an inadequate response to the PSA’s comprehensive submission, which was compiled from the thoughts, concerns and questions of many members. The response to this submission can be found HERE. Many of the responses from EPA management have simply been “noted”.
There clearly remains a number of unresolved issues which the PSA will be raising with EPA management regarding this ill-thought-out realignment.
To discuss our response, and to hear an update on how COVID-19 affects your rights, there will be an online members meeting held this Thursday 9 April 2020 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. To video or audio conference in, click on the following link:
There has never been a more vital time for the union.
If you know someone who is not a member, encourage them to join the union so that their voice can be also heard. Join today at www.psa.asn.au/join.
Your PSA delegates and industrial staff are available for members who need support. If you would like to contact the PSA about this or any other matter, you can call the Member Support Centre on 1800 772 679.
You can also speak to your delegates:
David Bell Jane Burgett Judith Greenwood Scott King
PSA Industrial staff
Michael Sinclair Industrial Officer Harry Wall Organiser
Reporting Services Branch: accessing COVID-19 Special Leave
Under the NSW Government Circular C2020-01, if members are required to self-isolate, they can either work from home or, if the Department is unable to set up working from home arrangements, they are to be put on Special Leave. A link to the Circular can be found HERE.
The PSA understands that members who have underlying health conditions have been told to self-isolate by their doctors. A number of members have requested Special Leave where working from home arrangements could not be made.
Unfortunately, RSB Management have denied these requests for Special Leave and advised members that they would have to use their own types of accrued leave.
In light of this, the PSA filed a dispute which was before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) last Friday, 3 April 2020.
Following the submissions made by the PSA to the IRC the Department has now reversed its decision and undertaken to grant Special Leave if members are able to provide medical evidence which states they need to self-isolate due to their underlying medical conditions.
We encourage members to contact the PSA if they are still having trouble getting access to Special Leave.
What can you do?
Ask a work colleague join the PSA today
Make the union strong by forwarding this bulletin to your colleagues
Legal Aid: PSA continues to press for AVL appearances for weekend bail courts
The PSA met with CEO Brendan Thomas on Monday, 6 April 2020 and other managers to discuss the issue of weekend bail courts.
The CEO assured the PSA that AVL appearances is still Legal Aid’s preferred position. Mr Thomas said that there were still some significant technical issues to do with delivering papers and AVL bandwidth which made the exercise more difficult for the high volume weekend bail court.
Mr Thomas undertook to work with the Crime Executive and partner agencies to develop a proposal for next weekend. It was agreed that administrative support would be a key feature of any proposal.
A PSA representative will be involved in developing the proposal and Mr Thomas will meet with the PSA again on Wednesday morning to discuss the finished proposal.
The PSA recognises that there are real logistical challenges in implementing AVL appearances for weekend bail courts, but it is our view that they can be met with appropriate planning, work practice design and technical and administrative support.
The PSA congratulates Legal Aid management on its consultative approach and its real achievements to date at this most difficult time. We look forward to working together in a spirit of cooperation to meet new challenges as they arise.
Now is the time for public sector workers to work together through their unions to safeguard health and security into the future.
Contacts
Justin Hutchinson 0419 287 985 John Moratelli Central Council
PSA staff
Andrew Wright Industrial Officer 0408 400146 Glenn Duncan Organiser 0409455682
The CPSU NSW wrote to TAFE NSW Managing Director Steffen Faurby on 2 April 2020 advising of ongoing Work, Health and Safety risks faced by TAFE staff. The letter and bulletin to members can be read HERE and HERE.
On the afternoon of Friday 3 April Steffen Faurby MD responded to your union’s letter, and can be read HERE.
As a result of CPSU NSW members standing strong, TAFE NSW is now paying greater attention to implementing WHS measures to protect staff.
The union is of the view that the 10 measures outlined in Annexure A at the bottom of TAFE’s letter, are appropriate. However, the union has had concerns that some of these measures have either not been implemented properly or often not quickly enough.
The CPSU NSW will be meeting with the TAFE Managing Director and other TAFE Management representatives this afternoon. In the meantime, the union will be working through additional measures that TAFE needs to adopt – in the same way we have been doing specifically for libraries over the past two weeks – and put those measures to the Managing Director at this meeting.
Your union will be seeking that, TAFE immediately write to all students directing them not to attend campuses and provide them with details of the how they can access TAFE services and resources remotely.
Other additional measures that the CPSU NSW will propose, include:
Where possible areas of the campus which are open should be taped and marked to assist staff, students and others to comply with social distancing.
Signs put up in areas to indicate how many people can be in the area at one time.
Posters outlining social distancing and hand hygiene should be clearly displayed. Where it is unpractical to access washing of hands, hand sanitiser is to be provided.
The union wants to work collaboratively with TAFE and hold it to account on what it says it is doing/will do to bring about the safest working environment for staff.
.The CPSU NSW advises members to email your delegate or call the Member Support Centre (MSC), quoting #129342, if:
Your workplace is denying you the option of working from home (if you believe your role can reasonably be carried out from home)
Adequate amounts of hand sanitisers and/or PPE (gloves) are not distributed at your workplace
Cleaning is not being undertaken regularly of shared equipment.
Finally, we are in unprecedented times with the COVID-19 global pandemic.
If you are concerned about your Work, Health and Safety and if a situation arises in which such a risk becomes apparent, our strong advice is to please call the CPSU NSW Member Support Centre for advice and assistance.
Taronga: rightful entitlements during the COVID-19 pandemic
Since the announcement of the closure to the public of Taronga Zoo, the PSA has been working tirelessly to ensure you receive your rightful entitlements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PSA was instrumental in the Zoo’s change in position regarding all casual employees who were stood down and permanent staff directed home on ‘coronavirus leave’.
On 24 March 2020, the PSA wrote to the Zoo’s Executive raising concerns as to the way in which the Zoo was attempting to stand down casual staff and asking other staff to stay at home for one week using ‘coronavirus leave’. The PSA followed this up with a bulletin to members: Taronga: temporary closure.
On 26 March 2020, the PSA’s position was supported in an all staff broadcast by Mr Cameron Kerr advising all staff:
“Our world as we know it is experiencing so much change and at a rapid pace, at Taronga we are striving to keep up with these changes to ensure our people are given the right information. This includes information relating to employment arrangements. Over the last day, we have received new advice from our employing agency, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, on employment arrangements, which is slightly different information to what I communicated on Wednesday.”
The PSA will continue to pursue the rights of PSA members where the workplace is closed. Flexible work arrangements should be considered whether it be working from home or from another location. Where work is unable to be provided to these workers, they are to be paid as normal and are to be placed on paid special leave for both permanent and casual staff.
We need permanent, temporary and casual workers to stand together and support each other through these difficult times. The PSA is your union.
The way to forward is to talk to your work colleagues, irrespective of what classification they are, as to the importance of a unionised workforce.
If you know someone who is not a member, they can and should join here today: www.psa.asn.au.
Talk to your delegates, or contact the PSA’s Member Support Centre on 1800 772 679.
Your Delegates
Taronga Zoo Claudia Bianchi Toby Johnson Simon Faithfull
Department of Customer Service – Restructure Joint Consultative Committee
The regular JCC between the Department and PSA continues. However, due to COVID-19 it now provides an opportunity to discuss the Department’s response to the new challenges and for PSA Delegates and staff to raise issues.
Current status of Restructure Management Plans (RMPs) and Realignments
The Department has confirmed its position that, unless already underway, no current RMP will progress to the point where the Department will declare staff excess and the Department will not be initiating any new RMPs at this time.
The same does not apply for realignments – where no staff are being declared excess, these will continue.
The Customer Engagement Integration (CEI) RMP will continue although the initial target date for completion by June may not be achievable at this time. The Transition Management Plan for the CEI is still under dispute and the PSA will have further information for members on the progress of that dispute shortly.
Temporary changes to the DFSI/DCS Flexible Working Hours Agreement in response to COVID-19
In recognition that current circumstances are far from normal with a large number of staff now working from home and having to juggle career responsibilities with work, the Department has looked at a range of temporary changes to the FWHA to accommodate staff needs.
These will be announced to staff on 3 April and are effective from 6 April 2020 when the following temporary changes to the DFSI FWHA will be implemented:
Suspension of core hours
Increase in the bandwidth from 6:00am-10:00pm (for the current and next flex period)
Carry over debit to be increased from 10 to 35 hours for the next flex period
Flexibility of hours staff may work in one day
Turning off the 30-day rec leave restriction to accessing flex leave.
The temporary changes will provide staff with greater levels of flexibility when and how they work their contract of employment hours especially if:
they are required to work from home/alternative work locations or;
they are working from the office very early, or very late in order to maintain social distancing or:
they have school-aged children or other primary caring responsibilities that would ordinarily preclude them from working during core time or in bandwidth due to the advice from the Premier to keep children at home.
A question has been raised as to excess credit flex time above the current 42-hour carry-over limit and whether that can be extended if required. In the interim, if members have concerns that they are going to forfeit hours you are encouraged to discuss this with your supervisor/manager.
Note: These arrangements do not generally apply to Service NSW staff who are mostly rostered staff and on a different agreement.
Members are reminded that they should still be in discussions with their immediate supervisor/manager as to your FWHA arrangements as per normal.
Working from home arrangements and EAP
A number of DCS staff our now working from home (WFH) and more will be doing so going into the future, The Department has confirmed it is in the process of updating its information so that it is more relevant to the current situation.
This will include a new WFH-WHS checklist. The new checklist is being developed by the Employee Safety and Wellbeing unit with HSR consultation and will hopefully be released for further consultation soon.
The Department also highlighted their new EAP provider, Benestar. The new provider has a better package of resources available for staff and the Department is satisfied that they have the capacity to provide the necessary services for the expected increased use by staff at this time.
Concerns about ongoing work
In recognition of the impact that COVID-19 has had on employment, the Department has attempted to maintain all employment types (including contractors) to minimise any extra burden on the system at this time.
Where necessary, staff may be redeployed to other areas within the Department to meet demand if there is no ongoing work in their area.
Management should also be using this time as an opportunity for self-development and for staff to use this time to undertake mandatory training against their performance development plan etc.
C2020-01 Employment Arrangements during COVID-19, Special Leave
There have been a number of requests through to the Department for access to special leave, some general principles apply and were outlined by the Department as being:
Illness due to COVID-19, in the first instance sick leave is to be used, where sick leave is exhausted then special leave will be applied (it is not expected that staff should use recreation leave)
When directed not to attend work due to COVID – 19, the hierarchy is:
Can remote work (i.e. work from home) be implemented, if not then
Special leave will apply.
Members can contact the PSA for further assistance and requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis by the Department.
Support your union
Support the work of the PSA and delegates by asking your colleagues to JOIN their union, you can join right HERE.
NSW Schools: General Assistants/Farm Assistants: getting prepared and staying safe during COVID-19
The PSA has been in touch with many members over the last few weeks to check in on how they are going. We have heard many stories of school communities helping each other during extremely difficult circumstances.
General Assistants are in a unique position as you already work in a way that assists in social distancing.
Your safety
The Principal is responsible for the safety for all staff on site. If you have concerns for your health and safety, please raise them immediately with your Principal or supervisor.
If the concerns are not addressed, please lodge an incident with the Incident Report and Support Hotline on 1800 811 523. Keep a record of the incident number and a copy of the report lodged.
Contact the PSA if no action is taken to address your concerns.
We know there are some difficult situations to manage while social distancing and we can provide guidance and assistance where necessary. As a general rule you should follow all social distancing and hygiene measures outlined by NSW Health.
You can read up on these and other information HERE.
How does the Special Leave apply?
The PSA advises all GA and FA members to discuss your personal circumstances with your Principal as soon as possible so that they can be taken into account.
If viable, you should continue to work for as long as possible at the school.
We are not sure when the current situation will change or how long the pandemic will last. It is important members do not pre-emptively access their Special Leave.
Some further information on when you can access Covid-19 Special Leave is below:
Paid special leave of up to 20 days for people who need to be excluded from workplace/placed in quarantine
Paid special leave of up to 20 days for people with caring responsibilities or who have transport disruptions (without needing to exhaust other forms of leave first)
For people who are sick – they apply for sick leave as usual, if they exhaust sick leave they can apply for special sick leave
Provision to work flexibly/remotely/at other locations where at all possible.
In the event of school shutdown there is no requirement to apply for any form of leave, you will continue to be paid.
If you have any questions about the application of Special Leave contact the PSA Member Support Centre on 1800 772 679.
Staying safe over the school holidays
The PSA reminds all GAs to ensure that a Working Alone Risk Assessment has been undertaken for the holiday break. It is more important than ever that a comprehensive risk assessment is undertaken prior to any GA or FA working alone and you should speak with your Principal about this now.
Due to the current situation, the PSA advises additional precautions and safety measures be put in place in relation to contractors and other staff who may be required on site during the holidays.
As always, GAs should not be expected to supervise contractors. This is well outside the GA Role Description and could pose an additional risk during the current crisis.
The PSA’s recommended best safety practices when you are working alone during the vacation period are that the school should provide you with a mobile phone. You should text in with your supervisor each time you report for duty and text again when you leave for the day.
If your supervisor does not receive a text within 15 minutes of your usual start and finish times they should call you to check you are safe. If there is no response, further actions should be taken to determine you are safe including a physical check of the workplace.
This process is to protect you and, should any accident occur, your supervisor can arrange for assistance immediately.
All staff who are going to be on the school site during the holidays must have keys and the codes for the alarm systems.
General Assistants’ and Farm Assistants’ work
All General Assistants and Farm Assistants are reminded that these are two separate positions with different Role Descriptions, pay rates and, importantly, associated training. You should not undertake work that you have not been trained to do as this can have Work Health and Safety implications for you and others.
If you are a General Assistant and are directed to work as a Farm Assistant, you should contact the PSA immediately.
Help your colleagues stay safe, protected and supported with the PSA!
Do you know someone who is not a member?
You can support the work of the PSA and delegates to get better outcomes for everyone just by asking your colleagues to JOIN.
PSA contacts
Brett Hammond General Assistants and Farm Assistants Organiser
