Outline of Program
Introduction and acknowledgement of country
5 mins
Relational question: what’s been on top of your mind lately?
10 mins
Main content
30 mins
1.
2.
3.
•
•
•
•
•
•
What interest in particular do you have?
Restructures and consultation
Leave?
Disciplinary action and work performance
Union rights
Dispute resolution
4. Wrap up
• Summary
• Troubleshooting and problem solving
• Next steps
Welcome and acknowledgement
of country
The CPSU wishes to acknowledge the traditional
owners of the land on which we’re meeting.
We pay our genuine respects to owners past and
present.
Introduction
0 This session will explore some of the most important,
and commonly used, clauses of your Enterprise
Agreement in some detail.
0 We’ll start with some discussion about restructures
and consultation. Then we’ll move on to talk about
leave issues. After that we’ll talk about disciplinary
action, work performance and union rights. Finally,
we’ll finish with a discussion about the process of
resolving disputes.
0 The session has been left broad and applicable to all
education support staff.
Relational question
0 Find someone in the room you don’t know well, or
don’t normally work with
0 Discuss the question:
“What’s been on top of your mind lately?”
0 Can be work or non-work related
Know Your Rights
Question:
What interest in particular do you have in this
session?
Restructures and consultation
Clause 8, TAFE Commission of NSW Administrative, Support and Related
Employees Enterprise Agreement 2012
8.1 Employer to notify
8.1.1 Where the Employer has made a definite decision to introduce major
changes in production, program, organisation, structure or technology that are
likely to have significant effects on employees, the employer must notify the
employees who may be affected by the proposed changes and their representative
or representatives, if any.
8.1.2 Significant effects include termination of employment; major changes in the
composition, operation or size of the employer’s workforce or in the skills
required; the elimination or diminution of job opportunities, promotion
opportunities or job tenure; the alteration of hours of work; the need for
retraining or transfer of employees to other work or locations; and the
restructuring of jobs. Provided that where this award makes provision for
alteration of any of these matters an alteration is deemed not to have significant
effect.
Duty to Discuss Change
8.2 Employer to discuss change
8.2.1 The Employer must discuss with the Employees affected and their representatives, if
any, the introduction of the changes referred to in clause 8.1, the effects the changes are
likely to have on Employees and measures to avert or mitigate the adverse effects of
such changes on Employees and must give prompt and genuine consideration to
matters raised by the Employees and/or their representatives in relation to the changes.
8.2.2 The discussions must commence as early as practicable after a definite decision has
been made by the Employer to make the changes referred to in clause 8.1.
8.2.3 For the purposes of such discussion, the Employer must provide in writing to the
employees concerned and their representatives, if any, all relevant information about the
changes including the nature of the changes proposed, the expected effects of the changes on
employees and any other matters likely to affect employees provided that no Employer is
required to disclose confidential information the disclosure of which would be contrary to
the Employer’s interests.
8.3 Employees affected by workplace change will be managed in accordance with the NSW
Government’s Managing Excess Employees Policy, as amended from time to time.
Leave
0 There are many clauses in your Agreement which deal with leave. They are mostly
found in Section 3 – General Conditions
0 Generally, you cannot be directed to take leave. The exception to this is found in Clause
34, which is specific to Annual Leave and states:
34.2.3
Annual leave should only accumulate to a maximum of 40 working days.
Employees who are Seven-day shift workers or who are required to work regularly on
weekends and/or public holidays may accrue to a maximum of 50 days.
34.2.4
Should annual leave balances exceed the limits specified in 34.2.3 of this
subclause, the Managing Director may direct staff to take annual leave within a reasonable
time period and at a time convenient to the NSW TAFE Commission.
34.2.5
An Employee must take their annual leave to reduce all balances below 8 weeks
or its hourly equivalent, and the NSW TAFE Commission must cooperate in this process.
Leave (continued)
You cannot be required to take leave during a period of
College closure.
If you do not want to take leave whilst your College is
closed, TAFE must provide alternative, suitable, duties
for you to perform.
Disciplinary action and work
performance
Disciplinary action
9.1 The Guidelines for the Management of Conduct and
Performance the NSW TAFE Commission Staff apply to
Permanent Employees employed in classifications under
this Agreement.
9.2 The Guidelines identified at 9.1 of this clause may be
applied on an appropriate basis to permanent
employees employed on probation.
9.3 The Guidelines identified at 9.1 of this clause do not
apply to Temporary, or Casual Employees.
Disciplinary action and work
performance
Work performance
0 TAFE NSW’s “Guidelines for the Management of Conduct and
Performance” are an example of an instrument that covers your
employment but is external to your Enterprise Agreement
0 The processes set out in this document must be followed if an
allegation of one or more of the following are made against you:
0 Misconduct;
0 Unsatisfactory performance; or
0 A serious criminal offence.
0 Importantly, the guidelines are underpinned by principles of
timeliness, procedural fairness and deciding each matter on its
merits.
Disciplinary action and work
performance
Work performance
9. Management of Conduct and Performance
9.1 The Guidelines for the Management of Conduct and
Performance the NSW TAFE Commission Staff apply to Permanent
Employees employed in classifications under this Agreement.
9.2 The Guidelines identified at 9.1 of this clause may be applied
on an appropriate basis to permanent employees employed on
probation.
9.3 The Guidelines identified at 9.1 of this clause do not apply to
Temporary, or Casual Employees.
Disciplinary action and work
performance
Important points to note:
0 If an allegation is made against you under the
Guidelines, you should refer to the applicable
section(s) of that document and immediately contact
your union delegate or representative for advice;
0 Never go into a meeting alone. You have the right to be
represented and to have a representative or support
person present.
Union rights
0 Your enterprise agreement contains a number of
clauses relating to rights of union members, delegates
and officials
0 These are mainly found in clauses 55-64
0 For example, union delegates have the right to:
0 Represent members at meetings with management;
0 Attend Work Health and Safety Committee meetings;
and
0 Distribute union publications or material.
Union rights
Clause 56: Special leave can be taken by union delegates
for:
0 Annual Conference in May or Women’s Conference in
September;
0 Meetings, such as Central Council or Women’s Council;
0 Unions NSW Annual Conference/ ACTU Congress
Trade union training leave
Members can take special leave to attend:
0 Work Health and Safety (WH&S) courses for WH&S
Committee members;
0 12 days biannual trade union training leave to
participate in the CPSU’s extensive education program
– free to members
0 See www.psa.asn.au/training for more information
Dispute resolution
Dispute Resolution Procedures
6.1 The TAFE Commission and its Employees have an interest in the proper application of this
Agreement and in minimising and settling disputes about matters in this Agreement in a timely
manner.
6.2
Where a dispute arises in relation to:
6.2.1 a matter under this Agreement; or
6.2.2 the imposition of a penalty of fine, demotion, or dismissal as a result of a disciplinary process
under the Guidelines for the Management of Conduct and Performance NSW TAFE Commission
Staff; or
6.2.3 the National Employment Standards;
it will be dealt with in accordance with the procedures set out in this clause.
What are the National
Employment Standards?
0 10 minimum conditions under the Fair Work Act
1. Fair Work Information Statement - employers have to give the Fair Work Information Statement to
all new employees.
2. Maximum weekly hours of work - 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.
3. Requests for flexible working arrangements - parents and carers can ask for a change in working
arrangements to care for young children under school age or children under 18 with a disability.
4. Parental leave and related entitlements - up to 12 months unpaid leave, the right to ask for an
extra 12 months unpaid leave and other types of maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
5. Annual leave - 4 weeks paid leave per year, plus an extra week for some shift workers.
6. Personal / carer’s leave and compassionate leave - 10 days paid personal (sick) / carer’s leave, 2
days unpaid carer’s leave and 2 days compassionate leave (unpaid for casuals) as needed.
7. Community service leave - up to 10 days paid leave for jury service (after 10 days is unpaid) and
unpaid leave for voluntary emergency work.
8. Long service leave - entitlements are carried over from pre-modern awards or from state
legislation. For details see the Long Service Leave and the National Employment Standards fact sheet.
9. Public holidays - paid days off on public holidays unless it’s reasonable to ask the employee to work.
10. Notice of termination and redundancy pay - up to 4 weeks' notice of termination (5 weeks if the
employee is over 45 and has been in the job for at least 2 years) and up to 16 weeks redundancy pay.
Dispute resolution procedure
6.3 An Employer or Employee may appoint another person, organisation or union to accompany
and/or represent them for the purposes of this clause.
6.4 In the first instance Employee(s) or their appointed representative(s), must notify the
appropriate representative of Workplace Management of the dispute in writing (‘the dispute
notification’). An appropriate representative of Workplace Management may be the relevant line
manager or if the Employee believes the line manager is not appropriate the Employee may request
that the matter be referred to another officer.
6.5 The dispute notification must be in writing and include details of the dispute. The dispute
notification should also make reference to clause(s) of the Agreement or the National
Employment Standard in relation to which the dispute has arisen and indicate the resolution(s)
sought. A copy of the dispute notification will be sent to the Human Resources Manager. The
Employee(s), Employee representative(s) if one has been appointed, and Workplace Management
representative(s) will meet within five working days, unless otherwise agreed, in an effort to
resolve the dispute.
6.6 Where after the completion of subclause 6.5 the dispute remains unresolved, the matter may be
referred in writing to the next level of management. A meeting must be held within five working days of
the dispute being referred in a further effort to resolve the dispute, unless otherwise agreed.
Dispute resolution procedure
6.7 Where a dispute is not resolved following the steps in sub-clauses 6.5 and 6.6, the matter may be
referred by either party to the dispute to Fair Work Australia for resolution by mediation and/or
conciliation and, if necessary arbitration.
6.8 If Fair Work Australia arbitrates the dispute, it may also use the powers that are available to it
under the Fair Work Act.
6.9 The parties agree to be bound by and implement any decision of Fair Work Australia subject to
either party exercising a right of appeal against the decision of Fair Work Australia to the Full Bench.
6.10 Until the dispute resolution procedures referred to at subclauses 6.1 to 6.9 have been exhausted:
6.10.1 normal work shall continue;
6.10.2 no industrial action shall be taken by a party to the dispute in respect of the matter that is the
subject of the dispute;
6.10.3 the
parties to the dispute shall not take any other action likely to
exacerbate the dispute.
Problem solving in your
workplace
Question: if there is a problem in your workplace which
affects you or your colleague(s), what can you do?
Problem solving process
Sometimes we react too quickly when faced with a
problem. Often the first thing we do is to suggest a
solution before we have looked at the problem properly.
We also need to think about what opportunities the
problem provides for organising and building your
union:
0 Does the problem affect more than one person?
0 If so, how do others feel about it? Are they willing to
take action of some sort?
Problem solving process – 3
questions to ask
1. What is wrong? (facts and issues)
Get the facts, check you understand them and they are
accurate.
What do the facts mean to the people involved?
How do they interplay with rights and entitlements?
Once we have the facts we can identify the issues
Problem solving process – 3
questions to ask
2. What can we do? (options)
What are the possible options? Be creative!
One option may be to do nothing, another may be
industrial action – but there are many things in
between.
For most options there will be many possible lines of
action. All should be considered and all should be
considered as organising opportunities.
Problem solving process – 3
questions to ask
3. What will we do? (action)
Deciding on the best option involves using a number of
criteria.
Which of the options:
0 Is most likely to be successful?
0 Is realistic?
0 Has a role for the worker(s) with the problem?
0 Has the potential to gain the support of other workers?
0 Has the potential to recruit new members to your union?
If you’ve tried this and the
problem is still there…
Speak with your local CPSU delegate (if unsure who this
is, go to www.ourtafe.org.au), or your CPSU Organiser.
What next for your CPSU in TAFE
in 2013?
0 Enterprise Bargaining – round 2
0 “Our TAFE” launch at metropolitan College and most
regional Colleges