Union Notes - October, 2016

Dear Members

The following are some notes to keep you abreast of your union’s activities with respect to the Department of Environment Regulation.

We are keen to keep you up to date with everything that’s occurring.  Please contact your delegates if you have some suggestions for how best we can all keep in touch.

Department News

The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting with the Department and the Union was held on Wednesday 19 October 2016.

The minutes from each meeting are now published on the DER Intranet here.

Items raised include:

• DER Review by the Working Life Organisational Consultants and the Public Sector Commission

The report by Working Life Organisational Consultants is expected to be finalised and provided to the Director General for the week commencing the 24 October. 

The Public Sector Commission review has not yet finalised, however the Investigators assessment has been submitted. It is understood that over 130 Officers were interviewed for the review.   DER Staff were notified on 14 October 2016 that Mr Dan Volaric, Deputy Commissioner at the Public Sector Commission will be commencing at DER on the 26 October 2016 and working closely with the Director General.  It is unclear at this stage what action will be taken by the Public Sector Commissioner following the finalisation of the review.

The Union has formally written a letter to the Director General to request a meeting with the DG, Dan Volaric and the Union Executive and Delegates. 

• DER’s External Customer Survey and Refire Staff Values Survey

Both of these surveys will be released to staff soon via Broadcast and will be available on the DER intranet.

• Occupational Safety and Health

Corp Ex has endorsed providing additional resourcing, in the form of an external consultant, to assist in the development of DER’s OSH Safety Management System (SMS).  DER’s OSH Committee will consult with staff on matters that should be considered in the workplace for the SMS.

The SMS documentation will ideally be developed around respective work areas to include all possible WorkSafe scenarios.

There have been requests from Staff to attend Mental Health First Aid training. 

A Worksafe WA and Riskcover forum regarding creating and maintaining psychologically healthy workplaces has been opened to OSH Reps and an additional CE staff member to attend.

• Move to Joondalup

HR has started work with respect to gauging what the move to Joondalup will mean to staff and subsequent impacts upon the Department. A survey will be sent to Staff shortly that will help to assess the impact of the move upon the Department.  

There have been discussions with other departments regarding the possibility of organising job transfers for staff between different departments.  At the moment there does not appear to be any appetite to have this centrally coordinated, however individual departments may consider working together to implement this in the future.

Union News

• Your Union agreement claim

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Your Union Agreement claim endorsement process. Overwhelming support from members for the draft claim was received.  The claim will now be presented to the Union Council for final approval. Following that it will be lodged with political party leaders and discussions commenced to obtain their commitment to implementing a new Union Agreement that makes a real difference to CPSU/CSA members in 2017.

Keep reading your Work Life Better newsletter for details and how you can help make this important campaign a great success.

• Free training available for Union members

CPSU/CSA members are entitled to five days of paid training leave per year.  Make the most of your membership while keeping your mind active!  You can view all of the courses on the union website.

Contacting a Delegate or Union link

Members individual issues are best dealt with by contacting Union link on either 9323 3888 (Metro) or 1300 733 800 (Local call cost for regional members)or [email protected] or by contacting one of the Departments delegates listed below: