Negotiation of new Flex Agreement begins
10 November 2020
The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) has notified the É«ÀÇÉçÇøit is seeking to renegotiate your DPC Flexible Working Hours Agreement (FWHA). As your employee representative, the É«ÀÇÉçÇøwill be negotiating this new agreement on your behalf. As a É«ÀÇÉçÇømember, you have a voice in these negotiations.
We are advised the new FWHA will have coverage of all non-executive temporary and ongoing employees currently covered by the DPC FWHA and will include Employee Relations. The agencies currently on the DPC FWHA are Public Service Commission, Parliamentary Counsel’s Office and Western Sydney Parklands Authority. The other cluster agencies, namely cultural and integrity agencies, are not covered by DPC’s FWA.
When the employer seeks to renegotiate a FWHA they are required to give 12 months’ notice to allow the negotiations to occur. It should be noted that DPC provided us the notice on 16 September advising us that it needed to obtain approval from the Wages Policy Taskforce to formally commence negotiations. The Department has contacted us on 5 November to advise it would now like to start planning for these discussions.
You will note the email they sent out seeking employee representatives to be involved in discussions. The É«ÀÇÉçÇøhas advised DPC that the union is the recognised representative of employees under the Industrial Relations Act. The Crown Employees (Public Sector Conditions of Employment) Award 2009, under which you were employed, is a negotiated document between the union and the employer. Negotiating FWHA’s come under that Award. It will be a document negotiated between the union (on behalf of our members) and the employer.
The É«ÀÇÉçÇøis a union that consults with its members and creates delegate structures to assist in such negotiations.Â
É«ÀÇÉçÇømembers have a voice in these negotiations
When negotiations reach a certain stage, there will be a vote for or against the proposed new Flexible Working Hours Agreement. Only É«ÀÇÉçÇømembers can vote on this proposed agreement. If you are a non-member reading this, join the É«ÀÇÉçÇøtoday.
We will be engaging with our delegates across the agency to ensure members’ views are properly canvassed and we will negotiate on your behalf. Where there may be gaps in areas we will develop contacts. If you believe there is someone who is a member who has not received this, we urge you to provide it to them. We seek to include all employees in the union and in having a voice.
The larger the membership the larger our voice. That is what the union is about. A person who is not a union member cannot be an ‘employee representative’. Unfortunately, all they do is weaken your collective power.
We will keep you up to date with the progression of this matter.
You can contact us via your delegates or by contacting the É«ÀÇÉçÇødirectly on 1800 772 679. Please quote call number 140244.
Not yet a member?
Have a voice in your Flexible Working Hours Agreement – join today at .