Queensland Police Union Journal

Northern Region Roundup
PETER THOMAS
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is on hold this month because I want to outline the restructure implications,
government interference in Unions, and the current status of EB negotiations.
THE STEWART RESTRUCTURE
Much has been said about the
restructure: the concerns of your
Union, the reasons for our concerns,
and the impact upon our members. We
have just finalised stages 1 and 2, and
this is a précis to date.
Since the announcement of this
restructure, the main concern has been
that no detailed implementation plan
clearly outlining the process of change
management has ever been produced.
The announcement of forced
redundancies of commissioned officers
and a full organisational restructure
without a detailed plan certainly
caused alarm bells to ring.
is suitable to them. This consultation is
ongoing.
Another major concern of your Union
relates to the workload that is going
to be absorbed by Senior Sergeants
and Sergeant Officers in Charge of
stations and sections because of
the relocation of support services to
Central Functions in Brisbane (Injury
Management, Work Health and Safety,
and Human Resource Management).
is reviewed and not accepted by the
Service?
There are many examples where
this has previously occurred, and the
Supervisor has been dealt a penalty
harsher than the minor disciplinary
matter penalty incurred by the
subordinate member.
This is an area that requires addressing
by the Service, and very strict
“Hopefully, general duties officers will be the
big winners, with the commitment that for each
of the commissioned officer redundancies, a
frontline operational officer will be recruited.”
Your Union could see the writing on
the wall: that the forced redundancies
would flow down to Senior Sergeants,
and then to Sergeants, so we went
to battle and prevented the forced
redundancies upon commissioned
officers to protect our members.
As a result of your Union’s intervention,
commissioned officers were offered
voluntary redundancy packages rather
than forced redundancies, and 86
were accepted by the Commissioner.
Voluntary redundancy was not offered
to non commissioned ranks.
Your Union also had concerns as to
how the restructure was going to
impact upon Senior Sergeants who
were being displaced from their
positions as a result of organisational
units being dissolved.
We are currently working with the QPS
to ensure these officers are retained
within their Districts in a position that
Many of the functions that were
previously performed by these
localised sections will now be added
to the daily responsibilities of the
Officers in Charge, and will be merely
overviewed by Central Functions.
This will have a major impact upon
the already overstretched OICs and
is of significant concern for both the
welfare of the OICs and members
being managed. This is an area where
ongoing consultation will occur to
ensure the welfare of all concerned.
Another area of major concern is for
Sergeants and Supervisors. With the
restructure, delegation of supervision
and minor discipline is being delegated
down, and the responsibility will lie
with the supervisor.
The concern held by your Union is that
if ‘discipline on the run’ is going to be
accepted, what support is going to be
offered by the Service if that discipline
guidelines will be required. This is
another area that your Union will
continue to address and monitor.
Hopefully, general duties officers
will be the big winners, with the
commitment that for each of the
commissioned officer redundancies,
a frontline operational officer will
be recruited. I immediately have a
concern, because I am aware that with
the number of redundancies accepted,
there are not enough commissioned
officers to fill positions.
This will be of benefit to our
members who will have promotional
opportunities at all levels, however
the Service have a definitive number
of positions allocated, so will these
positions be replaced?
If positions are not being filled in your
work units, I ask that you immediately
notify me or your branch official so that
we can address this situation.
Queensland Police Union Journal June 2013 11