Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

inconsistencies between the components of the employment framework and to contribute tothe overall efficiency of the ACTPSIn particular, the PSM Act requires significant structural changes in order to establish amodern, flexible, efficient and accountable legislative employment structure in line withother jurisdictions, including the APS. In tandem with an overhaul of the PSM Act there is aneed to review and enhance the capability and capacity of the existing ACTPS operationalsystems:InTACT and the Payroll systems employed by the ACT Government are bothoutdated and often incompatible with other software used by departments…. This isvery poor for a modern service trying to operate in a competitive labour market andaffects the reputation of the ACT Public Sector. 376There are at least six operational systems 377 covering staff employed under the PSM Act. Theexisting operational systems are unable to adapt to the increasing demands of a flexible,modern workforce. For a small organisation the complexity of the operational systems isillogical, warranting a strategic investment.Central to the pursuit of a simpler, more consistent and more coherent legislative employmentframework is the need to streamline the ACTPS enterprise agreements. Single enterpriseagreements covering general classification staff are in place in the Victorian, SouthAustralian, Northern Territory and Tasmanian public sectors. The CPSU has recently lobbiedfor a single agreement at the Australian Public Service level.In 2009 the Government proposed a single enterprise agreement to consist of agencyschedules for those general classifications currently covered by “common terms andconditions” agreements. 378 The proposed single agreement would apply only to employeescurrently covered by common terms and conditions and specific occupation basedagreements would continue. It’s puzzling that this proposal for the ACT was rejected giventhe path the CPSU has pursued at the Commonwealth level and in other States.Logically, a single agreement would also constitute a more efficient method of conductingnegotiations for union and non-union representatives as well as for the employer. There arecomplexities associated with a single agreement – none the least ensuring buy-in frombargaining representatives (both union and non-union).376 Submission No.3.377 Operational systems include those systems that maintain employee records; process payroll, record and process leaveentitlements, and store and report on workforce data.378 A ‘common terms and conditions’ agreement is an “agreement” which is reached between Government and nominatedbargainers including most unions on specific entitlement matters (including quantum, leave types and length ofagreement etc ) that apply across most of the ACTPS enterprise agreements as Part One of those agreements. Thecommon terms and conditions cannot be bargained away at agency level. Part Two of overall agency agreements(commonly referred to as agency schedule matters) pertain to agency specific matters only which are specific to thatagency and can be bargained by the agency. The common terms and conditions does not normally apply tooccupation based agreements e.g. fire-fighters, doctors , teachers, ambulance officers, nurses etc. However, thoseagreements pick up aspects of the common terms and conditions.Capability, Capacity and Effectiveness: 283