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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 8 Hansard (8 August) . . Page.. 2564 ..
MR SPEAKER (continuing):
"It was clear that he had no understanding of the first agreement [signed in December last year] or the drafts of the new agreement," Ms Sheehan said.
The secretary of the Automotive, Metals and Engineering Union, Des Heaney, said the meeting had been "disappointing". Mr Berry had been more worried about the Budget than productivity.
"Those types of changes which are not cost-related are not part of the Government agenda ... they are not concerned with the quality of the service-just the cost," Mr Heaney said.
He complained that Mr Berry did not have the power to make budgetary decisions, and "showed a poor understanding of current state of negotiations".
Mr Heaney last week criticised the Treasurer, Rosemary Follett, for her lack of knowledge about the issues and called for a meeting with her. She replied on Friday that she would leave negotiations up to Mr Berry.
Mr Berry would not comment on the meeting yesterday, saying each party had its position and negotiations were continuing on ways to reconcile them.
ACT union head attacks Follett Government
The head of one of Canberra's most powerful unions has severely criticised the ACT Treasury and the Government over their approach to enterprise bargaining.The accusations come in a letter obtained by The Canberra Times addressed to the Treasurer, Rosemary Follett, from the secretary of the Automotive, Metals and Engineering Union, Des Heaney.
Most of the union's members work in the ACTION workshops.
The letter says negotiations with the Government for a 4 per cent wage rise over two years had broken down in October, after six months of talks, when Treasury demanded detailed costings on all the initiatives listed in a draft agreement.
Despite this, Treasury had "failed to supply any requested information in relation to staff numbers or cost per employee for government service".
The negotiations were taking place within the troubled "central coordinating group". The group, which was intended to centralise negotiations for enterprise agreements across the ACT Public Service, ran into trouble when one of the biggest blue-collar unions, the Transport Workers' Union, withdrew from the process and decided to strike out on its own.
At "urgent meetings" with Ms Follett's (unnamed) "senior adviser and Treasury officers", the AMEU had had to restate the issues and explain the necessity for a 4 per cent productivity claim.
"[The} AMEU was astounded to learn that your office was not aware of the 4 per cent productivity claim, nor had been briefed on CCG matters," the letter said.
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