Page 2127 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 5 June 2019
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good faith over a number of years, resulting in fair pay increases and conditions that support a positive work-life balance. As a progressive ACT Labor government, treating workers with respect is a core principle of our movement. That principle carries through to the respect we afford ACT government workers. In the most recent round of bargaining we have made accessing leave easier, including for carers and those who may have experienced family violence. We have committed to pay superannuation on unpaid parental leave to ensure that a break from the workforce does not result in disadvantage in retirement. And we have started the work to address insecure employment in the ACT public service.
We recognise that to feel respected, to be paid well and to have good working conditions and, importantly, stability in employment is critical. That is why in the budget announced yesterday the ACT government committed $470,000 in 2019-20 to continue funding the important work of improving job security and increasing permanent employment for ACT public service employees. The ACT government is leading by example in providing secure, well-paid jobs. Through the insecure work task force, we are reviewing the use of casual and temporary employment across the ACT government, with the aim of identifying insecure employment arrangements that can and should be transitioned to secure permanent jobs. In addition to this, the ACT government is undertaking a service-wide classification review to ensure that the classification of staff accurately reflects the increasing complexity of work undertaken by the ACT public service.
It is important to recognise that ACT public service employees are also part of our broader community and that they too benefit from the positive agenda for workers set out by our government. I commend the Deputy Chief Minister, Minister Berry, on her recent announcement in relation to the insourcing of ACT public school cleaners—a positive example of the difference that we can make to people’s lives as an employer. This will deliver better job security and working conditions for our hardworking school cleaners. As one of the cleaners said of the announcement, “I always felt like I was part of the school. Now I’ll officially be part of it. That means everything to me.” Another example of this work is the efforts of the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate to increase the ratio of permanent staff compared with contract staff over the next several years. This has started with the conversion of temporary and contract roles within the city presentation unit to permanent positions.
It is, despite Miss C Burch’s rhetoric, markedly different for workers employed by the commonwealth. During a period of record low wages growth and a now historic cut to the official interest rate, the coalition government has had the opportunity over many years to use commonwealth public sector wage increases as a macro-economic lever to stimulate growth. Instead we have seen the commonwealth public service be subjected to the Liberal-National coalition’s repressive workplace bargaining policy. This policy requires workers’ participation in decision-making to be limited, pay rises to be capped at two per cent per annum with no provision for back pay, and strictly no enhancements of conditions, leaving some workers, in agencies where agreements could not be reached, without a pay rise for more than five years.
Mr Coe wants to talk about the cost of living. Maybe he should talk to his federal
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