Documents Workplace Relations 10.14379.pdf - Chief Minister's ...

Collective Agreement- Staff and Unions' Log of Claims- Government reponse
1) Quantum of pay increase and sign on bonus
We request a pay rise and sign on bonus of the same quantum as that proposed in the draft
Agency Enterprise Bargain Agreements between the ACf Government and its employees.
• Agreed.
2) On-call Allowance
We request that it be left to the discretion of members, in consultation with their staff, to
decide where provision of a mobile phone with email compatibility could improve productivity.
• Agreed. The Government understands that this claim relates in part to the provision
of blackberry technology. Currently access to blackberry technology is provided for
chief of staff and media advisers only. It is agreed that guidelines may be changed
that allow access to other staff at the discretion of the Member. This is on the
understanding that the cost is met from the Member's DOA.
This undertaking would need to be accompanied by an "on-call allowance", of an agreed
percentage of salary, to account for the additional time outside of work hours that LAMS staff
are required to be available. The increased cost to budget is more than offset by productivity
gains through the use of this technology.
• Not agreed.
• This is already incorporated into salaries, which are 'somewhat in advance' of ACfPS
equivalents.
• Staff can also claim TOIL for this purpose.
• The Government may reconsider an overall LAMS allowance including which has on
call and existing LAMS allowance elements as a substitute for TOIL.
• The Government is unconvinced that an on call allowance would be offset by
productivity gains.
3) Administration of the LAMS Allowance
We request that the LAMS Allowance be paid as an all purpose allowance, that is, on all days
employed, rather than days worked, to reflect the additional availability required of LAMS
staff. This would mean that the LAMS Allowance is paid each day unless the employee is on
leave without pay. This should result in a small increase in the size of the LAMS allowance but
a significant reduction in the administrative burden of calculating the fortnightly variations in
the LAMS allowance. This should have no net budget impact.
• Agreed. The Government is prepared to a change in methodology to calculate the
LAMS allowance over a full year. This would include times when staff are on paid
leave but not at times when on unpaid leave. However, this would be on the
understanding that the payment would be at a reduced rate and not paid on
termination monies.
• The Government does not agree that this will result in a significant reduction in the
administration of the allowance.
4) Time Sheets
We request that management should provide us with model of payment that could be offered
to staff they chose to opt out of TOIL. This should allow for an increase in the LAMS
allowance that adequately compensates the individual for the additional hours that they are
required to work due to the nature of the employment in this area. This would be revenue
neutral as the increase in LAMS allowance would be compensated by the hours of leave that
do not need to be funded and the decreased cost of administration due to the removal of the
need to process timesheets for these staff.