FWC to air DHS dispute
The Department of Human Services (DHS) will appear in the industrial tribunal next week.
Department negotiators will be called to account for its conduct amid a bitter three-year dispute with its workforce.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is hosting a conference in Canberra amid to find out whether the Federal Government’s hardline public sector bargaining policy is being consistently applied.
It will also discuss an application by the Community and Public Sector Union for “bargaining orders” against the DHS.
Additionally, the FWC conference will hear from the Australian Taxation Office, Defence, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Environment and Energy, Agriculture, the Bureau of Meteorology, IP Australia, the National Disability Insurance Agency and the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says these departments and agencies are not fulfilling legal requirements to negotiate in good faith in the disputes that have dragged on since 2013.
The union says the tough bargaining arrangements imposed by the former Abbott Government mean negotiators have no room to move.
But DHS departmental spokesman Hank Jongen has told Fairfax he rejects the union's claims.
“We reject this allegation because we have consistently bargained in good faith throughout the process,” Mr Jongen said.
“We have demonstrated a continued commitment to a draft agreement and pay offer that takes staff feedback on board and meets our service delivery obligations and the government's bargaining policy.”
Government lawyer Steven Amendola of Ashurst lawyers says the union simply does not like being told “no”.
“The CPSU don't like being told "no" and therefore they equate that to a lack of good faith bargaining,” Mr Amendola told Fair Commissioner Leigh Johns earlier this month.