ACC Negotiations - PSA Bargaining Issues (25 September 2019) The PSA - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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ACC Negotiations - PSA Bargaining Issues (25 September 2019)

The PSA Bargaining Strategy was developed by PSA members, through their democratic structures, and formalised by the PSA Executive Board. This bargaining strategy is made up of a number of expectations. Our issues for bargaining are grouped to reflect those bargaining strategy expectations.

Commitment to Te Tiriti of Waitangi

The PSA has a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to advancing the “principles of partnership, protection, and participation in activities pursuant to the purpose and objectives of the union as they relate the working lives of members”. The PSA is also committed to providing a better working life for Māori workers that promotes unity and strength for Māori members across the union of the PSA. ACC has committed to imbedding their Te Whaia Te Tika Strategy into the way it works, including:  Upholding the principles of partnership, participation and protection  Ensuring that the voice of Māori customers is heard  Engaging with Māori in culturally appropriate and responsive ways  Finding what is working and building on it  Actions are informed by evidence  Clear leadership commitment and accountability

Commitment to Te Tiriti of Waitangi in the Collective Agreement

The PSA proposes the insertion of the following clause: “The PSA and ACC acknowledge the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles. The PSA supports ACC’s commitment to recognising Te Tiriti in its operations and improving its effectiveness to Māori staff and stakeholders. ACC is committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership between Māori and the Crown and will promote an understanding of partnership and implementation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles in the workplace. The PSA has a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to advancing the “principles of partnership, protection, and participation in activities pursuant to the purpose and objectives of the union as they relate the working lives of members”. The PSA is also committed to providing a better working life for Māori workers that promotes unity and strength for Māori members across the union of the PSA. ACC has committed to imbedding the Te Whaia Te Tika Strategy into the way it works, including  Upholding the principles of partnership, participation and protection  Ensuring that the voice of Māori staff is heard  Engaging with Māori in culturally appropriate and responsive ways  Finding what is working and building on it  Actions are informed by evidence  Clear leadership commitment and accountability”

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Performance & Remuneration

As PSA has discussed with ACC, in both the last bargaining and in the Remuneration Working Group, the current ACC model of ‘Performance Development’ and Remuneration’ do not meet the needs of our members. It is a system that is expensive to run, complex to understand, and does not deliver to our members the outcomes committed to at its implementation, and nor the needs to members to transparency, accessibility, predictable, and negotiated. The PSA proposes  the replacement of Parts 4 & 5, excluding sections, “Superannuation Savings Allowance” and “Eligibility for Superannuation Savings Allowance”, and  the replacement of Schedule A iii) Remuneration Reward Philosophy, and 28.2 Rewarding your Performance. The proposal includes replacing these sections with a system of Remuneration which not only focuses on the Employer Investment but that of the Employee as well. The joint PSA & ACC Remuneration Group, at its last meeting March 19, identified collectively a set of principles: ”

• People before processes
• Working conditions and other benefits beyond pure remuneration
• KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) - it must be easy to explain and understand
• Forward looking
• High trust environment
• Employees feel valued (people before process)

 Safe kiwis

• Creates an environment where we can have safe conversations

 Responsible stewards

• Affordable
• Sustainable/bility (responsible stewards)

 Fair and Open

• Openness around the whole package
• No surprises
• Predictability and certainty
• Transparent/cy (fair and open)
• Understand rationale around sustainability
• Clear alignment between the story and the system plus visibility and alignment
• Pay well
• Fairness and equal pay (fair and open)

 Good partners

• Recognise that people work for reward
• People need to be able to afford to live, maintain standard of living
• Negotiate not just consultation
• Ownership (good partners)
• Displays value in wider benefits / relationship factors
• Commitment to genuine engagement

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• Recognised and acknowledged, intrinsic valuing the work

 Any system should be designed on the belief the majority of people perform  Tika is important in the design– doing the right thing at the right time in the right way  Pono is important in the design – honesty” The concept of ‘employer investment’ (see Clause 32.2) is not the way we would like to see the exchange of labour for appropriate recompense referred to, however for the purposes

• f the following we have used the phrase to expose the lack of recognition, within the current document, of this exchange between employee and employer.

What the System should look like: PSA members are looking for a system with transparency, accessibility, and certainty:

• Pay rates to be in published in the CEA
• Range of rates for each role
• Minimum rate of pay be no less than the annual living wage as published by Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand
• System for progression through the range of rates
• Pay rates to be adjusted for CPI each year by an identified increase.
• Pay rate increases to be negotiated by the parties to the CEA

Recognition of Employee Investment in ACC:

• A plan of Employee Investment in ACC will be developed each June, between each staff member and their manager, for the following 12 months (July to June).
• The Investment Plan will outline the work commitments of the employee, and the support and training that will be provided by the employer.
• The Investment Plan will include a career development framework where the needs of the employee are identified and met, including looking beyond what it takes to fulfil the

requirements of their current role.

• Recognises the ‘value in wider benefits/relationship factors
• Each employee will have a monthly discussion with their manager to discuss their Investment progress.
• Employees will be regarded as meeting their investment targets, unless the employer implements a formal review into discrepancies between the agreed targets and those

being delivered. Pay Progression

• Each employee will progress each June to the next step in the range of pay rates for their role, until the maximum for the role has been achieved.
• Employees whose investment targets are under formal review in June will not progress to the next step in the range of pay rates until the review is completed, and the

employee is meeting agreed targets.

• All increases are effective from 1 July each year.

Equal Pay

• We wish to discuss the pay outcomes for occupations in ACC which have a higher proportion of women and explore resolutions where those occupations show a pay gap. We

are especially interested in the situation facing women in the administration/clerical type roles.

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Redundancy Compensation

35.9 Redundancy Payment – proposed amendment The cap on the redundancy pay of $43,260, has remained unchanged since 1998, and it is PSA members view that it now needs to be brought up to date. In 1998 the highest rate of pay for PSA members was for Case Managers and that was $41,360 (80%) - $62,040 (120%). The current highest paid members under the CEA earn between $96,440 and $136,151. The PSA is proposing that the redundancy payment cap be amended to $55,000 and be adjusted annually by the CPI rate. $55,000 sits between the midpoints of current band ranges 10 & 11, which are in the bottom half of the current pay band for those under coverage.

Coverage (Cl.3) – proposed amendment

It is the right of every employee, who is member of a union, to be covered by a collective agreement where there are 2 or more members of the union in the workplace. The PSA is seeking coverage for all roles in non-management positions, non-management roles being defined as all positions that do not have direct reports. This includes the coverage

• f casual staff.

PSA proposes the insertion of a definition of Casual Employee as follows: Definitions of Casual Employees Draft wording: “The employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment. The employee works as and when it suits both them and the employer.”

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Wellbeing/Whānau Leave

PSA members believe that the current provisions for Sick Leave, Domestic Leave, and Flexitime, outlined in the CEA, is dated and does not meet the needs of today’s employees. Members are looking for a more holistic approach to Sick Leave, Domestic Leave, and Flexitime. PSA members live and work in multicultural and multifaceted communities which encompass a range of personal and family commitments. ACC and the PSA have a commitment to meet the requirements of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and must ensure that none of the clauses within the CEA impinge on those treaty commitments. In New Zealand, family is very important, regardless of the cultural background of the individual. The definition of whānau is “an extended family or community of related families”. The PSA is proposing that clauses 18 Bereavement Leave, 19 Domestic Leave, 20 Sick & Injury Leave, & 21 Domestic Violence Leave be placed in a new Part and that the new heading for that part be “Wellbeing/Whānau Leave”. Whilst PSA would like to see these clauses reviewed and rewritten to reflect a holistic approach to these leave provisions, this would be a significant piece of work. At this time we propose that the following changes to Domestic Leave be implemented to recognise that at different points in their life members will have different challenges, and that the current provisions are both too narrow to meet present day needs. Domestic Leave (19): 19.1

• Amend to allow the full Domestic Leave to be available from the first day of employment,
• Amend date of entitlement to service date,
• Amend to have domestic leave accrual, including incremental increases at key service milestones,
• Amend medical certificate requirement to 5 working days,
• Replace ‘dependent’ with ‘whānau’ member.

Sick Leave (20) A high trust workplace enables an employee to manage their wellness as they see fit, while recognising that there are fiscal constraints for the employer. The PSA believes that a high trust work environment recognises that the needs of staff are not linear and will vary from time to time. In such an environment the employer enables the employee to manage their wellness needs while trusting that employee will utilise the provisions in an appropriate manner. We propose the following amendments to this clause

• Amend to allow the full annual entitlement from the first day of employment (20.1.1, para 1)
• Sick leave accrual to be increased to 120 days (20.1.1, para 3)
• Amend 20.1.1, paragraph 4 to read: “Upon the full use of your current entitlement to paid sick leave, and in the absence of medical certificates having been provided to your

manager, and where your manager believes that you have had a high use of sick leave within a short period of time, a meeting will be held to consult with you regarding the management of any future sick leave prior to your next entitlement, in accordance with Clause 20.5. The use of an employee’s annual sick leave entitlement within the timeframe of that entitlement is not in itself a sign of high usage.”  Amend 20.4, first sentence, as follows, “If your manager believes a second opinion would be beneficial, you manager will seek your written consent to obtain a medical opinion

• n the following”

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 Any medical information provided by the employee for the purposes of discussing sick leave usage event/s will be held for that purpose only and will be destroyed appropriately

• nce the event/s have concluding.

Flexible Working Hours (13.3) This clause relates to aspects of balancing personal and family commitments with daily work, and therefore sits well with concept of Wellness and Whānau Leave. PSA members do not believe that the spirit of intent of the clause is being met. The requirement on ACC to give reasonable consideration to any request is not consistent and members believe that in many circumstances little or no consideration is given before a decision is made. We are proposing an amendment to the clause to reflect the provisions of the ERA Part 6 AA. New clause 13.3, “ACC supports the principles of employees balancing personal and family commitments with their daily work and wherever possible employees will be given the

• pportunity to have flexible working arrangements.

Employees may request flexible working arrangements. You may ask:  to change your working arrangements, either permanently or for a set time,  at any time, from your first day of work,  for any purpose or reason. (For example caring for children or older parents, playing sport or working in the community).  Your request must be made in writing, include the date on which the request is made, and that it is made under ERA Part 6AA. You must state in your request what variation to your working arrangement you are seeking, what the start date will be, whether it is permanent or temporary, and if it is temporary you must provide the proposed end date.  You must explain what changes, in your view, the employer will have to make if the request is approved. ACC has a duty to consider any requests.  They must think carefully about every request and reply in writing as soon as possible, but no later than one month after the request has been made  They don’t have to agree to the request if there is a good business reason not to  They can only decline the request for certain reasons, and their reasons need to be stated if the application is declined.” Domestic Violence Leave (21) – proposed amendment The PSA proposes that this clause be amended to reflect the provisions of the ERA Part 6 AAA, Flexible Working Arrangements, as follows,  “21.3 Leave may also be requested as per clause 13.3.”, and  Amend 21.2 by adding the following sentence at the end of the paragraph., “Information on the meaning of Domestic Violence may be found in this act in sections 9, 10, & 11.” 13.4 Time off in respect of extra hours worked PSA believes that the current wording is cumbersome and that this provision is contrary to the intent of 13.3 Flexible Working Hours, and proposes it be amended as follows to reflect the purpose identified in the subclause heading. “You may accumulate up to four hours only where your manager agrees to you working additional hours to be used on an agreed future day. You may not carry time credits beyond the current pay period without your manager’s prior approval.”

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Part 8 Representation: 36 Recognition of Employee Representatives

The current provisions in the CEA don’t reflect the changes in work and the way inductions are carried out within ACC, since this clause was negotiated: Proposed amendment –  insert between 2nd & 3rd paragraphs, “ACC will provide to PSA delegates a list of new employees in their work site”. 3rd paragraph amendment, “As part of the process of induction to the workplace, ACC worksite managers will introduce new staff to a PSA worksite delegate and provide PSA membership applications forms to all new starts”.

PSA Strategic Engagement Agreement – during the term of this agreement the PSA & ACC will develop a Strategic Engagement Agreement which will be appended to the CEA

by way of variation.

Member Only Benefit – proposed addition

The PSA members’ view is that as members of the PSA who negotiate this employment agreement there should be a material benefit to them which is not accessible to other staff members. Members are seeking a clear indication from the outcomes of this negotiations that they are the principle beneficiaries of these negotiations. There are several mechanisms which would enable this claim to be effective such as delayed implementation of any pay increases for those not under coverage; additional leave provisions; lump sum payment.

Technical Changes

Clause 5  Term of the Agreement Temporary (16.3, 19.4, 26.1) to be replaced with “Casual” and/or “Fixed Term” as appropriate. 20.1.2 Transitional Arrangements for Current Employees – Members as at the date of ratification