Water NSW backs union calls for SWC staff pay rise – April 2018 (PDF version)
Water NSW has backed the CPSU-NSW and called on the NSW Government to pay staff of the former State Water Corporation an administrative increase in salaries of 3.3 per cent (back-dated to 1 July 2017), in-line with salary movements awarded to former DPI and SCA staff by the Fair Work Commission following the union’s successful legal intervention last year.
The CPSU NSW understands Water NSW has made a submission to the Wages Policy Taskforce (a committee run by NSW Treasury) for an increase above the Government’s 2.5per cent annual wage cap, but is yet to receive a response from the peak body.
While the Water NSW proposal is unlikely to fully address the gap in pay outcomes, the CPSU NSW is supportive of the corporation’s willingness to go to Treasury officials with a package outside the Government’s wages policy. It’s exactly the kind of pragmatic approach needed to create harmonised, consistent employment arrangements for staff across the corporation and a united workforce.
In other news, the CPSU NSW will sit down with Water NSW officials on 11 April in an effort to progress the corporation’s stalled enterprise bargaining process.
In light of:
The CPSU-NSW favours transitioning SWC staff to the DPI classification methodology while grand-parenting existing employment arrangements for SCA staff as a sensible way to establish consistent and affordable employment arrangements going forward.
The advantage of this approach is that it would bring most staff into line with the NSW Public Service benchmark ‑ which the Government are clearly prepared to pay elsewhere – it would give the corporation certainty in relation to its wages bill, it would support the smooth transition of staff between DPI and the corporation, and it would allow former SCA staff to continue to access their existing conditions while remaining in their current role.
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